Porsche sets the pace during the Roar Before the 24 at Daytona

From the very first sessions, the Porsche 963 took their place at the front. The Stuttgart brand set the fastest time in four of the first six sessions of the weekend, including two 1-2-3 finishes, displaying impressive consistency against stiff competition.

While the official Porsche Penske Motorsport prototypes – numbers 6 and 7, fielded in their 2026 versions – logically dominated the scene, the performance of the JDC-Miller MotorSports team did not go unnoticed. Entering a number 85 Porsche 963 in 2025 specification, the American team secured three top-two finishes in the overall standings.

On Sunday morning, during the sixth practice session, young Nico Pino set the fastest overall time of 1:37.099 on the 5,73 km Daytona road course. At just 21 years old, the Chilean confirmed his status as a rising star in the GTP series. The trio he forms with Tijmen van der Helm (21) and American Kaylen Frederick (23) is, in fact, the youngest crew of the 11 entries in the GTP series this season.

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« Nico does an exceptional job and his experience with factory cars allows us to better understand our position. John Church, head of JDC-Miller MotorSports, pointed out. It helps us a lot in development and serves as a reference. »

Behind the No. 85 Porsche, the two factory 963s completed the Porsche 1-2-3 in GTP, with Kevin Estre (No. 6) and Felipe Nasr (No. 7). The Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs of Ricky and Jordan Taylor, as well as the Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s driven by Kevin Magnussen and René Rast completed the top 7, all grouped within less than five tenths of a second.

The Ford Mustangs in GTD form

In LMP2, United Autosports USA confirmed its strength. Ben Hanley once again dominated the category in session 6 at the wheel of the No. 2 Oreca, with a time of 1:40.101. The car set the fastest time in four of the six Roar sessions, three of them with Hanley at the wheel.

The GTD PRO category was dominated by the Classic Mercedes for sale-AMG GT3 #75 of 75 Express. Driven this time by team owner Kenny Habul, the car set the fastest time of the weekend with a 1:47.530. A true All-Star car Australian, the crew includes Habul, the Supercars champion Chaz Mostert, the two-time champion IndyCar Will Power – for his first appearance in IMSA – as well as the official Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel.

In GTD, the Ford Mustang GT3 also shone. Joey Hand was fastest at the wheel of the No. 66 Gradient Racing Mustang, slightly ahead of the No. 75 Mercedes, with a time of 1:47.421. The Ford Mustang GT3s dominated five of the six practice sessions this weekend in the category. Good news for the Frenchman. Romain Grosjean, entered in the No. 16 of Myers Riley Motorsports.

Finally, Sunday afternoon's session reserved for Bronze drivers saw PJ Hyett shine in LMP2 with the #99 AO Racing Oreca, while Brendan Iribe placed the Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO #70 from Inception Racing leads the GTD standings.

The results of practice session #6 at the Roar

The results of practice session #7 at the Roar