(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Joey Hand was the fastest qualifier in the GT Le Mans class at "The Roar Before the 24" in the No. 66 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT with a best lap of 1:43.610 (123.688 mph). “You’re always trying to win practice, but especially trying to win qualifying,” Hand said. “We went for it. We struggled with our balance of the car a little bit this weekend from the December test. We really liked it. Dirk (Mueller) and Seabass (Sebastien Bourdais) and I were just bouncing it all weekend. We got it closer this morning, we think maybe it’s the temperature, and we made a change right between the practice and qualifying." Hand, Mueller and Bourdais will be going for their second consecutive Daytona 24 Hour victory in GTLM. Check out John Thawley's superb images from Daytona here. 
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Oliver Gavin (No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R) posted the second quickest time in GTLM, turning a 1:43.640 (123.653 mph) lap in the factory Corvette he’s sharing with Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler. 
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Ryan Briscoe was third in the No. 67 Ford GT at 1:43.714 (123.564 mph).
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Earl Bamber (No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR) was fourth in GTLM at 1:43.888 (123.357 mph)
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Defending WeatherTech Championship GTLM champion Antonio Garcia (No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R) qualified fifth with a 1:43.998 (123.227 mph). The top six GTLM cars qualified within one second of each other.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Rolf Ineichen (No. 11 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3) set the fastest overall lap of the weekend in GTD with a 1:47.104 (119.653 mph) set in Friday’s first session. It was more of the same in Sunday’s qualifying session in which Ineichen’s teammate, Mirko Bortolotti, posted the fastest time of 1:47.374 (119.352 mph), securing prime garage space and pit selections for the No. 11 team that also includes drivers Franck Perera and Rik Breukers. “It’s good to be back at Daytona,” Bortolotti said. “We are not a regular team for the season, but for me, it’s already the third time coming back to Daytona, so it’s always good to be here. For the team, it’s the second time after the race we did last year. We’ve got a good garage spot for the race. Let’s see what kind of benefit we will have out of it."