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Blomqvist Leads MSR Acura 1-2 Opening Practice for Rolex 24

Pair of Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 cars pace opening practice at Daytona…

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Tom Blomqvist put Acura Meyer Shank Racing atop the time charts in the first and only practice session prior to this afternoon’s qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Blomqvist laid down a best lap of 1:34.576 in the 90-minute session in the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 to edge out the sister, Honda Racing Corporation USA-engineered No. 93 Acura of Nick Yelloly by 0.176 seconds.

Late improvements by both Team RLL-entered BMW M Hybrid V8s saw Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde go third and fourth quickest, respectively, demoting defending GTP champion Felipe Nasr to fifth in the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963.

LMP2 was led by the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Mikkel Jensen, who was ahead of Malthe Jakobsen’s No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry and the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca of Rasmus Lindh.

Franck Perera put in a late flyer to put the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 quickest of all the GT cars, thanks to a 1:47.321 lap time.

It bumped GTD Pro pacesetter Andrea Caldarelli in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini, who ended up ahead of Mike Rockenfeller’s No. 64 Multimatic Ford Mustang GT3.

A single red flag came out for the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche of Tristan Vautier, which had a flat tire that led to debris on the track with less than 40 minutes to go.

Qualifying is set to get underway at 2:10 p.m. ET with live coverage on Peacock, IMSA.tv and IMSA Radio.

RESULTS: Practice 1

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

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