DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rahal Ducati Moto with XPEL rider P.J. Jacobsen topped the first qualifying session for the 84th running of the Daytona 200.
The 32-year-old Jacobsen laid down the fastest lap with a 1:49.359 on just his seventh lap of the session, and it stood the test of time. Jacobsen looks to carry that momentum into tomorrow’s Q2 and a spot in the Supersport Time Attack.
Jacobsen currently holds the provisional pole over D3O M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Tyler Scott, who has started on the pole at the Daytona 200 for the past two years in a row. Scott is currently sitting within 0.188 seconds of Jacobsen with a lap time of 1:49.547.
Celtic/Economy Lube + Tire/Warhorse HSBK Ducati rider Darryn Binder completes the provisional front row with a 1:49.942 lap time. The former MotoGP rider looked immediately comfortable on the Daytona banks and has aligned himself with the pace almost immediately. In fact, Jacobosen, Scott, and Binder were the only riders to dip below the 1:50 mark in the first qualifying session and are separated by about half a second altogether.
Richie Escalante’s M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSXR-750 sits fourth after the first session and was the only rider in the one-minute-fifty range with a 1:50.538.
Daytona 200 rookie Alessandro Di Mario is sitting fifth after Q1 aboard his Rahal Ducati Moto with Roller Die + Forming Ducati Panigale V2. The 17-year-old rookie set his fastest time of 1:51.441 on his 13th lap of the session.
Liberty Yamaha Racing’s Dominic Doyle is sixth and is the top-ranking YZF-R9 thus far. Doyle is followed by Rahal Ducati Moto with Droplight’s Kayla Yaakov in seventh, and Rahal Ducati Moto with Desnuda Organic Tequila’s Josh Herrin in eighth.
The qualifying session was marred by two red flags. The first was shown with approximately 18 minutes remaining after Brenden Ketelsen went down while exiting the international horseshoe. The final red flag occurred with one minute and 55 seconds left when Davey Todd crashed.
Mission King Of The Baggers
The J&P Cycles/Motul/Vance & Hines Factory Indian squad came out swinging in Q1, capturing the top three provisional spots with all riders separated by just three-tenths of a second. Troy Herfoss led the charge for Indian Motorcycle with a fast lap of 1:51.011 and is followed closely by his teammates Hayden Gillim in second and Rocco Landers third.
Kyle Wyman registered his Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Road Glide in fourth position with a lap time of 1:51.516 with just one-tenth separating him and his teammate Bradley Smith in fifth.
The final rider to register a time in the 1:51s was SDI Racing’s Tyler O’hara aboard his Indian Challenger.
Twins Cup
With a tighter schedule at Daytona, the Twins Cup class is challenged with only one 25-minute qualifying session available to them. This means, if a rider crashes, or simply doesn’t have the feel in Q1, there is no Q2 session to improve their grid position.
Ghetto Customs team owner/rider Chris Parrish took full advantage of the limited qualifying time. The 49-year-old Tennessean laid down a 1:57.625 lap aboard his Aprilia RS 660 on his ninth lap of the session. In fact, the winner of the very first Twins Cup Championship in 2018 was the only rider to record a time below 1:58 in the session.
Lining up next to Parrish in second will be Twins Cup rookie and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki rider Bodie Paige. Paige’s 1:58.430 lap time was just fast enough to start one step ahead of Karns/TST Industries Racing Suzuki GSX-8R rider Isaac Woodworth, who completes the front row of the grid.
Twins Cup rookie Michel Agazzi was fourth-fastest aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-8R with a 1:58.648 lap time. The Italian, Agazzi, is competing in his first MotoAmerica Twins Cup race after winning the GSX-8R cup this past summer, and he already looks to be getting comfortable at Daytona.
Completing the second row of the grid are Sam Drane aboard the Yamaha BLU CRU Estenson Racing YZF-R7 in fifth position, and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-8R rider Matthew Chapin in sixth.
Mission Super Hooligans
Defending champion James Rispoli kicked off the 2026 Mission Super Hooligan National Championship season by grabbing pole -position at Daytona International Speedway. His 1:52.991 lap narrowly edged out Saddlemen Race Development teammate Cory West by a razor-thin 0.054 seconds.
