Juan Pablo Montoya was fastest Friday night in the opening IMSA practice session for the WeatherTech 240 at Daytona International Speedway.
Montoya’s lap of 1 minute, 35.960 seconds in Team Penske’s No. 6 Acura bested the No. 31 Cadillac of Pipo Derani (1:35.976) and Harry Tincknell’s No. 55 Mazda (1:36.013) in the DPi class.
Derani’s co-driver for the weekend is Gabby Chaves after teammate Felipe Nasr tested positive Thursday for COVID-19.
SPEED CHART: Click here for results from Friday’s practice at Daytona
DAYTONA INFO: Start times, schedule, TV info for the race weekend
“I am so excited to be back in the car,” said Montoya, who won the DPi championship with teammate Dane Cameron last year. “Dane came in from practice and said, ‘The car feels pretty good and I think you are going to like it.’ I said, ‘Ah, thank you, no pressure!’ And, he was right. I think we have a really good race car. I felt comfortable, and I love driving this car. Everyone on the team is so excited to be back at the track.”
In other divisions, Laurens Vanthoor led GTLM in a Porsche 911 RSR-19, and Toni Vilander paced the GTD class in a Ferrari 488 GT3.
There will be another practice Saturday morning followed by qualifying for each class.
The WeatherTech 240 will take place at 6 p.m. ET Saturday on NBCSN.