Vanthoor Leads GTP Class in Night Practice at Daytona
Daytona Beach, FL – Laurens Vanthoor topped the GTP leaderboard during the second night of the Roar Before The 24 at Daytona International Speedway, clocking a 1:37.239 in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. This lap not only secured him first place but also edged out Colton Herta’s best time of 1:37.342 in the #40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R with just under ten minutes remaining in the session.
The competitive field showcased only a 0.343-second gap between all ten GTP entries that recorded times, indicating a tightly contested night of practice. Will Stevens placed third in the #10 WTR Cadillac with a 1:37.493, followed closely by Nico Pino in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche, who finished fourth.
Cadillac and Porsche occupied prominent positions throughout the top six, with Frederik Vesti (fifth, #31 Whelen Cadillac) and Laurin Heinrich (sixth, #7 Penske Porsche) completing the group. Notably, Dries Vanthoor led the BMW M Team WRT contingent in the #24 entry, while Nick Yelloly’s #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 rounded out the top eight.
The #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie did not record a time due to a precautionary engine change performed earlier in the day.
In LMP2, Mikkel Jensen led with a 1:39.770 in the #2 United Autosports USA ORECA 07-Gibson, followed by Nolan Siegel in the #343 Inter Europol Competition ORECA. The one-off Inter Europol entry outperformed its full-time counterpart, with António Félix da Costa behind the wheel.
In GTD PRO, Will Power piloted the #75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 to a class-leading time of 1:47.673, followed by Fabian Schiller in the #69 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 showed competitiveness despite earlier mechanical troubles, finishing third with Mirko Bortolotti.
The GTD class saw Myers Riley Motorsports’ #16 Ford Mustang GT3 Evo secure the top position with a time of 1:47.733 driven by Felipe Fraga, followed by Indy Dontje in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and Casper Stevenson in the #81 DragonSpeed Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
The Roar Before The 24 concludes tomorrow with two sessions, the first beginning at 9:45 AM ET.
