Dixon Leads Porsche, BMW in First Daytona Practice

Scott Dixon set the fastest time in the opening practice session for the 62nd running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The Kiwi steered the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R to a best lap of 1:36.012, beating the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Phillippi by 0.127 seconds.

Kevin Estre slotted into third aboard the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963, ahead of BMW’s Dries Vanthoor and the second factory Porsche entry in the hands of Dane Cameron.

Jack Aitken put the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac sixth, with Louis Deletraz the fastest Acura driver aboard the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti ARX-06 in seventh.

The pair of customer Porsches of Richard Westbrook (JDC-Miller Motorsports) and Neel Jani (Proton Competition) placed eighth and ninth while Filipe Albuquerque brought up the rear in class behind the wheel of the No. 10 WTR Andretti Acura.

Toby Sowery led proceedings in LMP2 for CrowdStrike by APR aboard the No. 04 Oreca 07 Gibson, posting a 1:39.407 that was 0.122 seconds quicker than Ben Hanley’s best effort at the wheel of the No. 2 United Autosports machine.

Charles Milesi was third for TDS Racing, leading Era Motorsport’s Ryan Dalziel and the No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca driven by Tom Dillmann.

Katherine Legge set the quickest time of any GT driver during the opening 90-minute session held on Thursday morning, piloting the GTD-class No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 to a best lap of 1:46.585.

In the process, she outpaced the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of compatriot Jack Hawksworth by 0.198 seconds, with the Lexus driver quickest in GTD Pro.

Robby Foley took second in GTD aboard the No. 96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3, just ahead of the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo driven by Marvin Kirchhoefer.

Although the session went by without any red flags, the No. 9 McLaren stopped on track in the closing moments when it ran out of fuel with James Hinchcliffe at the wheel.

Practice for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams continues with the second session, scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET.

RESULTS: Practice 1