Great battle in Daytona for the Pole Position assignment for the Roar Before the 24 weekend Qualifying Race.
The protagonists of the IMSA SportsCar Championship played in a very tight session for the record for the 100 ‘race which on Sunday will decide the starting grid of the 24h of Daytona scheduled for 29-30 January.
DPi: Van Der Zande is wrong, Vautier thanks
Tristan Vautier’s Pole Position in the DPi Class and at an absolute level at the end of a tight Qualification and with the final twist.
The driver of JDC Miller Motorsports gets the best time in 1’34 “034 at about two thirds of the session, but in the last 4 ‘here is the decisive episode.
Renger Van Der Zande tries the assault on the record, but makes a mistake and remains planted in the wet grass of turn 5. The Cadillac # 01 does not come out and the race direction displays the red flag, with the clock that continues to run.
In fact, the tests end there and Vautier can celebrate with the certainty that his Cadillac # 5 is in first position. Van Der Zande is instead punished with the cancellation of the best time, so the guy from Chip Ganassi Racing – who was second – slips to the bottom of the DPi group.
Filipe Albuquerque then gets into the front row at the wheel of the Acura # 10 of Wayne Taylor Racing, behind the Cadillacs of the excellent Alex Lynn (# 02 Chip Ganassi Racing), Tristan Nunez (# 31 Action Express Racing) and Jimmie Johnson (Ally Racing / AXR).
At his first outing with the Acura of Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanan, Tom Blomqvist is sixth, but over 1 “behind the leader.
# 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
LMP2: Keating celebrates with PR1 Mathiasen
Ben Keating continues to show great form going to take the lead in the LMP2 Class.
PR1 veteran Mathiasen Motorsports – who has a double role having to race also in DPi with the JDC – puts the seal on the Pole Position in 1’37 “296 with the Oreca # 52, trimming heavy gaps to all the other 07-Gibson rivals .
In second place with 0 “637 is his teammate Steven Thomas (# 11), third is Dennis Andersen with the # 20 of High Class Racing, while François Heriaux (# 68) and John Falb (# 69) they are raised in the Top5 with the cars of G-Drive Racing by APR.
Sixth Eric Lux (# 81 DragonSpeed USA), followed by Frits Van Eerd (# 29 Racing Team Nederland), John Farano (# 8 Tower Motorsport), Dwight Merriman (# 18 Era Motorsport) and James McGuire (# 22 United Autosports) close the deployment, not without complaining about the aforementioned red flag which denied him any chance to improve.
# 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca LMP2 07: Ben Keating, Mikkel Jensen, Scott Huffaker, Nicolas Lapierre
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
LMP3: Shields flies with the Duqueine
Cameron Shields set the best time in the LMP3 Class once the checkered flag was displayed.
The standard bearer of Muehlner Motorsports America stops the time in 1’42 “182 with the Duqueine D08 # 26, taking the Ligier JS P320 # 38 of Nico Pino (Performance Tech Motorsports) by 0” 286, the only one to be able to keep up with the Australian .
Much more detached Jarett Andretti, who with his team’s Ligier # 36 finds himself 1 “6 behind the top, closely followed by Duqueine # 6 of Shields’ teammate Ayrton Ori.
Fifth and sixth places for the Ligier cars of Jon Bennett (# 54 Core Autosport) and Lance Willsey (# 33 Sean Creech Motorsports), they are much further away – and with worse times as well than some GT3s of the GTD Classes – Orey Fidani with the Duqueine # 13 of AWA and Mark Kvamme in the # 7 of Forty7 Motorsports.
No time trial for Gar Robinson at the wheel of the Ligier # 74 prepared by Riley Motorsports.
# 26 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine D08: TBD, Cameron Shields, CR Crews, Ugo de Wilde
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
GTD: doubles for Porsche and Mercedes
In the GTD Classes there are double wins for Porsche and Mercedes. Alexandre Imperatori stands out among the PROs with the KCMG 911 # 2 in 1’46 “136, just 0” 063 ahead of the Pfaff Motorsport # 9 driven by Mathieu Jaminet.
Then we find the Lamborghini # 63 of Andrea Caldarelli (TR3 Racing) and the Aston Martin # 23 of Ross Gunn (Heart of Racing), while the Ferrari 488 # 62 of Risi Competizione reaches the Top5 of its category with Davide Rigon.
Ben Barnicoat had a strong start, but he had to settle for sixth time on the Lexus # 14 of Vasser Sullivan Racing, putting himself behind the Mercedes # 97 of Maro Engel (WeatherTech Racing) and the new BMW M4 # 24 of Team RLL entrusted to Sheldon Van Der Linde.
Julien Andlauer instead has the ninth time at the wheel of the Porsche # 79 of WeatherTech Racing / Proton Competition, putting behind the Chevrolet Corvettes of Tommy Milner (# 4) and Antonio Garcia (# 3), with the C8.Rs that no longer shine from time to time finding himself behind even several competitors of the ‘normal’ GTD.
# 2 KCMG Porsche 911 GT3R: Laurens Vanthoor, Patrick Pilet, Dennis Olsen, Alexandre Imperatori
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
And speaking of GTD, as we said, the Mercedes-AMG of Kenny Habul (# 75 Sun Energy 1) snatches the lead in 1’46 “199, beating by a whisker the # 57 of Russell Ward (Winward Racing), actually placing in third and fourth place overall among the GT3s.
Third performance for Jon Miller in the McLaren # 59 of Crucial Motorsport, behind the Mercedes # 28 of Michael De Quesada (Alegra Motorsports) and the Ferrari # 47 of Cetilar Racing driven by Roberto Lacorte, to complete the Top5 of the lot.
Frankie Montecalvo is sixth on the other Lexus of Vasser Sullivan Racing, then there are Brendan Iribe in the McLaren # 70 of Inception Racing / Optimum, John Potter in the Aston Martin # 44 branded Magnus Racing and the Ferrari # 21 of Luis Perez Companc (AF Corse), which closes the Top10 together with Misha Goikhberg’s Lamborghini # 71 (T3 Motorsport North America).
# 75 Sun Energy 1 Mercedes-AMG GT3: Kenny Habul, Luca Stolz, Raffaele Marciello, Fabian Schiller
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
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