Westbrook Leads Opening Practice for Rolex 24

Richard Westbrook leads opening practice for the Rolex 24 in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP

Richard Westbrook turned the fastest lap in Thursday morning’s opening TUDOR United SportsCar Championship practice for the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The session was run under sunny skies with chilly 43-degree temperatures.

Westbrook turned a lap of 1:39.462 in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP.

Christian Fittipaldi, driving the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, was second, 1:39.764, followed by defending winner Scott Pruett, running 1:40.147 in the No. 01 Telcel/Target Ford EcoBoost/Riley.

Antonio Garcia, overall winner of the 2009 Rolex 24, was fastest in GTLM in the Corvette Racing No. 3 Corvette C7.R, 1:46.036, followed closely by Marc Goossens in the No. 91 SRT Motorsports SRT Viper GTS-R, and Darren Turner, 1:46.101 in the No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage.

In PC, Colin Braun was fastest, running 1:43.023 in the No. 54 CORE Autosport ORECA FLM09.

Oliver Jarvis led GTD, running 1:47.892 in the No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports Audi R8 LMS.

All but one of the 67 cars entered in the Rolex 24 participated in the session, with the No. 555 Level 5 Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia failing to turn a lap.

The one-hour session was red-flagged twice. Alex Riberas was unhurt in an incident in Turn 5 in the No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America. The other stoppage came when James Davison came to a stop in speedway Turn 4 in the No. 007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage.

The second practice session will run from 1:15-1:45 p.m. ET, followed by qualifying starting at 3:45 p.m. There will also be a 90-minute night practice session beginning at 6:30 p.m.