Vautier Tops Night Practice at Daytona

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Spirit of Daytona Racing’s Tristan Vautier went to the top of the timesheets in night practice for the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Thursday evening.

The Frenchman posted a lap time of 1:37.215 in his No. 90 Cadillac DPi-V.R, around one second slower than the qualifying pace from earlier in the day.

Helio Castroneves held the top spot for much of the 90-minute session, going 0.198 seconds slower in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske car.

Pipo Derani was third quickest, ahead of Lando Norris.

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing led the GT Le Mans field with a 1-2 and Sebastien Bourdais ahead of Richard Westbrook while James Calado was third-quickest.

Mirko Bortolotti topped the GT Daytona ranks for Grasser Racing Team, 0.061 seconds clear of Scuderia Corsa’s Townsend Bell. 

The session had two red flags for separate incidents with the Performance Tech Motorsports and No. 99 JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibsons.

Practice 4 will get underway at 9:40 a.m. on Friday.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.