Dixon lapped Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course in 1m36.012s in the Cadillac V-Series.R from Chip Ganassi Racing’s stable, in warm track conditions for this 90-minute session.
Dries Vanthoor set the early pace in the #24 RLL-run BMW M Hybrid V8, lapping in 1m36.828s before Louis Deletraz beat him by 0.163 seconds in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06.
Kevin Estre’s factory-entered, Penske-run #6 Porsche 963 then went P1 with 1m36.396s, before Rene Rast beat that by 0.027s in the sister #25 BMW with 1m36.369s.
That mark lasted until the half distance point, when Sebastien Bourdais unleashed in the Ganassi-run Cadillac a 1m36.255s to beat Estre by 0.026s.
Bourdais' team-mate Dixon jumped in for the final moments of the session, setting fastest sector times in both the first and second sections of the track. He increased the #01 car’s advantage with a 1m36.012s, which underlines Cadillac’s credentials as a pre-race favourite.
Connor De Phillippi responded in the #25 BMW with 1m36.139s, getting within 0.127s of Dixon.
Behind De Phillippi, Estre and Vanthoor were Dane Cameron (#7 Penske Porsche), Jack Aitken (#31 Action Express Cadillac) and Deletraz.
The #85 JDC-Miller Porsche 963 was plagued by a driver’s door that kept coming open, with Richard Westbrook setting the eighth-quickest time ahead of Neel Jani’s Proton Porsche.
“I think it was my shoulder, we made a little tweak to the insert and I think it was pushing the door open under braking,” he told IMSA Radio. “Good to find this out now!”
The #10 WTRA Acura spent most of the session on high stands in the garage being worked on after a very brief run. It appeared again at the end of the session in Felipe Albuquerque’s hands but ended slowest of the GTP runners.
Source: Autosport