Daytona 24 Hours: Vautier fastest in third Roar practice for JDC-Miller
Tristan Vautier has topped third practice for the Roar Before the 24 at Daytona International Speedway in JDC-Miller Motorsports' Cadillac DPi-V.R
Mike Rockenfeller set the initial pace in the one-hour session with a lap of 1m36.639s in the Action Express Cadillac DPi he shares with Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi and Simon Pagenaud. He was then eclipsed by Renger van der Zande in Chip Ganassi Racing's Cadillac, who lapped in 1m36.127s.
The Acuras then entered the fray with some quick laps, as Dane Cameron in the Meyer Shank-run car and Helio Castroneves in WTR's AXR-05 rose to second and third in the times, before Jonathan Bomarito showed Mazda's hand by taking P2 with a lap of 1m36.26s, 0.133s off van der Zande's best.
After a red flag to retrieve an errant Mercedes GTD car, new tyre runs changed the picture completely, with Vautier jumping to top spot in the #5 JDC-Miller Cadillac, 0.289s clear of Oliver Jarvis (who took over the sole Mazda) and three-tenths ahead of Pipo Derani in the #31 AXR Cadillac.
Van der Zande dropped to fourth, ahead of AJ Allmendinger, beating Cameron's time in the Shank Acura, as well as Castroneves and Rockenfeller.
In LMP2, Charles Milesi led the way - and was eighth overall - in Racing Team Nederland's ORECA, 0.466s ahead of Tristan Nunez (WIN Autosport ORECA) and well clear of Nicolas Lapierre's PR1 Mathiasen example, with Rinus VeeKay close behind for DragonSpeed.
Colin Braun topped LMP3 for CORE Autosport, ahead of Riley Motorsports duo Jeroen Bleekemolen and Oliver Askew.
In GTLM, Kevin Estre set the early pace in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911, before Jordan Taylor pipped him in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette, lapping in 1m43.906s.
But Nick Tandy demolished that time with 1m43.467s in the #4 Corvette, and made it a 1-2 for the C8.R.
PLUS: How Tandy joined an exclusive club of endurance legends
Timo Glock was third fastest for BMW, ahead of Estre and the second BMW of Marco Wittmann.
Daniel Serra's AF Corse Ferrari was fastest in GTD, ahead of Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche), Rolf Ineichen (Lamborghini) and Maxi Buhk (Mercedes).
The session was red flagged with 20 minutes to go for Kenny Habul in the #76 Mercedes, who went off at Turn 2.
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| Series | IMSA |
| Drivers | Marc Miller |
| Author | Charles Bradley |
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