Action Express, led by Brazilian Pipo Derani, set the pace at Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course circuit with a lap time of 1m35.217s. Connor De Phillippi’s BMW M Hybrid V8 had initially dominated the session but was eventually displaced by Derani, finishing 0.377s behind in second place, largely due to time lost in the opening sector, where Derani clocked an impressive sub-23s lap at 22.991s.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske 963, driven by Laurens Vanthoor after Nick Tandy’s earlier session-topping performance, secured the third position, trailing the top spot by 0.504s.
A notable incident involved Jordan Taylor, who spun the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 in Turn 1 with 30 minutes remaining, ultimately finishing seventh overall.
In the LMP2 class, 2023 Indy NXT champion Christian Rasmussen set the fastest lap of 1m39.674s, propelling the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA to the top. Nolan Siegel, a contender for the Indy NXT title, trailed by 0.253s in the Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier.
Two incidents within the LMP2 category included the No. 88 AF Corse ORECA spinning in Turn 3 early in the session, eventually finishing third, and the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA causing the first red flag by spinning in Turn 7 approximately 45 minutes into the session. Despite this, IndyCar star Scott McLaughlin managed to set the quickest pace for the team, placing eighth in class but 0.844s behind the leader.
Christopher Mies of Ford Multimatic Motorsports impressed in the GTD Pro category, guiding the Ford Mustang GT3 to the fastest lap of 1m46.494s on its fifth of 38 logged laps. This time was 0.266 seconds quicker than James Calado’s in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3.
In the GTD class, Jan Heylen of Wright Motorsports set the benchmark with the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R, posting a lap time of 1m46.741s.
