ROAR Qualifying Sets 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona Field
IMSA’s season is officially started, although its longest race of the year, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, starting an 11-contest season, doesn’t take place until next weekend. The ROAR Before the Rolex 24 was held at Daytona International Speedway this past weekend and, together with five comprehensive practice sessions for the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship series, qualifying for next weekend’s race was held.
Accomplishing two birds with one stone, IMSA allowed its 59 entries a full weekend of testing, both during the daytime and at night, which allows teams and drivers who might not be totally familiar with either the track, the cars they’re driving, the crew members that have changed from a year earlier and various balance of performance strictures that have been handed down by IMSA’s technical department, to find their ways.
At the close of qualifying on Sunday, though, the same team that was atop the standings at the end of the 2023 campaign were at the pinnacle of qualifying: the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing earned the first Motul Pole position of the year with Pipo Derani at the helm, as his Cadillac V-Series.R. edged the other Cadillac Racing entry of Chip Ganassi Racing to the top of the timing sheets by 0.071 seconds, with a lap of 1:32.656 at 138.318 around the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road/oval course.
Derani and Ganassi’s Sebastien Bourdais were among the speedsters throughout the testing sessions, and they, together with the other seven second-year GTP prototypes on the track, broke the existing, five-year-old track record during the time trials session. Oliver Jarvis, racing a Mazda DPi in 2019, had set the prior mark at 1:33.685, a lap that was broken by all nine GTP cars participating in Sunday’s qualifying session. Derani, who claimed the 2021 IMSA Daytona Prototype International (DPi) championship, earned his 10th career pole position in IMSA competition.
“Obviously,” he said, “the Cadillac was flying out there today. it was just a privilege and a pleasure to drive such a car; it’s really well balanced. There was great teamwork to improve what was needed for qualifying and the car felt on rails.” With cool temperatures, cloud cover and a 17-mph tail wind on Daytona’s famous trioval “We were just trying to maximize the tools that we had,” Derani noted. “Quite honestly, I was quite surprised, but I think the conditions were perfect for that: cold, the tires were working well and obviously for qualifying you’re running low fuel… “
The second row will be occupied by a Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963, with the No. 7 of Felipe Nasr third, and one of two BMW M RLL Hybrid V8 entries, the No. 25 driven by Connor De Phillipppi fourth. The two Acura ARX-06 entries from Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti hold down the third row, the No. 40 of Louis Deletraz pipping the No. 10 driven by Filipe Albuquerque, while the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport (Nick Tandy) and No. 24 BMW M Team RLL (Jesse Krohn) qualified on the fourth row. One of two independent Porsche 963 entries, from JDC-Miller MotorSports driven by Tijmenvander Helm takes the ninth spot; the Proton Competition Porsche didn’t participate in qualifying after Neel Jani slid off the track during a pre-qualifying practice run.
In the LMP2 category, Ben Keating shone in United Autosports USA’s No. 2ORECA LMP2 07, leading 12 other class entrants in the 15-minute qualifying session. The 2021 and 2022 LMP2 class champion, Keating is, as is his usual custom, also racing in the GTP class with the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963. He noted the Daytona “track was unbelievably fast today. These were almost perfect conditions… I couldn’t believe how quick it was.” While he set his quick lap of 1:38.501 midway through the session, he remarked, “As I look across the 2024 LMP2 field, two-thirds of the cars are really strong. It’s going to be an epic year and I’m looking forward to it!”
The two GTD sports car classes, GTD PRO and GTD had their own qualifying session before the prototypes took over the Daytona track, and it was the GTD PRO “Rexy” AO Racing Porsche No. 77 911 GT3 R (992) that earned pole position, but had reigning champions Vasser Sullivan Racing right behind him, with Jack Hawksworth at the wheel of the No. 14 RC F GT3, less than a tenth of a second in arrears.
The past few seasons, GTD has trumped GTD PRO in qualifying and occasionally in races as well, but not this time. The GTD Lexus RC F GT3 of Vasser Sullivan took the top nod in class at 1:44.494, a bit more than three hundredths behind its GTD PRO teammate. Parker Thompson drove the No. 12 to the top of the GTD grid; he was followed by the No. 86 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) of Klaus Bachler, leading the MDK Motorsports team.
With LMP3 no longer part of the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, some teams have rearranged their locales, and reigning class champs Riley Motorsports have gone to LMP2. Gar Robinson placed the ORECA fourth in class his first time driving in the category. Additionally, other squads have changed direction in the sports car segments, as GTD PRO became a customer class, as opposed to being factory-based.
AO Racing, on pole for GTD PRO, ran GTD last year; Corvette Racing is now Corvette Racing by PrattMiller Motorsports, while other teams are able to purchase Corvettes and race them. Pfaff Motorsports traded their plaid GTD PRO Porsche for a same-category McLaren 720S GT3 EVO while Ford Multimatic Motorsports is racing in GTD PRO or the first time this year.
While the four leaders of their respective packs have a week to enjoy their pole positions, everyone is waiting to see who’s got the goods when the full 24 hours are up. This weekend’s schedule begins on Thursday for the WeatherTech racers, with three practices on that date and a fourth Friday practice.
The weather, for once, looks like it’ll be cooperating with racers, with mostly sunny conditions during the daytime and the sole prospect for showers occurring late Thursday and very early on Friday. The warmest day will be Saturday, with highs just over 80 degrees and lows in the low 60s. The 62nd annual Rolex 24 at Daytona gets underway on Saturday afternoon at 1:40PM and concludes when the leader takes twin checkered flags 24 hours later.