Yahoo Autos Dixon puts Cadillac first in opening Rolex 24 practice
Scott Dixon put the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R on top in the first official practice for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the season opener for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Dixon set his 1m36.012s lap late in the 90-minute session to lead Connor De Phillippi in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 by 0.127s.
Kevin Estre posted the third-best time, a 1m36.281s lap in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 BMW and Dane Cameron in the No. 7 PPM Porsche made up the rest of the top five.
The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti spent much of the session in the garage working on a brake issue, but managed 18 laps compared to the sister car’s 49. Outside the No. 40, all the GTP cars were well within a second.
Toby Sowery posted the best time in LMP2 in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA, a 1m39.407s lap. Ben Hanley was 0.122s off Sowery’s best in the No. 2 United Autosports Acura, ahead of Charles Milesi’s 1m39.965s in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA, Ryan Dalziel in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA and Tom Dillman in the No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA.
GTD and GTD PRO cars alternated in top times, led by Katherine Legge in the GTD-class No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 at 1m46.585s. Jack Hawksworth led GTD PRO with a 1m46.783s lap in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Robby Foley was third among the GTs in the GTD No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, his 1m46.860s bettering the GTD PRO Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S Evo of Marvin Kirchöfer by 0.074s. Alberto Costa Balboa was fifth in the GTs, turning a 1m47.038s in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (GTD) and the GTD PRO Ferrari from Risi Competizione was right behind in the hands of James Calado.
Aside from the No. 40 Acura’s brake problem, other issues included the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 rolled into the pits with an open door, Richard Westbrook discovering his should was nudging the latch, and the No. 3 Corvette visited the garage to check a connector.
UP NEXT: A 1h45m split session beginning at 2:10pm ET.
