Magnussen Sets Best Lap in Night Practice at Daytona

Jan Magnussen led the timesheets in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R during Thursday’s 90-minute night practice for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, as most teams took it easy in terms of running on a day where rain and treacherous track conditions reigned supreme.

Magnussen’s best time was a 2:05.881, some four-plus seconds off the GT Le Mans class pole set earlier Thursday by Nick Tandy.

Rene Rast paced GT Daytona in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS at 2:10.208, good for fourth overall behind the two Corvettes and the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM.

Dorsey Schroeder was fastest of four Prototype cars that took time in the No. 50 Highway to Help Riley-BMW at 2:14.193, and Stephen Simpson paced Prototype Challenge at 2:19.275 in the No. 85 JDC/Miller Motorsports Oreca FLM09.

Of note, the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS and No. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari 488 GTE returned to the track after failing to set a time in qualifying. The SMP car was repaired following its accident at Turn 1, while Stevenson’s Audi was being worked on in the garage area during qualifying.

Change Racing’s Lamborghini Huracán GT3, meanwhile, did not make it back out for the night practice.

The fourth and final practice occurs Friday from 10:25 to 11:25 a.m. ET.

RESULTS: Practice 3