Duval Keeps Cadillac on Top in Final Practice

Loic Duval was fastest in the final on track running before the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship curtain-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

The Frenchman’s best time in the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R was just 0.012 seconds faster than Kevin Magnussen in the No. 01 Cadillac from Chip Ganassi Racing.

Oliver Jarvis of Mazda Motorsports and Filipe Albuquerque for Wayne Taylor Racing were third and fourth but very close to the leaders.

The whole top four in DPi was within 0.053 seconds of one another with Cadillac, Acura, and Mazda all represented.

John Farano was quickest in LMP2 in the No. 8 Oreca 07 Gibson from Tower Motorsports. The No. 20 Oreca from High Class Racing was second on the time charts courtesy of Ferdinand Habsburg, with Tristan Nunez checking in with the third fastest time for WIN Autosport.

Risi Competizione driver Alessandro Pier Guidi set the best lap in the GT Le Mans class in his No. 62 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo.

WeatherTech Racing’s Kevin Estre was second in a Porsche 911 RSR, followed by the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Tommy Milner.

Jeroen Bleekemolen edged Rasmus Lindh for top honors in LMP3, both in Ligier JS P320 Nissans, while Moritz Kranz was third in the top Duqueine D08 Nissan.

Lamborghini swept the top two spots in GT Daytona with Franck Perrera leading Mirko Bortolotti by 0.154 seconds.

Daniel Serra had the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo in third, followed by Richard Westbrook and Patrick Long in an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and a Porsche 911 GT3 R, respectively.

The session was halted by two red flag periods, the first coming just under 10 minutes into the running when the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Nico Lapierre stopped off track in Turn 5.

The second came for the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo who stopped off track in NASCAR Turn 3. The car was towed back to the pit lane and IMSA Radio reported there was no damage to the vehicle.

While it did not bring out a red flag the most significant incident of the session came when the No. 42 NTE Sport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo of Alan Metni made contact with the wall while exiting the pit lane at the beginning of the session.

Metni limped back to the pits but IMSA Radio reported that the car had suffered extensive damage.

Up next is the 59th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona which is due to go green at 3:40 p.m. ET on Saturday.

RESULTS: Practice 4