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 | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 20 | 1'36.108 | ||
2 | 5 | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 15 | 1'36.707 | 0.599 | |
3 | 85 | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 11 | 1'37.595 | 1.487 | |
4 | 55 | DPi | Mazda DPi | 12 | 1'38.561 | 2.453 | |
5 | 911 | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 19 | 1'45.334 | 9.226 | |
6 | 912 | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 20 | 1'46.156 | 10.048 | |
7 | 50 | Agustin Canapino | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 19 | 1'46.191 | 10.083 |
8 | 48 | Ryan Hardwick | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 9 | 1'46.577 | 10.469 |
9 | 88 | Roman DeAngelis | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 21 | 1'46.592 | 10.484 |
10 | 12 | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 20 | 1'46.651 | 10.543 | |
11 | 81 | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 18 | 1'46.657 | 10.549 | |
12 | 96 | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 21 | 1'46.854 | 10.746 | |
13 | 33 | Felipe Fraga | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 26 | 1'46.871 | 10.763 |
14 | 63 | Jeff Westphal | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 21 | 1'46.911 | 10.803 |
15 | 86 | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 12 | 1'47.015 | 10.907 | |
16 | 11 | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 21 | 1'47.240 | 11.132 | |
17 | 66 | GTLM | Ford GT | 4 | 1'47.259 | 11.151 | |
18 | 51 | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 28 | 1'47.306 | 11.198 | |
19 | 14 | Richard Heistand | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 17 | 1'47.310 | 11.202 |
20 | 3 | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 7 | 1'47.435 | 11.327 | |
21 | 18 | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 21 | 1'47.488 | 11.380 | |
22 | 71 | JC Perez | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 7 | 1'47.626 | 11.518 |
23 | 9 | Lars Kern Dennis Olsen | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 25 | 1'47.696 | 11.588 |
24 | 57 | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 12 | 1'47.719 | 11.611 | |
25 | 8 | Chris Haase | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 18 | 1'48.122 | 12.014 |
26 | 62 | GTLM | Ferrari 488 GTE | 15 | 1'48.191 | 12.083 | |
27 | 44 | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 22 | 1'48.340 | 12.232 | |
28 | 77 | DPi | Mazda DPi | 9 | 1'48.595 | 12.487 | |
29 | 10 | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 9 | 1'48.608 | 12.500 | |
30 | 73 | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 24 | 1'48.782 | 12.674 | |
31 | 540 | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 23 | 1'48.912 | 12.804 | |
32 | 13 | Chico Longo Marcos Gomes | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 27 | 1'49.029 | 12.921 |
33 | 54 | DPi | Nissan DPi | 13 | 1'50.278 | 14.170 | |
34 | 99 | Juergen Haering Steffen Goerig | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 23 | 1'51.379 | 15.271 |
35 | 4 | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 17 | 1'52.187 | 16.079 | |
36 | 25 | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 16 | 1'52.598 | 16.490 | |
37 | 24 | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 13 | 1'52.739 | 16.631 | |
38 | 67 | GTLM | Ford GT | 3 | 1'53.504 | 17.396 | |
39 | 47 | Steve Dunn | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 7 | 1'54.065 | 17.957 |
40 | 29 | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 22 | 1'54.369 | 18.261 | |
41 | 46 | Taylor Proto | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 12 | 1'54.705 | 18.597 |
42 | 19 | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 14 | 2'15.656 | 39.548 | |
43 | 6 | DPi | Acura DPi | 6 | |||
44 | 7 | DPi | Acura DPi | 5 | |||
45 | 38 | Kyle Masson Robert Masson | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1 | ||
46 | 52 | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | ||||
47 | 84 | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1 |

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About this article
Series | IMSA |
Event | Daytona 24 |
Author | David Malsher-Lopez |
Rolex 24: Action Express dominates opening session
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