Oliver Jarvis’s five-year old Daytona International Speedway record is in jeopardy during qualifying for the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona.
In the final GTP-only practice that preceded qualifying, three cars were under Jarvis’s 1m33.685s record set in 2019 in the Mazda DPi. Jarvis had broken a 23-year old record with that qualifying run five years ago, a 1m33.875s lap set by PJ Jones in the legendary Eagle MKIII-Toyota GTP.
Sebastien Bourdais set the quick time of the session in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R as Cadillacs finished first and third in the session, Bourdais and Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac split by Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.
Disaster struck for Proton Competition early on, as Neel Jani in the No. 5 Porsche 963 came upon a slow-moving Bourdais in the Kink in the infield road course and spun, impacting the barrier on drivers’ left. The impact at least damaged the nose, tail section and wing of the 963. The car was pushed back to the garage and the crew got to work removing bodywork, having about an hour to get the car back together for qualifying.