0 DeltaWing Racing Sean Rayhall, Katherine Legge, Andreas Wirth, Andy Meyrick DeltaWing DWC13 Elan
DeltaWing Racing surprised most in the paddock with an announcement of a full season in the IMSA WTSC for 2016 with Sean Rayhall named as a full season driver alongside the returning Katherine Legge.
Andy Meyrick joins for the longer NAEC races and the trio are joined by Andreas Wirth for Daytona.
The #0 car features a ‘Spirit of America’ tribute livery (above) to the similarly patriotic colours carried by the Panoz LMP01 Roadsters 14 years ago.
On track the car was showing encouraging pace, a best time of the test for the #0 came in session 5 with a 1:39.955, a mark that was almost matched again in the final session, but the car had earlier topped the overall times in Session three, and was in the leading group in every session on track.
2 Tequila Patron ESM Scott Sharp, Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek, Pipo Derani Liger JS P2 Honda
A single car effort for the ESM team will see likely the swan song of their HPD powered programme at Sebring before the team moves over to Nissan power for the 2016 FIA WEC.
On the driving front the news at the test was the first public appearance in an ESM car from the highly rated Pipo Derani.
And it was the Brazilian that posted the fastest time of the test overall, 1:39.249 in the very final session on Sunday.
5 Action Express Racing João Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque, Scott Pruett Corvette DP
Solid trouble-free testing from the 2015 Championship winning team saw them comfortably in the leading group without any spectacular moments of the good, or very bad, kind. First public appearances in the car here for both Scott Pruett and Felipe Albuquerque.
Sunday’s session though saw Albuquerque break 1:40, the #5 the first DP to do so in the test, with 1:39.995
10 Wayne Taylor Racing Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor, Max Angelelli Corvette DP
A similarly solid effort from the Wayne Taylor Racing Crew, the #10 Corvette DP topped the times in Session 4, the car posting its fastest time of the test at that point with a 1:40.032. The final track session though saw Max Angelelli post the fastest DP time of the test, 1:39.736
31 Action Express Racing Eric Curran, Dane Cameron, Simon Pagenaud, Jonny Adam Corvette DP
Sunoco Daytona Challenge winner Jonny Adam and all round smiley Frenchman Simon Pagenaud were the debutants in the #31 Whelen backed Corvette DP, 1:40.736 their best effort for the test.
37 SMP Racing Maurizio Mediani, Nicolas Minassian, Mikhail Aleshin, Kirill Ladygin BR01 Nissan
There’s much interest in the Russian entered P2, the BR01 the only Nissan engined car here and having never previously run on the spec Continental rubber.
A 1:39.899 from Krill Ladygin on Sunday in the final session was good enough for second fastest of that session, no decision yet on whether the team will add further IMSA races to their 2016 programme.
50 Highway To Help Jim Pace, Bryon DeFoor, David Hinton, Dorsey Schroeder, Thomas Gruber Riley DP BMW Power
A commitment to a full NAEC programme was the news from the ‘carefully matured’ squad in the 50 Plus Racing Riley BMW with Starworks providing the tech assistance.
The Riley trailed the PC runners on pace for most of the test with its best time falling to Dorsey Schroeder in the final track session with a 1:43.330.
55 SpeedSource Jonathan Bomarito,Tristan Nunez, Spencer Pigot Mazda Mazda (Petrol)
The Mazda’s new AER gasoline fuelled engine is a big step forward after a season of struggle with the SkyActiv diesels.
Jonathan Bomarito laid down a marker in the 4th track session, into the very low 1;40s for second fastest in the session overall but again it was the Sunday morning track session, as conditions improved after cold and foggy weather earlier in the test. 1:39.934 the best of the test for the #55, but not for Mazda overall!
60 Michael Shank Racing John Pew, Ozz Negri Jr, AJ Allmendinger Ligier JS PS2 Honda HPD
A sense of deja vu saw the newly re-chassied #60 the fastest of the Test, topping four of the seven sessions and breaking into the 1:39s in 4 sessions too.
New signing Olivier Pla topped two of those sessions but it was Ozz Negri that posted the fastest time of the test overall from the #60 a 1:39.438 on Sunday.
The team will have use of a car from Onroak for the Le Mans test meaning that the current race car will not need to make a transatlantic scramble.
70 SpeedSource Joel Miller, Tom Long, Ben Devlin Mazda Mazda (Petrol)
Tom Long set the pace for the Mazda showing on Sunday, a 1:39.828 was second fastest in what was the raciest session overall, Mazda will return for race week encouraged by the peak performance of their package.
90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Ryan Dalziel Marc Goossens, Ryan Hunter-Reay Corvette DP
A quiet and understated test too for the #90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP. Not really in with the leading group at any point and a fastest time of the test, a 1:40.822 in the final track session on Sunday, from Ryan Hunter-Reay, the teams’’s only sub 1:41 performance.
01 Chip Ganassi Racing Alex Wurz, Andy Priaulx, Brendon Hartley, Lance Stroll Riley DP Ford EcoBoost
There was an unfortunate start to the test for the #01 as young Lance Stroll lost control on his out lap, wiping much of the front of the DP off and forcing the team to miss most of the first two sessions. Thereafter it was a matter of catching up with the todo list, with plenty of new faces to the team getting to know the car, and the track.
No timing screen heroics here, the best of the test a 1:40.665 from Andy Priaulx in the final session on Sunday.
Alex Wurz: “It was a very interesting last few days. First of all, seeing Chip’s workshop (in Indianapolis) was very cool. Very cool guys. I love the American racing atmosphere. I’m taking it all in. Driving the Daytona prototype car is different than what I’m used to, so I’m learning everything, getting used to it, like the track and the carbon (weight of the car), it’s fine-tuned, but very sensitive to set up. It’s cool and I’m looking forward to getting rolling for the 24 Hours (of Daytona).”
02 Chip Ganassi Racing Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray Riley DP Ford EcoBoost
Jamie McMurray’s Sunday session 1:40.415 was the best time of the test after a very conservative Roar from the Ganassi boys with an incident for Scott Dixon, the #02 losing its rear bodywork in avoidance of a slower Porsche, the other moment of note!
