The first day of IMSA’s three-day sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway is complete after 19 GTP and LMP2 prototypes ran for a little under seven hours across two 3.5-hour sessions.
Perhaps no on-track arrival was more anticipated than the new Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH, appearing for the first time against its would-be GTP competitors. It took a bit of time for the Heart of Racing Team-prepared #23 Valkyrie to hit the track, but hearing the V12-powered car scream as it passed the high banks of Daytona International Speedway might have been worth the price of admission alone.
Across the morning and afternoon sessions, the Valkyrie completed 96 laps. Roman de Angelis set the car’s best time in Session 1 with a 1:38.823, but by the end of Session 2, another second’s worth of pace was found as Ross Gunn set a 1:37.715.
6.5-liter Aston Martin Valkyrie V12 IMSA GTP glory. pic.twitter.com/1Vhow1RjOs
— Marshall Pruett (@marshallpruett) November 15, 2024
In GTP, Andrea Caldarelli was the surprise pace-setter in the #63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx SC63, setting a 1:35.930 to go to first place ahead of the two BMW M Team RLL cars, the #24 of Philipp Eng, and the #25 of Max Hesse, getting his second sampling of the BMW M Hybrid V8.
Gianmaria Bruni was fourth-fastest in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963, followed by Ricky Taylor in the new #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R.
In the afternoon, the revived Acura Meyer Shank Racing team went to the top of the table. Tom Blomqvist’s best lap aboard the #60 Acura ARX-06, a 1:35.905, was the best of the day, feeling right at home in familiar surroundings.
Nick Yelloly wasn’t too far behind in the #93 MSR Acura, setting the fourth-fastest time behind his former BMW stablemates – same order, #24 ahead of #25, but with Marco Wittmann leading in the #24 ahead of Eng in the #25.
In terms of mileage, no car logged more laps than the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 – which ran 217 laps on the day, the most of any GTP car.
Session 1 was interrupted by a couple of incidents leading to red flags. Felipe Fraga went off in his #74 Riley ORECA LMP2 07 at the West Horseshoe (turn five) and returned to the pits with damage to the left-front quarter of the car. Fraga and crew returned to complete Session 2 without any other significant trouble.
An hour later, the #99 AO Racing “Spike” car stopped at the same spot as PJ Hyett was aboard. Spike sat out the rest of Session 1 and most of Session 2 before returning to action with about 30 minutes left.
The fastest time in LMP2 in Session 1 belonged to Paul di Resta in the #22 United Autosports USA car (1:39.531), but in Session 2, Malthe Jakobsen set the best time – a 1:38.635 – in the returning #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR machine. Fittingly, George Kurtz was the quickest Bronze today, setting a 1:39.701 in Session 1 in his #04 ORECA.
Ben Hanley was second-fastest in the afternoon driving the #2 United Autosports car (1:38.902), followed by the #22 of Rasmus Lindh (1:39.129) in third.
Elsewhere in the paddock, a few of the ‘TBDs’ in the provisional entry list were filled out with some pleasant surprises. The ‘TBD’ at Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing) was Felipe Drugovich, returning to the team with which he made his Le Mans 24 Hours debut last year. Drugovich completed 28 laps today.
Reigning FIA Formula E World Champion Pascal Wehrlein and recent European Le Mans Series LMP2 podium-scorer Oliver Gray were the two late additions to the JDC-Miller ‘Banana Boat’ Porsche. Wehrlein turned 11 laps in his first run in the #85 Porsche, the same as Gray.
COMBINED TEST SESSION RESULTS >> (Sessions 1-2)
Testing resumes tomorrow as the GTD Pro and GTD cars join the GTP and LMP2 prototypes for three test sessions, again starting at 9:00 AM and 1:30 PM EST (local time), with night-time testing at 7:00 PM.
Images © Graham Goodwin / Dailysportscar.com, Brandon Badraoui / IMSA
