Porsche Takes Command as Night Falls at Daytona Roar Testing
As the sun set over Daytona, Laurens Vanthoor pushed the No. 7 Porsche 963 to the top of the timing sheets during Saturday's night testing session, clocking a 1m36.498s lap time.
While impressive, this fell short of the weekend's fastest lap - a 1m35.424s set by his brother Dries in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 on Friday. With rain forecasted for Sunday, this time may stand as the Roar Before The 24's benchmark.
BMW maintained strong form, securing second and third positions. Philipp Eng's No. 24 led the pair, posting a 1m36.498s, with the No. 25 following 0.4s behind.
Red and white IMSA racecar
In LMP2, Inter Europol Competition dominated with Antonio Felix Da Costa setting a 1m39.618s, leading the field by 0.3s. TDS's No. 11 and Pratt Miller's No. 73 rounded out the top three. A late incident saw Era Motorsport's No. 18 ORECA go off at Turn 3, bringing out a red flag.
Porsche dominated the GTD category, claiming the top four positions. The No. 20 Proton entry, driven by Thomas Preining, set the pace with a 1m48.034s. Wright's Porsche followed in second, leading the GTD class with a 1m48.140s, while AO's "Rexy" Porsche and Iron Dames completed the Porsche sweep.
AWA's Corvette led the non-Porsche contingent, finishing third in GTD. The competition remained tight, with 31 of 36 GTD and GTD Pro cars posting times within the 1m48s range.
The Roar Before the 24 continues tomorrow at 9:45 a.m. local time for its penultimate session.