BMW M Team WRT closed the first day of the Roar Before The 24 at Daytona with the fastest time during the second of seven test sessions.
The first hour was interrupted by two incidents of note, the first of which was a big blow for the returning Intersport Racing team. 15 minutes into the session, Job van Uitert spun out entering turn one and hit the tyre barrier. The Dutchman was okay, but the #37 ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2 was sidelined for the rest of the session after bringing out the first red flag.
About 15 minutes later, and only five minutes after the red flag was lifted for van Uitert’s crash, Nolan Siegel spun the #343 Inter Europol Competition ORECA at the Le Mans Chicane and stopped for several seconds, though he suffered no damage and the car was able to continue its test.
Simultaneously, Esteban Masson in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 pulled off at the West Horseshoe with a mechanical issue.
But shortly before the second of those red flags, Sheldon van der Linde went to the top of the GTP leaderboard, setting a 1:36.742 in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8.
Moving up to second was the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963. After Nico Pino went second-fastest in Session 1, his co-driver Tijmen van der Helm did the same, setting a 1:36.880, quicker than each of the Porsche Penske Motorsport factory cars.
That’s no disservice to new Porsche factory driver Laurin Heinrich, who was third-fastest in the #7 Penske Porsche (1:36.908). Co-driver Felipe Nasr finished with the top time of the day in Session 1.
Heinrich finished ahead of the trio of Cadillac V-Series.Rs. In fourth was Earl Bamber in the #31 Whelen Cadillac, Filipe Albuquerque was fifth in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, and teammate Jordan Taylor was sixth in the #40 WTR Cadillac.
Reigning Rolex 24 winner Laurens Vanthoor was seventh-fastest in the #6 Porsche Penske. Rounding out the GTP field in order were the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06, #25 WRT BMW, the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, and #93 MSR Acura.
1.271 seconds covered all 11 GTP cars.
LMP2 specialist Ben Hanley put United Autosports USA’s #2 ORECA on top with a 1:39.136.
It was a Fittipaldi who went second-fastest in the #73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA – this time, it was young Enzo Fittipaldi, ahead of the #43 Inter Europol car of Tom Dillmann in third, and the #343 of Siegel in fourth.
Reigning Australian Supercars Champion Chaz Mostert and the #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO led GTD PRO. Mostert, himself a previous class winner of the Rolex 24, turned in a 1:47.625 in the blue Mercedes.
Behind him were the warring factions of Ford Racing versus Corvette Racing: Christopher Mies was second-quickest in the #65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 Evo, and reigning GTD PRO Champion Alexander Sims was third in the #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
In fourth was early class leader Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3.
For the second time the fastest time in a GT car belonged to a GTD car – this time it was the #66 Gradient Racing Ford. Corey Lewis set a 1:47.522 in the silver Ford, two-tenths off the best overall GT time of the day.
The #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Danny Formal), the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG (Russell Ward), and the #80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG (James Roe) completed the top four in class.
The Roar Before The 24 resumes with the first of three test sessions for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: The first of which starts at 11:15 AM ET (local time) tomorrow.
Images © IMSA
