Cadillac maintained its presence atop the GTP timing screens in Friday’s practice session, open to all five classes, for the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Alexander Sims took the honors, clocking a lap of 1 minute, 35.493 seconds at 134.209 mph in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-LMDh from Action Express Racing.
Scott Dixon was next up in the No. 01 Cadillac fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing at a 1:35.717-second lap time, while Nick Yelloly improved his time to 1:35.925 on his 28th and final lap of the session in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 to secure third fastest.
“It’s satisfying to see the hard work that everyone has put into the program — even big moves from the December test here,” said Sims, who is teamed with Pipo Derani for the full WeatherTech Championship season. He will be joined by Jack Aitken at Daytona and the three other rounds of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.
“It’s gaining speed, so to speak, and building performance with each session,” Sims added. “It’s still early days, of course, and we’re learning about so much all the time. The car feels great, and though I turned the quick lap with little traffic around, it still feels good to top the chart.
“I’m looking forward to the race and driving the car.”
Other class leaders in the fourth practice session were: Mikkel Jensen (No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07) in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), 1:38.052; Jarett Andretti (No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320) in Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), 1:43.191; Mikael Grenier (No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3) in GT Daytona (GTD), 1:46.375; and Jules Gounon (No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3) in GTD PRO, 1:46.651.
The GTP class has an additional 20-minute practice session to itself under the Daytona Int’l Speedway lights on Friday evening.