Cadillac will occupy the entire front row at the start of the 24h of Daytona thanks to the Pole Position grabbed today by a phenomenal Pipo Derani, followed by Sébastien Bourdais.
The drivers of Action Express Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing were the best in the GTP Class, while in LMP2 it was the evergreen Ben Keating who brought joy to United Autosports.
In GTD PRO the final push of the Porsche-Rexy driven by Sebastien Priaulx and Parker Thompson with the Lexus in GTD brings a smile to AO Racing and Vasser Sullivan Racing, but let's go in order to see what happened in Qualifying which concluded the week of Roar Before the 24 test.
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
#01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou
GTP: Derani and Cadillac super
In the GTP Class, Pipo Derani is the hero of the day and first poleman of the 2024 season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The Brazilian literally took flight with the AXR V-Series.R #31, stopping the clock at 1'32″656, improving by more than 2″3 the reference time established in these days of testing in Florida, as well as that of the Pole 2023, when however the LMDhs were all making their debut and with a different Balance of Performance.
Derani will have Séb Bourdais at his side with the #01 CRG Cadillac, who is just 0″071 behind his GM brand mate, while Felipe Nasr will start from third place with the #7 Porsche of Team Penske, stopping 0″220 behind compatriot, and finding himself at his side with the BMW #25 of Connor De Phillippi (Team RLL).
Further away were the Acuras #40 and #10 of WTR Andretti driven by Louis Delétraz and Filipe Albuquerque, probably carrying the greater weight compared to their rivals.
Nick Tandy's Porsche #6 was only seventh at +0″7, ahead of Jesse Krohn's BMW #24 and the private Porsches of Tijmen Van Der Helm (#85 JDC-Miller Motorsports) and #5 of Proton Competition with which however Gimmi Bruni failed to complete even one lap.
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
#52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca LMP2 07: Ben Keating, Paul-Loup Chatin, Alex Quinn
LMP2: Keating is always the same
In the LMP2 Class, needless to say, the battle between the Bronze drivers is won by the usual Ben Keating, who at 52 years old continues to teach it to many other colleagues.
Dividing tasks between categories (he will also drive the Porsche-JDC Miller in the GTP), the local idol gives the record to United Autosports by setting a time of 1'38″501 with the Oreca #2 which puts him in Pole Position by 0″102 on Nick Boulle with the 07-Gibson #52 of Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen.
On the second row with a good 0″7 on the back of the WEC Champion are George Kurtz (#04 APR) and Gar Robinson (#74 Riley), while Danny Goldburg takes a full second from his teammate, completing the Top5 with the #22 of United Autosports.
Steven Thomas (#11 TDS Racing) is sixth, ahead of the #99 AO Racing Oreca in 'Spike' livery with PJ Hyett on board. Behind them we find Dennis Andersen (#20 MDK by High Class Racing), Erix Lux (#81 DragonSpeed) and Luis Pérez-Companc with the #88 of AF Corse, who however pays for a bad mistake with a contact with the barriers in the central part of the track.
Dwight Merrimen was eleventh with the Oreca #18 of Era Motorsports, the Ligier #33 of Lance Willsey (Sean Creech Motorsport) and John Farano on the Oreca #8 of Tower Motorsports completing the classification, all over 2 and 3 seconds.
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
#77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R: Laurin Heinrich, Sebastian Priaulx, Michael Christensen
GTD PRO: Porsche stands out with Priaulx
The accident at the start of the session (which we will talk about later) forced all the GT3 drivers to make an assault on Pole Position in 8'30″ and with a final assault that brought applause it was Sébastien Priaulx who brought joy to the Porsche.
The young standard bearer of AO Racing laps in 1'44″382 with the 911 'Rexy', beating the Lexus #12 of Jack Hawksworth (Vasser Sullivan) by 8 cents net, while the others following are over 0″4, starting from Antonio Garcia third in the #3 Corvette, and the Frank Perera-Daniel Serra pair finishing in the Top5 with the exact same time for Lamborghini (#19 Iron Lynx) and Ferrari (#62 Risi Competizione).
Sixth is the McLaren #9 of Pfaff Motorsports driven by Oliver Jarvis, struggling with a small problem with the front bonnet which was quickly fixed during the red flag break, seventh is Tommy Milner armed with the second Corvette.
Romain Grosjean placed eighth for the Lamborghini-Iron Lynx #60 with 0″9 of delay, as did the Multimatic Ford Mustang #65 given in the hands of Dirk Muller, who together with Maro Engel (Mercedes #75 – Sun Energy 1) and among the top ten.
The #23 Aston Martin of Ross Gunn (Heart of Racing), Madison Snow with the #1 BMW of Paul Miller Racing and the #64 Mustang of Harry Tincknell complete the ranking with more than a second of margin from the top.
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
#12 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Frankie Montecalvo, Parker Thompson, Aaron Telitz, Ritomo Miyata
GTD: Thompson gives the lead to Lexus at the last minute
David Brule's Porsche #92 was immediately out at the start of the session, automatically sending the 911-992 of Kellymoss with Riley to the back of the group after the mistake made by the American in turn 3, resulting in the red flag being displayed.
The restart with 8'30″ on the clock saw Parker Thompson come out on top in a battle of hundredths in Vasser Sullivan's Lexus #12, author of a 1'44″494 which allowed him to beat the Porsche #86 by 0″043 of MDK Motorsports driven by Klaus Bachler, also placing third overall in the GT3.
As expected, the times dropped significantly (more than 2″) compared to the fastest set during the previous Roar sessions, and most of the manufacturers sent their official drivers in the car to try not only to stand out , but also possibly not to expose oneself excessively, risking unfavorable changes in Balance of Performance.
The fact is that an excellent Katherine Legge places the #66 Acura of Gradient Racing in third place after having also enjoyed the lead for a few moments, followed by the Lamborghinis of Kyle Marcelli (#45 WTR Andretti) and Loris Spinelli (#78 Forte Racing ), which are a couple of tenths behind the record.
Behind the Abruzzo driver there are three Ferraris, with the 296 #34 of Conquest Racing finishing sixth thanks to Albert Costa, faster than Antonio Fuoco (#47 Cetilar Racing) and Alessio Rovera (#023 Triarsi).
In the Top10 with less than half a second of distance we also have the #17 AWA Corvette in the hands of Nico Varrone and Frederik Schandorff in the #70 McLaren of Inception Racing, followed by the #21 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Miguel Molina and the DTM Champion, Thomas Preining, in the #43 Porsche of Andretti Motorsports, plus the #85 Lamborghini of the Iron Dames led here by Michelle Gatting, the only one together with Matt Bell with the #13 Corvette of AWA to remain around 0″7 behind, while all the others behind have heavier delays above a second.
#IMSA #24h #Daytona #super #Cadillac #Pole #onetwo #finish
