BMW M Team WRT completed its first IMSA Sanctioned Test with its two cars finishing first and second in the final night test from Daytona International Speedway.
25 minutes into Test Session 5, Dries Vanthoor drove the redesigned #24 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 to the top of the GTP class with a 1:36.770.
Vanthoor’s time stood on top until, with 45 minutes to go, BMW M stablemate Marco Wittmann set a 1:36.697 in the #25 WRT BMW.
Behind the two WRT cars, the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 was third-quickest. An early lap of 1:36.780 from Julien Andlauer was the fastest of the session before it was usurped by the two BMWs.
Test Session 4 pacesetter Nico Pino was fourth-quickest in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche. Tom Blomqvist was fifth in the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06, followed by the #31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R of Earl Bamber in sixth.
The #7 Penske Porsche, #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, #93 MSR Acura, and #40 WTR Cadillac rounded out the top ten in GTP, with the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie in 11th after completing a mostly trouble-free day in contrast to Friday’s lost sessions.
Crowdstrike Racing by APR set the pace in LMP2 after back-to-back sessions led by the #73 Pratt Miller Motorsports car, which did not go out for the night-time session.
Alex Quinn set the fastest time in the #04 Crowdstrike/APR ORECA 07-Gibson, posting a 1:40.501 and then a 1:40.340 about 30 minutes into the action.
Behind Quinn was Sebastian Alvarez in the #8 Tower Motorsports ORECA, and Mathias Beche in the #11 TDS Racing ORECA, in second and third. The #52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen and #22 United Autosports USA cars completed the top five in LMP2.
Winward Racing finished a very productive and eye-catching first day of GT class testing with its two cars leading GTD and GTD PRO, and setting the fastest time of the day in GTD.
That time was set by Lucas Auer in the GTD class #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. On consecutive laps, the Austrian set a 1:47.454, and then a session-leading 1:47.156.
Winward’s #48 Mercedes-AMG completed a clean sweep of GTD PRO in all three test sessions as Maxime Martin set the fastest time in class, a 1:47.646. This was despite a minor issue for the #48 car that resulted in a quick red flag.
Will Power put the #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG up to second in GTD PRO, making it three straight Mercedes 1-2 finishes in the category.
But the story by the end of Test Session 5 was two notable newcomers starting to find pace. RLL Team McLaren took its time getting the #59 McLaren GT3 Evo up to speed, but by the end of the session, McLaren factory GT driver Dean Maconald had gone third-quickest with a 1:48.183.
Behind him, Andrea Caldarelli turned in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3’s best time of the day, a 1:48.242 that was good for fourth in GTD PRO.
In GTD, the #28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R and the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche were second and third in class; Jan Heylen’s best time for RS1, a 1:47.695, was the quickest of the three new 992.2-generation Porsches.
Testing concludes tomorrow with seven hours of prototype-free testing on a Sunday. Two GT-exclusive sessions run from 9:00 AM–1:00 PM and 2:00–5:00 PM.
Images © Brandon Badraoui / IMSA / Lumen
