Kobayashi Paces Practice 2 Before Return of Rain

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Kamui Kobayashi laid down the fastest lap in the second practice session of the day prior to the return of rain showers Thursday at Daytona International Raceway.

The reigning FIA World Endurance champion reeled off a 1:35.470 in the No. 48 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R to edge out Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Mike Conway, also in an Action Express Cadillac, by 1.494 seconds.

Both times came in the opening moments of the DPi session prior to a red flag for the No. 7 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine D08 Nissan of Trenton Estep, which stopped on track.

Rain had intensified by the resumption of track action, with no major improvements seen by the majority of the competitors.

LMP2 was led by the No. 20 High Class Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Nico Mueller, who edged out the No. 68 G-Drive Racing by APR entry of Ed Jones by 0.125 seconds.

The No. 81 DragonSpeed LMP2 entry, which posted the quickest time overall in Thursday’s opening practice, ended up third in class with Devlin DeFrancesco’s 1:37.554 lap.

Felipe Fraga was quickest in LMP3 with the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan while Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos ended up first and second quickest in GTD.

The No. 57 Winward Mercedes of Mikael Grenier topped the time charts with a 1:46.577 ahead of defending DTM champion Maxi Goetz.

Patrick Gallagher put the No. 75 Crucial Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 third on the time charts.

The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth was quickest of the GTD Pro competitors but 14th among GTD entrants overall.

All 61 cars turned laps in the session but many completed limited mileage due to the changing weather conditions.

The third and final practice session of the day gets underway at 7:15 p.m. ET.

RESULTS: Practice 2

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