INTO THE DARK

Pic: Bob Chapman, autosport image.
The final act of day one here in Daytona, now underway, is the two hour free practice under the lights, with the first sight of the cars on the banking at night. Viewed from the pits they make a spectacular sight with the Daytona Prototype cars generally passing the slower cars on the high side as they come past the pits. This practice provides more opportunities for the pit crews to limber up and the drivers to get used to the circuit under the most challenging of circumstances. Tomorrow further opportunities for practice are rounded out by the KONI Challenge Fresh From Florida 200 at 13:45, which has a 3 hour time limit.
Update: Dominik Farnbacher in the #86 Flex-Box Porsche was back on the pace in night practice with a time of 1 mins 49.914 secs, within 0.5 secs of the pole time set by Sylvain Tremblay in the Mazda RX-8.