Rolex 24: Action Express dominates opening session
Reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Prototype champion Felipe Nasr led defending Rolex 24 Hours winner Filipe Albuquerque in an Action Express Racing 1-2 in first practice at Daytona.
On a wet but drying track, only four prototypes set a reasonably representative times, Nasr lapping the course in 1min36.108sec in his #31 AXR Cadillac DPi-V.R.
That put him 0.599sec clear of teammate Albuquerque, while Tristan Vautier in the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports entry made it a Cadillac 1-2-3. Jonathan Bomarito was fourth in the #55 Mazda RT24-P of Mazda Team Joest.
The relative lack of hot laps from the Prototypes allowed GT Le Mans to rise to prominence, and it was Frederic Makowiecki and Mathieu Jaminet who put the Porsche 911 RSRs at the top of the times, ahead of Rene Binder in Juncos Racing’s Cadillac Prototype.
Three GT Daytona cars completed the Top 10 overall times, Corey Lewis in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan edging Kelvin van der Linde in the WRT Audi R8 and Aaron Telitz in the new AIM Vasser-Sullivan-run Lexus RC F.
Henrik Hedman was top of the LMP2 cars, wheeling the DragonSpeed Oreca to a 1:46.657.
The two Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05s set only sighting laps, as did Markus Winkelhock in the Moorespeed Audi R8 in the GTD class.
Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, Practice 1:
| Pos. | # | Drivers | Class | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 |  Pipo Derani  Eric Curran  Felipe Nasr | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 20 | 1'36.108 | |
| 2 | 5 |  Christian Fittipaldi  Filipe Albuquerque Joao Barbosa | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 15 | 1'36.707 | 0.599 |
| 3 | 85 | Rubens Barrichello  Mikhail Goikhberg  Tristan Vautier Devlin DeFrancesco | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 11 | 1'37.595 | 1.487 |
| 4 | 55 |  Harry Tincknell  Olivier Pla  Jonathan Bomarito | DPi | Mazda DPi | 12 | 1'38.561 | 2.453 |
| 5 | 911 |  Nick Tandy  Patrick Pilet  Frédéric Makowiecki | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 19 | 1'45.334 | 9.226 |
| 6 | 912 |  Earl Bamber  Laurens Vanthoor Mathieu Jaminet | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 20 | 1'46.156 | 10.048 |
| 7 | 50 |  Kyle Kaiser  Rene Binder Will Owen Agustin Canapino | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 19 | 1'46.191 | 10.083 |
| 8 | 48 |  Corey Lewis  Bryan Sellers  Andrea Caldarelli Ryan Hardwick | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 9 | 1'46.577 | 10.469 |
| 9 | 88 |  Ian James  Frederic Vervisch  Kelvin van der Linde Roman DeAngelis | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 21 | 1'46.592 | 10.484 |
| 10 | 12 | Townsend Bell  Jeff Segal  Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 20 | 1'46.651 | 10.543 |
| 11 | 81 | Nicolas Lapierre  Henrik Hedman  Ben Hanley  James Allen | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 18 | 1'46.657 | 10.549 |
| 12 | 96 | Bill Auberlen  Jens Klingmann Robby Foley Dillon Machavern | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 21 | 1'46.854 | 10.746 |
| 13 | 33 |  Jeroen Bleekemolen  Ben Keating  Luca Stolz Felipe Fraga | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 26 | 1'46.871 | 10.763 |
| 14 | 63 |  Toni Vilander Dominik Farnbacher  Cooper MacNeil Jeff Westphal | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 21 | 1'46.911 | 10.803 |
| 15 | 86 | A.J. Allmendinger Justin Marks Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 12 | 1'47.015 | 10.907 |
| 16 | 11 |  Rolf Ineichen  Mirko Bortolotti  Rik Breukers  Christian Engelhart | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 21 | 1'47.240 | 11.132 |
| 17 | 66 |  Sébastien Bourdais Joey Hand  Dirk Muller | GTLM | Ford GT | 4 | 1'47.259 | 11.151 |
| 18 | 51 |  Pedro Lamy  Paul Dalla Lana  Mathias Lauda  Daniel Serra | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 28 | 1'47.306 | 11.198 |
| 19 | 14 | Austin Cindric Jack Hawksworth Richard Heistand  Nick Cassidy | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 17 | 1'47.310 | 11.202 |
| 20 | 3 |  Jan Magnussen  Antonio Garcia Mike Rockenfeller | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 7 | 1'47.435 | 11.327 |
| 21 | 18 |  Pastor Maldonado  Roberto Gonzalez  Sebastian Saavedra  Ryan Cullen | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 21 | 1'47.488 | 11.380 |
| 22 | 71 | Fabian Schiller Dominik Baumann Maximilian Buhk JC Perez | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 7 | 1'47.626 | 11.518 |
| 23 | 9 | Scott Hargrove Lars Kern Dennis Olsen  Zacharie Robichon | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 25 | 1'47.696 | 11.588 |
| 24 | 57 |  Simona de Silvestro  Katherine Legge  Christina Nielsen  Ana Beatriz | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 12 | 1'47.719 | 11.611 |
| 25 | 8 |  Ryan Dalziel Parker Chase  Ezequiel Perez Companc Chris Haase | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 18 | 1'48.122 | 12.014 |
| 26 | 62 | James Calado  Davide Rigon Alessandro Pier Guidi  Miguel Molina | GTLM | Ferrari 488 GTE | 15 | 1'48.191 | 12.083 |
| 27 | 44 | Andy Lally  Marco Mapelli Spencer Pumpelly John Potter | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 22 | 1'48.340 | 12.232 |
| 28 | 77 | Oliver Jarvis  Timo Bernhard René Rast Tristan Nunez | DPi | Mazda DPi | 9 | 1'48.595 | 12.487 |
| 29 | 10 |  Fernando Alonso  Kamui Kobayashi Jordan Taylor  Renger van der Zande | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 9 | 1'48.608 | 12.500 |
| 30 | 73 | Patrick Long Patrick Lindsey Nicholas Boulle  Matt Campbell | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 24 | 1'48.782 | 12.674 |
| 31 | 540 |  Marco Seefried Tim Pappas Dirk Werner Matteo Cairoli | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 23 | 1'48.912 | 12.804 |
| 32 | 13 |  Andrea Bertolini  Victor Franzoni Chico Longo Marcos Gomes | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 27 | 1'49.029 | 12.921 |
| 33 | 54 |  Loic Duval  Romain Dumas Jon Bennett Colin Braun | DPi | Nissan DPi | 13 | 1'50.278 | 14.170 |
| 34 | 99 |  Klaus Bachler Sven Muller  Alfred Renauer Juergen Haering Steffen Goerig | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 23 | 1'51.379 | 15.271 |
| 35 | 4 |  Marcel Fassler  Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 17 | 1'52.187 | 16.079 |
| 36 | 25 | Connor de Phillippi Augusto Farfus  Philipp Eng Colton Herta | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 16 | 1'52.598 | 16.490 |
| 37 | 24 | John Edwards  Jesse Krohn Chaz Mostert  Alex Zanardi | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 13 | 1'52.739 | 16.631 |
| 38 | 67 |  Ryan Briscoe  Scott Dixon Richard Westbrook | GTLM | Ford GT | 3 | 1'53.504 | 17.396 |
| 39 | 47 | Don Yount  Milos Pavlovic Steve Dunn  Linus Lundqvist | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 7 | 1'54.065 | 17.957 |
| 40 | 29 | Daniel Morad  Dries Vanthoor  Christopher Mies | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 22 | 1'54.369 | 18.261 |
| 41 | 46 | Fabio Babini Emanuele Busnelli Taylor Proto | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 12 | 1'54.705 | 18.597 |
| 42 | 19 | Markus Winkelhock Andrew Davis Will Hardeman Alex Riberas | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 14 | 2'15.656 | 39.548 |
| 43 | 6 |  Juan Pablo Montoya  Simon Pagenaud Dane Cameron | DPi | Acura DPi | 6 | ||
| 44 | 7 | Alexander Rossi  Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor | DPi | Acura DPi | 5 | ||
| 45 | 38 | Kris Wright Kyle Masson  Cameron Cassels Robert Masson | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1 | ||
| 46 | 52 | Matt McMurry Mark Kvamme Enzo Guibbert Gabriel Aubry | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | |||
| 47 | 84 |  Simon Trummer Juan Piedrahita Chris Miller  Stephen Simpson | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1 |
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About this article
| Series | IMSA |
| Event | Daytona 24 |
| Author | David Malsher-Lopez |
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