Tandy, Kobayashi in Dead Heat in Daytona Night Practice

Photo: Juergen Tap/Porsche

Nick Tandy and Kamui Kobayashi set identical lap times to lead the night practice session for the 63rd Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Tandy’s No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 and Kobayashi’s No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R both posted a best time of 1:36.921 during the 90-minute session which was delayed by fifteen minutes and impacted by light rain throughout.

Although few GTP runners hit the track early on, an increase of top-class activity led to an improvement of times within the final fifteen minutes.

Porsche initially appeared on course for 1-2-3 with Tandy ahead of Mathieu Jaminet and Pascal Wehrlein, only for the two WTR Cadillacs to make their way into the top three.

Brendon Hartley ended the session third aboard the No. 10 Cadillac, ahead of Jaminet, Wehrlein and the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Alex Palou.

Malthe Jakobsen set the pace in LMP2, reeling off a 1:38.525 behind the wheel of the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 Gibson to lead Pecom Racing’s Matthieu Vaxiviere and Tom Dillmann’s No. 43 Inter Europol Competition machine.

Jules Gounon led GTD Pro by steering the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a best time of 1:47.809.

Jesse Krohn was 0.236 seconds further back in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, with Kelvin van der Linde third aboard the No. 1 sister machine.

Marvin Kirchhoefer, meanwhile, paced GTD behind the wheel of the No. 13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, setting a 1:48.235.

Final practice for the Rolex 24 at Daytona is scheduled for Friday at 11:20 a.m. ET.

RESULTS: Practice 2