Daytona 24 Hours: Duval leads final practice from F1 exile Magnussen
Loic Duval's JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac edged to the top of the times by 0.012 seconds in final practice for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Daytona 24 Hours
The top four cars - representing all three manufacturers involved in the DPi class - were covered by less than one-tenth of a second at the end of the one-hour session.
But it was JDC-Miller's new full-timer Duval who emerged on top with a 1m35.085s lap, beating Formula 1 exile Kevin Magnussen in the similar Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac DPi-V.R.
They were just hundredths ahead of Oliver Jarvis in the Mazda RT24-P that ran only five laps on Friday, having skipped almost all of Thursday night's practice while receiving scheduled maintenance of a new engine and gearbox.
Filipe Albuquerque drove the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 to just 0.053s off top spot.
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The two Action Express Cadillacs of Pipo Derani and Kamui Kobayashi were 0.6s and 0.7s down respectively, with Dane Cameron completing the field in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura, but an unrepresentative 1.7s off the pace.
In LMP2, Nicolas Lapierre had a red flag-causing off at Turn 5 in the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA (below), which has looked to have an edge in speed throughout practice.
That allowed John Farano to head the class in the Tower Motorsports by Starworks car, a tenth quicker than Ferdinand Habsburg in the High Class Racing entry and Tristan Nunez of WIN Autosport.
LMP3, as has come to be expected, was led by Jeroen Bleekemolen in the Riley Motorsports Ligier, while Rasmus Lindh finished the session in second for Performance Tech Motorsports.
Third went to the highest-placed Duqueine, that of Muelhner Motorsports and steered by Moritz Kranz.
Alessandro Pier Guidi slotted the Ferrari 488 of Risi Competizione marginally ahead of the WeatherTech Racing Proton Porsche 911 RSR to claim GTLM honours ahead of the Corvettes and BMWs.
The two Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracans of Franck Perera and Mirko Bortolotti topped GTD, ahead of the AF Corse Ferrari 488 of Daniel Serra, while Richard Westbrook gave TF Sport's Aston Martin Vantage its most competitive showing of the week with fourth.
Pat Long was fifth in the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Wright Motorsports, ahead of the similar car of Team Hardpoint EBM, driven by Earl Bamber.
The 59th running of the Daytona 24 Hours begins at 3.40pm local time on Saturday.
Daytona 24 Hours final practice result
| Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | T.Vautier, L.Duval, S.Bourdais | JDC-Miller Motorsports | 1m35.085s |
| 2 | DPi | R.van der Zande, K.Magnussen, S.Dixon | Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing | 0.012s |
| 3 | DPi | O.Jarvis, H.Tincknell, J.Bomarito | Mazda Motorsports | 0.047s |
| 4 | DPi | R.Taylor, F.Albuquerque, A.Rossi, H.Castroneves | Konica Minolta Acura | 0.053s |
| 5 | DPi | F.Nasr, M.Conway, P.Derani, C.Elliott | Whelen Engineering Racing | 0.667s |
| 6 | DPi | J.Johnson, K.Kobayashi, S.Pagenaud, M.Rockenfeller | Ally Cadillac Racing | 0.732s |
| 7 | LMP2 | J.Farano, G.Aubry, T.Buret, M.Vaxiviere | Tower Motorsport by Starworks | 1.363s |
| 8 | LMP2 | D.Andersen, F.Habsburg, A.Fjordbach, R.Kubica | High Class Racing | 1.487s |
| 9 | DPi | D.Cameron, O.Pla, J.P.Montoya, A.Allmendinger | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | 1.669s |
| 10 | LMP2 | S.Thomas, T.Nunez, T.Merrill, M.Bell | WIN Autosport | 1.786s |
| 11 | LMP2 | R.Hodes, G.Grist, R.Van Kalmthout, B.Hanley | Dragonspeed USA | 2.020s |
| 12 | LMP2 | R.Lacorte, A.Fuoco, A.Belicchi, G.Sernagiotto | Cetilar Racing | 2.670s |
| 13 | LMP2 | E.Lux, D.Defrancesco, F.Schiller, C.Mies | Dragonspeed USA | 2.807s |
| 14 | LMP2 | D.Merriman, K.Tilley, R.Dalziel, P-L.Chatin | Era Motorsport | 3.019s |
| 15 | LMP2 | C.Ware, S.Yoluc, A.Dillon, S.Muller | RWR Eurasia | 3.711s |
| 16 | LMP2 | F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, J.van Uitert, C.Milesi | Racing Team Nederland | 3.718s |
| 17 | LMP2 | B.Keating, M.Jensen, S.Huffaker, N.Lapierre | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | 4.103s |
| 18 | GTLM | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi, J.Gounon, D.Rigon | Risi Competizione | 7.499s |
| 19 | GTLM | C.MacNeil, K.Estre, R.Lietz, G.Bruni | WeatherTech Racing | 7.518s |
| 20 | GTLM | T.Milner, N.Tandy, A.Sims | Corvette Racing | 7.641s |
| 21 | GTLM | C.De Phillippi, P.Eng, T.Glock, B.Spengler | BMW Team RLL | 7.825s |
| 22 | GTLM | J.M.Edwards, J.Krohn, A.Farfus, M.Wittmann | BMW Team RLL | 7.835s |
| 23 | GTLM | A.Garcia, J.Taylor, N.Catsburg | Corvette Racing | 7.937s |
| 24 | LMP3 | J.Cox, D.Murry, A.McCusker, J.Bleekemolen | Riley Motorsports | 7.987s |
| 25 | LMP3 | R.Lindh, C.Cassels, M.Llarena, A.Ori | Performance Tech Motorsports | 8.624s |
| 26 | LMP3 | M.Kranz, L.Horr, K.Koch, S.McAleer | Muehlner Motorsports America | 9.115s |
| 27 | GTD | M.Goikhberg, F.Perera, A.Costa, T.Zimmermann | GRT Grasser Racing Team | 10.498s |
| 28 | GTD | R.Ineichen, M.Bortolotti, S.Schothorst, M.Mapelli | GRT Grasser Racing Team | 10.652s |
| 29 | GTD | S.Mann, N.Nielsen, D.Serra, M.Cressoni | AF Corse | 10.902s |
| 30 | GTD | M.Root, C.Eastwood, B.Keating, R.Westbrook | TF Sport | 10.926s |
| 31 | GTD | T.Hindman, P.Long, J.Heylen, K.Bachler | Wright Motorsports | 11.009s |
| 32 | GTD | R.Ferriol, E.Bamber, K.Legge, C.Nielsen | Team Hardpoint EBM | 11.326s |
| 33 | GTD | B.Sellers, M.Snow, C.Lewis, A.Caldarelli | Paul Miller Racing | 11.340s |
| 34 | GTD | R.Megennis, Z.Veach, T.Bell, F.Montecalvo | Vasser Sullivan | 11.390s |
| 35 | GTD | J.Potter, A.Lally, S.Pumpelly, M.Farnbacher | Magnus with Archangel | 11.426s |
| 36 | GTD | R.Ward, P.Ellis, I.Dontje, M.Engel | Winward Racing | 11.961s |
| 37 | GTD | D.Morad, M.De Quesada, B.Johnson, M.Buhk | Alegra Motorsports | 11.976s |
| 38 | GTD | Z.Robichon, L.Vanthoor, L.Kern, M.Campbell | Pfaff Motorsports | 12.188s |
| 39 | GTD | B.Auberlen, R.Foley, A.Read, C.Herta | Turner Motorsport | 12.690s |
| 40 | GTD | I.James, R.De Angelis, D.Turner, R.Gunn | Heart of Racing Team | 13.674s |
| 41 | LMP3 | M.Kvamme, R.Norman, G.Chaves, T.Estep | Forty7 Motorsports | 13.724s |
| 42 | LMP3 | G.Robinson, S.Pigot, S.Andrews, O.Askew | Riley Motorsports | 13.740s |
| 43 | LMP3 | L.Willsey, J.Barbosa, W.Boyd, Y.Clairay | Sean Creech Motorsport | 28.812s |
| 44 | GTD | A.Telitz, O.Gavin, K.Kirkwood, J.Hawksworth | Vasser Sullivan | - |
| 45 | GTD | A.Metni, A.Davis, J.Hildebrand, D.Yount | NTE Sport | - |
| 46 | LMP3 | J.Bennett, G.Kurtz, C.Braun, M.McMurry | CORE Autosport | - |
| 47 | GTD | E.Jones, B.Curtis, R.Briscoe, M.Gomes | Scuderia Corsa | - |
| 48 | GTD | T.Giovanis, O.Trinkler, H.Plumb, M.Plumb | Team TGM | - |
| 49 | GTD | K.Habul, R.Marciello, M.Grenier, L.Stolz | Sun Energy 1 | - |
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