Ricky Taylor Tops Warmup; Repaired Acura Quickest in GTD

Ricky Taylor and Acura Team Penske led the way in morning warmup ahead of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the No. 7 Acura ARX-05.

Tyalor’s best lap of 1:48.375 was 1.082 seconds faster than Pipo Derani in the No. 22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi, with Ryan Dalziel in the sister Nissan checking in with the third best time.

Near the end of the 20-minute session IMSA Radio reported that JDC-Miller Motorsports was having trouble related to the ECU on the No. 99 Oreca 07 Gibson that would require attention prior to the start of the race at 10:40 a.m. ET.

The team later confirmed on social media that the car, which did not turn laps in the session, would not start up and was experiencing problems with the electronic display.

Jesse Krohn led the way in GT Le Mans in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL M8 GTE. His teammate and race polesitter Connor De Phillippi posted the second fastest time in the class, 0.735 seconds behind.

Patrick Pilet and Alessandro Pier Guidi were third and fourth in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR and No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE, respectively.

Repaired MSR Acura Tops GT Daytona

Lawson Aschenbach rewarded the Michael Shank Racing team for their remarkable effort to repair the heavily damaged No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 by setting the pace in GT Daytona in the morning warmup.

Turning the first laps in the recently repaired car since Thursday’s crash in the morning warmup, Aschenbach’s best time of 2:00.784 was 0.104 seconds faster than Andrew Davis in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS.

“When the car came off the (flatbed after the incident) truck, we decided it was done,” said team owner Michael Shank. “There was no question about it. But we weren’t ready to quit.

“So as we started looking at our options, we looked at putting the drivers in different cars, thinking through a few ways to sort it out. But the crew chief Justin (Harnisfager) and engineer Dale (Wise) decided that they wanted to fix it.

“It was a huge project and they were up all night. The car is pretty good, it is not exactly where it needs to be but we will get it on track and see what we can make of this event. It is a long race and my guys are ready for it.”

Dominik Baumann was third in the No. 14 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3. The warmup session ran without any major issues.

RESULTS: Warmup