2019 24 Hours of Daytona

Four practice sessions were held before the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday.[25] The first two sessions on Thursday morning and afternoon were 45 minutes and 75 Minutes in length, while third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes, and the fourth on Friday morning lasted an hour.[26]

In Practice 1, which was held in damp conditions, Felipe Nasr set the fastest lap, in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, with a best of 1:36.108, in a session which saw just four of the eleven DPi cars set flying laps on slick tires during the damp session.[27] Behind Nasr was Filipe Albuquerque, who gave the Action Express Racing a 1–2, in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac, with a best of 1:36.707. Tristan Vautier’s 1:37.595 effort in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac and Jonathan Bomarito’s 1:38.561 in the No. 55 Mazda RT-24P were the only other competitive times set on Thursday morning. The 5th best time, and the top time in the GTLM class was set by Frederic Makowiecki, in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR on slick Michelins putting a gap of eight-tenths over Mathieu Jaminet in the German manufacturer’s No. 912 car, whilst Joey Hand moved Ford Chip Ganassi Racing up to third late on, although his final effort was over a second off the Porsche pace up front. In GTD, Corey Lewis ended the morning quickest with a 1:46.577 in the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. This lap came during the 15-minute extension of the event’s first practice session dedicated to silver and bronze drivers in the secondary GT class. Henrik Hedman topped the charts in LMP2 for DragonSpeed with a 1:46.657 in the team’s FIA World Endurance Championship Oreca 07 Gibson.[28]

In Practice 2, Jonathan Bomarito, driving the #55 Mazda RT24-P, setting a 1:34.672, was a full 0.711 seconds faster than second place Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. Colin Braun checked in with the third fastest time, set early in the session, in the #54 CORE Autosport Nissan Onroak DPi, while Ricky Taylor and Agustin Canapino completed the top five for Acura Team Penske and Juncos Racing, respectively. In LMP2, a late effort from James Allen put the No. 81 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 Gibson at the head of the four-car class by 0.257 seconds over Gabriel Aubry in the No. 52 from PR1/Mathiasen, with a 1:37.255. In GTLM, Nick Tandy was quickest in the GT Le Mans class in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, with him setting a 1:43.475, followed by the #3 Corvette C7.R of Jan Magnussen with a 1:43.561, and the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe 1:43.755. Daniel Serra turned in the fastest lap in GTD, in the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3 with a 1:45.936, while Trent Hindman and Ben Keating completed the top three in class for Meyer Shank Racing and Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports, setting a 1:46.184 and 1:46.244 respectively.[29]

In Practice 3, which was held at night, Loic Duval put the #54 CORE Autosport Nissan DPi at the top, with a 1:34.786, while a 1:34.905 was set by Filipe Albuquerque in the #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. None of the Mazda RT24-P prototypes turned laps in Thursday evening practice after the Joest Racing team elected to carry out separate planned engine changes.[30] In LMP2, Ben Hanley led the class, with a 1:36.521 in the #81 Dragonspeed Oreca 07. In GTLM, Augusto Farfus set the fastest lap, with a 1:43.315, just 0.002 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed #911 Porsche 911 RSR. In GTD, Bill Auberlen posted a 1:45.165 to put his #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 in the lead, with Daniel Serra coming in 2nd in the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3, 0.109 seconds behind.[31]

Oliver Jarvis, pictured here in 2009, secured pole position for Mazda Team Joest, and broke the Track Record in the process

On Thursday's Qualifying session, which was divided into 3, with one session for the Prototypes, GTLM and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes each, and a ten minute interval between the sessions.[32] The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am (LMP2/GTD) classes requiring a Bronze/Silver Rated Driver to qualify the car.[33] The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid such that the Prototype and GTLM cars began ahead of the GTD field.

In the Prototype Qualifying session, Oliver Jarvis, driving for Mazda Team Joest, broke the Daytona International Speedway Road Course lap record to clinch pole position for the race, bringing the #77 Mazda RT-24P to the top of the timing screens early in the 15-minute prototype qualifying session before shaving his best effort down to a 1:33.685. This was two tenths quicker than the previous record around the road course of the Daytona International Speedway, that had remained unbeaten for over 25 years, and had been set by P.J. Jones in 1993 behind the wheel of a GTP Toyota Eagle MkIII.[34] This pole position was the first ever for Mazda Team Joest, and the Mazda RT24-P. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Ricky Taylor in the #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05, who interrupted a Joest 1–2 held by Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito, until his Penske team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya jumped up to third shortly before the checkered flag. Bomarito’s time of 1:34.212 however, held out as the fourth-best, while Felipe Nasr brought the highest-placed Cadillac DPi-V.R to fifth on the grid. He was followed by another 4 more Cadillacs, with Jordan Taylor going sixth in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing car, ahead of Juncos Racing’s Agustin Canapino, and the JDC-Miller Motorsports cars driven by Tristan Vautier and Stephen Simpson, while Jon Bennett propped up the running DPi field in the CORE Autosport run Ligier Nissan DPi. The defending race winning #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R failed to post a time during the session, after Filipe Albuquerque radioed his crew about engine problems.[35]

In LMP2, James Allen took pole in the #81 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 Gibson, recording a time which was half a second quicker than the 2nd placed #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 driven by Gabriel Aubry.[34]

In GTLM, Nick Tandy set a new qualifying track record for the class, taking pole position for the Porsche GT Team, driving the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, with his best lap of 1:42.257 being a full 0.326 seconds faster than the effort by the previous year’s GTLM pole sitter Jan Magnussen in the #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R. Ryan Briscoe in the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team Ford GT finished 3rd, to bring three different manufacturers into the top 3 starting spots for the . Davide Rigon came in fourth fastest in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, and was followed by Earl Bamber in the sister car to the #911, the #912. It was a tight qualifying session for the class, with all nine cars being covered by 0.982 seconds, and with the top four qualifiers in the class posting times under the previous class track record.

In GTD, Marcos Gomes set a track record for the class, while en route to taking the class pole position in the #13 Via Italia Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. The Brazilian broke Daniel Serra’s previous class qualifying record which had been set the previous year, while marking the third straight year that a Ferrari has taken the GTD class pole. Gomes’ best lap of 1:45.257 was 0.067 seconds faster than that of the second placed #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, driven by Ben Keating. Trent Hindman was came third in the #86 Acura NSX GT3 Evo for Meyer Shank Racing. Lamborghini then took the next two spots on the grid with Giacomo Altoe and Rolf Ineichen for Ebimotors and GRT Grasser Racing Team, respectively. The top 13 cars in the GTD class were covered by less than one second, making for a closely packed qualifying session.[36]

After the green flag dropped on Saturday, Acura Team Penske held the advantage thanks to a strong performance from Juan Pablo Montoya, who passed Oliver Jarvis in the #77 Mazda RT24-P 30 minutes into the race. Though running strong, the Acura and Mazda cars faced pressure from the Action Express Racing Cadillacs in 5th and 6th two hours in.[39] Kyle Masson and the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports team led the LMP2 class in their Oreca. In GTLM, Porsche and Ford's early challenge suffered teething troubles, after a splitter issue had put the #912 Porsche 911 RSR a lap behind class leader, and a three lap loss due to mechanical failure for the #67 Ford GT. Regardless, the sister car of the former manufacturer, #911, held the lead in the opening hour. In the GTD class, the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX assumed a lead over the #33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes in 2nd, and the GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan in 3rd.

After a Full-Course Yellow, which was triggered from an engine explosion from the #99 NGT Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3, the standings in DPi shuffled, with Dane Cameron holding a small lead over Felipe Nasr in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac. Behind them were both Mazdas, continuing to put pressure on the leaders. A similar shuffle occurred in GTLM, with the #66 Ford GT of Chip Ganassi Racing emerging the leader ahead of the #4 Corvette Racing C7.R in second and #911 Porsche RSR in third. In the GTD class, Rik Breukers of the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team emerged the leader, but was handed a four-minute pitlane penalty for ignoring full course caution procedures. James Allen led a 1-2 for the DragonSpeed team in the LMP2 class.

The defending overall winning team, the #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac had suffered a major blow to their challenge when, in the 3rd hour, an electrical issue had seen them initially out of the race. After 25 minutes in the garage, the #5 car returned to the track. The #6 Acura ARX-05 in the hands of Dane Cameron continued to lead in the DPi class, with the sister car in 3rd in the hands of Hélio Castroneves. Mazda driver René Rast set in between them in second, posing a challenge to Cameron's lead.[40]

As evening fell, two-time Formula One World Driver's Champion Fernando Alonso began his first stint in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac. He muscled his way into the overall lead of the Rolex 24, after inheriting the car from Jordan Taylor in 7th position. Alonso took the lead from Rene Rast in the #77 Mazda. After a third Full-Course Yellow flag, Alonso maintained his overall lead, and handed the car over to Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Kamui Kobayashi with a 15-second advantage over the #77.[41]

The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 collided with the #85 Cadillac DPi-V.R. of JDC-Miller Motorsports, thus triggering a fourth Full-Course Yellow just before the 6-hour-mark of the race. Action Express Racing debutante Pipo Derani elected not to go to the pits when all other cars in the DPi class had, thus putting the #31 Cadillac in the lead. Prior to this, Kamui Kobayashi in the #10 Cadillac set the fastest lap of the race up to that point. In the GTLM class, Porsche GT Team driver Nick Tandy lost two places from pit stops after holding the lead, thus promoting the #4 Corvette C7.R to the lead, and the #62 Ferrari 488 GTE of Risi Competizione to an impressive second. The #33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Riley Motorsports held the lead in the GTD class, while DragonSpeed continued to be first and second in LMP2.[42]