Wittmann keeps BMW ahead in third Roar session

BMW’s form from Roar Before the 24 Session 2 yesterday continued in Session 3 today at Daytona, with the No. 25 BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8 topping the times after a 1m36.798s from Marco Wittmann.

Wittmann’s hot lap came early in the session after multiple improvements and was just over a tenth faster than the other GTP drivers. It was, however, not quite as quick as Dries Vanthoor’s benchmark time from Friday’s action.

The No. 93 Acura MSR ARX-06 slotted in second after ex-Cadillac driver Renger van der Zande set a 1m36.928s. The No. 6 Penske Porsche completed the top three with a time that was also within two-tenths of the lead BMW.

The sister No. 7 Porsche — which lost out on valuable track time in Session 2 with a fault that set off the car’s high voltage alarm — was back on track today and ended up sixth in the times after initially sitting second early on. Nick Tandy set the car’s quickest tour, a 1m37.204s.

The quickest of the Cadillacs, meanwhile, was the No. 10 from Wayne Taylor Racing. It would finish up fifth, a tenth off the No. 60 MSR Acura that claimed fourth in the classification.

It was a productive session for the whole GTP field, with each of the 12 cars completing more than 20 laps. The highest mileage total was achieved by the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac, which managed 42 tours of the speedway.

In LMP2, Riley’s No. 73 ORECA topped the session with a 1m40.108s from Felipe Fraga in the opening minutes. The Crowdstrike by APR ORECA continued to show pace and took second.

A trio of Lamborghini Huracans paced the GTD classes with the No. 78 from Forte Racing, which set a 1m48.036s with Mario Farnbacher at the controls, coming out on top. The No. 45 from Wayne Taylor Racing was 0.156 off and second, its best time less than a tenth faster than the No. 9 from Pfaff, which was the quickest car in the GTD PRO field.

There was one red flag stoppage in the 90-minute session to allow circuit marshals to clear a WeatherTech advertising board that was dragged onto the circuit at the Le Mans Chicane by the Turner BMW.

The green flag running in the session was also interrupted by a simulation of the new-for-2025 category and class split procedure that will be used during full-course yellows this season. Once the 10-minute-long process came to a close, a faux race restart occurred with the Lamborghini SC63 leading the field across the line.

Session 4 is set to begin at 3:10pm ET.

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