Nine hours of testing on Tuesday saw 13 of the 15 cars present turning laps with just the #24 BMW and #01 Cadillac yet to run, with both cars intended for final assembly on-site here as brand-new cars.
Both cars are set to run on Wednesday, the BMW having cleared scrutineering yesterday evening but with a late session red flag leading to a decision to abandon plans to run a shakedown run in the final minutes of running.
Just two of the currently confirmed GTP drivers are not present at the circuit with WTR’s Brendon Hartley on Toyota Gazoo Racing duty at the FIA Gala at Bologna where he will join team-mates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa to lift the FIA WEC World Championship trophy.
BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde was not in the paddock on Tuesday after falling ill on arrival in Daytona.
With thanks to some helpful paddock sources, we can confirm that the two Acuras topped the Tuesday times with the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing ARX06 fastest – 1:36.102 with the #60 Meyer Shank Racing car under a tenth off that mark, both times set in the second session on track in the heat of the afternoon.
Third fastest was the #31 Action Express Cadillac around half a second back.
Trackside observers, including this one, noted that some cars were audibly lifting on the straights throughout the observed sessions indicating that many recorded times were not representative of the potential performance.
Amongst the (very) interested observers in the paddock are Risi Competizione race engineer Rick Mayer, very apparent in the Ferrari pit area, JOTA team co-owner Dave Clark, taking a very active interest in goings on at Porsche and here for meetings too with 2023 WEC title sponsors Hertz, JDC Miller team owner John Church, seen with several crew members and driver Tristan Vautier (seen above in conversation with Auto Hebdo’s Valentin Glo) in the Porsche pit garage throughout the day yesterday, and, in a somewhat more active role, ACO Competition Director Thierry Bouvet, the Daytona test allowing a rare opportunity for rule makers, team members and factory representatives to meet face to face.
