Tequila Patron ESM’s Brendon Hartley set the fastest lap of the event (1m12.307s) under dark skies in his Nissan Onroak DPi. Run in hot and humid conditions with the moon overhead, June’s Le Mans winner put a healthy distance between himself and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R (+0.310s) and Renger van der Zande in the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Ligier JS P217-Gibson (+0.471s). It marked the first time in the three Thursday sessions where a DPi topped the Prototype class after VFR and Team Penske held the honors during daylight.

“It was a really positive day,” Hartley told IMSA Radio. “The team nailed it and we made good steps all day. Surprised we were so fast there.”

BMW Team RLL’s Alexander Sims led a Bavarian 1-2 in GT Le Mans as his No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM (1m17.818s) edged teammate Nicky Catsburg (+0.124s) and Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner (+0.275s) in his C7.R.

Lexus moved to the front in GT Daytona thanks to Jack Hawksworth in the No. 15 RC F GT3 (1m20.031s) Land Motorsport’s Connor De Phillippi (+0.226s) was next in his Audi R8 LMS GT3 and Michael Christensen was third (+0.380s) in his Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Pato O’Ward swept the day with three PC-leading laps in the three-car category.

UP NEXT: FP4, Saturday, 11:40 a.m. ET