First day at the Roar in the books! The 77 Mazda Team Joest on top.

Busy day at Daytona International Speedway as teams finished their preparation early this morning to hit the track on schedule.

It was mostly sunny all day until a torrential rain brought an abrupt end to the second practice session, this afternoon, for IMSA WeatherTech competitors where only a handful of drivers put on the wet tires for a reconnaissance lap. Daniel Morad being one of them.

In the first practice session, it was the number 77 Mazda Team Joest of Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez, Timo Bernhard and Rene Last with the quickest lap in the DPi class. Followed closely by the number 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac of Renger Van Der Zande, Jordan Taylor, Fernando Alonso and Kamui Kobayashi. In third place was the number 55 Mazda Team Joest of Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell and Oliver Pla.

The same three cars finished in the top 3 positions, in the afternoon session, with the number 10 Minolta Cadillac having the advantage over the two Mazda although not matching the times set in the morning.

Canadian Devlin Defrancesco, driving for JDC-Miller Motorsport, finished the 9th place overall.

The LMP2 class has only four entries for this weekend. Matthew McMurry and co-driver Gabriel Aubry, in their PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport Oreca LMP2, topped the timesheet.

In the GTLM class, the Ferrari of Risi Competizione with drivers Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina edged a very competitive field. All nine cars are within a second!

In the GTD class, the Mercedes AMG of Riley Motorsport finished quickest with Daniel Morad and his teammates in the MONTAPLAST by Land Motorsport finishing sixth.

The Pfaff Motorsport entry of Scott Hargrove and Zach Robichon ended in eight position.

The WRT Speedstar Audi Sport Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Roman De Angelis ended up in 20th place after what seemed a rather difficult outing for the car today.

Saturday’s schedule his going to be occupied as well for all three categories and especially the GTD class with a qualifying session in the afternoon.