RS1 Porsche Quickest in Opening Practice at Daytona

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

A pair of Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport entries topped the time charts in a mixed-condition opening practice for Friday’s BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona.

Eric Filgueiras in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche led the way in the 60-minute damp session, reeling off a best lap of 2:02.990 to edge out the No. 93 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing entry of Tyler McQuarrie by 0.775 seconds.

It came despite both a weight increase and power reduction to the Porsches, which swept the top four positions in last weekend’s pre-season test.

Lexus factory driver Jack Hawksworth put the No. 68 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 third on the time charts, followed by the No. 56 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4, which suffered an accident by Jeff Mosing in the closing stages of the session.

It was one two red flags to come out during the session, the first for the No. 61 Road Shagger Racing Audi RS 3 LMS TCR of Gavin Ernstone.

The No. 21 Riley Motorsports Toyota of Scott Andrews completed the top five.

TCR was led by the No. 17 Unitronic JDC-Miller Motorsports Audi of Mikey Taylor, thanks to a 2:10.536 lap time by the U.S.-based South African.

Taylor outpaced the No. 1 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR of defending class champion Michael Lewis by 0.437 seconds.

Practice 2 is set for Thursday at 9:45 a.m. ET followed by qualifying in the afternoon.

RESULTS: Practice 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John