Ford’s Joey Hand topped the final practice session before qualifying at Daytona Intennational Speedway as the GTLM cars continued to outpace their faster prototype rivals in wet conditions at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The GTLM machines filled positions two through nine in the first session and backed that up in the second run today – taking the top five spots on the timing sheet.
Joey Hand was fastest in the No.66 Ford GT with a time of 1:56.024 ahead of a pair of Italians in a pair of Ferraris – Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni.
Corvette Racing was fourth and fifth with Oliver Gavin leading Jan Magnussen (pictured right)
The fastest prototype was the BR01 Nissan with Russian IndyCar driver Mikhail Aleshin at the wheel. Ryan Dalziel was the only other prototype entry in the top ten – the Scot recording the eighth fastest time overall.
GTLM cars filled nine of the top 11 positions in the second practice. The result could have been even stronger but the two factory Porsches elected to remain in the garages prior to this afternoon’s qualifying session.
Other fast men today included Johnny Mowlem in the PC class and Markus Palatal’s BMW in the GT Daytona division.
More rain is expected to hit Daytona this afternoon with the forecast indicating a 100% chance of rain for the 4:00pm start time.
Regardless of the times by the respective classes, the Prototype entries will still lead the pack at the start of Saturday’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The Prototypes and PC cars will face the green flag together followed a short while later by the GTLM and GTD classes – irrespective of whether the GTLM cars are again fastest overall in the wet this afternoon.
QUALIFYING SCHEDULE
4:00 pm – 4:15 pm: Qualifying – WeatherTech (GTD)
4:25 pm – 4:40 pm: Qualifying – WeatherTech (GTLM)
4:50 pm – 5:05 pm: Qualifying – WeatherTech (PC)
5:15 pm – 5:30 pm: Qualifying – WeatherTech (P)
The post Ford tops final practice before qualifying appeared first on Michelin Alley.