The GTP teams practiced fuel stops, tyre stops, driver changes and, in the case of the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh, practiced a swift nose change. Out on track, the teams were also testing the softer Michelin compound for use at night in the colder temperatures.
Particularly worth noting for the drivers and race engineers was the behavior of the softer rubber, given that there is a reduction in the number of tyre sets this year and bigger fuel tanks, obliging cars to often double-stint their rubber.
Connor De Phillippi got his #25 BMW M Hybrid V8s down to 1m7.103s, with van der Zande and Alex Lynn in the Ganassi Cadillacs also ducking into the low 1m37s. Then van der Zande delivered a 1m36.742s, and was soon accompanied in that 96s bracket by teammate Lynn.
De Phillippi’s best kept him in third, and although van der Zande’s Caddy was fastest in Sectors 1 and 2, De Phillippo was comfortably quickest through Sector 3.
Mathieu Jaminet’s seventh and final lap moved him up to fourth place in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, just ahead of team-mate Michael Christensen in the #7. Philipp Eng in the #24 BMW propped up the field but was within one second of top spot.
The Meyer Shank Racing Acura team elected not to participate in this session, and the same applied to fellow ARX-06 runner Wayne Taylor Racing, and Action Express Racing (Cadillac V-LMDh).
Rolex 24 at Daytona - Free Practice 5 results:
| Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01 |
 Sébastien Bourdais  Renger van der Zande  Scott Dixon
|
GTP | Cadillac V-LMDh | 1'36.742 | |
| 2 | 02 |
Earl Bamber  Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook
|
GTP | Cadillac V-LMDh | 1'36.872 | 0.130 |
| 3 | 25 |
 Connor de Phillippi Nick Yelloly  Sheldon Van Der Linde Colton Herta
|
GTP | BMW M Hybrid V8 | 1'37.103 | 0.361 |
| 4 | 6 |
Mathieu Jaminet Nick Tandy Dane Cameron
|
GTP | Porsche 963 | 1'37.409 | 0.667 |
| 5 | 7 |
 Matt Campbell  Felipe Nasr  Michael Christensen
|
GTP | Porsche 963 | 1'37.634 | 0.892 |
| 6 | 24 |
 Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus  Marco Wittmann Colton Herta
|
GTP | BMW M Hybrid V8 | 1'37.738 | 0.996 |
| 7 | 10 |
Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque  Louis Deletraz Brendon Hartley
|
GTP | Acura ARX-06 | ||
| 8 | 31 |
Pipo Derani Alexander Sims Jack Aitken
|
GTP | Cadillac V-LMDh | ||
| 9 | 60 |
Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun Helio Castroneves Simon Pagenaud
|
GTP | Acura ARX-06 | ||
| View full results | ||||||
