Daytona Friday Notebook – Sportscar365
Photo: Porsche
***All 61 cars entered completed laps on day one of the Roar Before the Rolex 24, which saw Jan Heylen’s #16 Wright Motorsports GTD-class Porsche 911 GT3 R finish faster than the GTD Pro competitors . Heylen’s time of 1:46.483 in the morning session was 0.033 seconds quicker than Mirko Bortolotti, who led the second session in his #63 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo GTD Pro class.
*** High Class Racing’s #20 Gibson Oreca 07 completed the most laps (79) combined between Friday’s two sessions for competitors in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
*** IMSA released revised aero configurations for DPi cars on Friday morning, lowering the rear wing assembly and rear wing flap angles for the Acura ARX-05 and Cadillac DPi-VR. The change was made to reflect “workable and fair” rear aerodynamics. configurations according to the technical bulletin.
***The left curbs that were installed at the exit of the bus stop chicane are not in place for the Roar and the Rolex 24. It is understood that the first of the two long sidewalks was removed in the middle of a private test last month, while the second was removed after the test.
***Meyer Shank Racing’s Oliver Jarvis described the current bus stop as “completely normal” and also praised IMSA’s action to remove the curbs. “You could still run at a similar speed, but the problem was that if you made a slight mistake there was a real risk that you would launch yourself into the air, break your back and destroy the car,” Jarvis told Sportscar365.
***Former WIN Autosport team manager Michael Harvey has taken up a new role with Chip Ganassi Racing as competition director, strengthening the leadership of the team which still includes Mike Hull (General Manager) , Steve Eriksen (Team Manager) and Mike O’Gara (Director of Operations).
*** The #11 Gibson PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 is the same chassis and largely the same crew from last year’s WIN Autosport effort according to team principal Bobby Oergel, who made his long desire to evolve into a two-car LMP2 operation.
“We were lucky enough to be able to integrate that, so it’s not all new for [Steven Thomas]”, Oergel told Sportscar365. “At the end of the day, it’s a good group of guys and it’s a question of how you integrate it. We find our legs.”
*** Oergel said he has determined the driver line-up for the #52 car in the LMP2 sprint races, which is expected to be announced after Daytona. Ben Keating, Mikkel Jensen and Scott Huffaker will continue in the car for the three remaining IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races after the Rolex 24.
***Longtime team owner/manager Mike Johnson has been brought into the PR1/Mathiasen team to help oversee event strategy.
***DragonSpeed will seek its third Rolex 24 class win in the last four years with its Daytona-only lineup featuring NTT IndyCar Series drivers Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Devin DeFrancesco joining bronze-ranked Eric Lux , in the lively color Oreca.
*** The team was denied the acquisition of a Cadillac DPi due to the lack of available engine leases. Team principal Elton Julian said: “I can’t help but think it’s a shame we couldn’t get a DPi for this race because this lineup clearly deserves one. Most of our LMP2 rivals are capable of delivering a fast, efficient and reliable race.
***Julian said he was impressed with the “turnaround” in the class, which has ten entries for the Rolex 24. After Daytona, DragonSpeed’s effort will turn into a car for Juan Pablo Montoya and Henrik Hedman, with Sebastian Montoya joining the duo at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
***Turner Motorsport has two identical BMW M4 GT3s on site, with its second chassis, in full racing livery, on its truck as a spare. The team’s race car, chassis 22005, has been dubbed the “Taco Machine” and every new BMW has a name engraved on the door sill.
*** A total of 32 crew members are part of Proton Competition’s three-car WeatherTech GTD Pro effort, not including the manufacturer’s pilots and support personnel.
***Cetilar Racing completed two European tests with its 2020 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo to prepare for its move to IMSA after a season in the FIA World Endurance Championship GTE-Am class. The AF Corse-led team traveled to Vallelunga and Barcelona to familiarize themselves with the Michelin S9M commercial tire used in the GTD category. His Ferrari IMSA is a brand new car owned by AF Corse.
“We had to test the differences, mainly the huge differences when it came to the tyres,” team owner/driver Roberto Lacorte told Sportscar365. “We had to sort out the setup and change our riding styles.”
***Antonio Fuoco, part of Cetilar’s Michelin Endurance Cup team, is now in contention for a double duty at Sebring following his confirmation as a member of Ferrari’s factory GTE-Pro lineup in WEC. Cetilar should continue to sponsor Ferrari GTE-Pro cars.
*** Rinus Veekay has a unique helmet design for Daytona that includes grocery items tied to the JUMBO supermarket chain owned by his Racing Team Nederland co-driver Frits van Eerd. A shopping cart, donut and some bananas are among the items found on Veekay’s new lid.
***Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar drivers Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi are set to do double duty at Sebring, after being cleared by the Japanese manufacturer to be part of the Action Express Racing lineup in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring . Conway was confirmed in the #31 Cadillac with Kobayashi in the #48 car.
*** This comes amidst a busy weekend for the two-car team which will see Jimmie Johnson attempt both the Twelve Hours of Sebring and the NTT IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway and Pipo Derani is also expected to join Conway and Kobayashi pulling double duty between the IMSA enduro and the FIA World Endurance Championship 1,000 mile race, driving Glickenhaus.
***Following Porsche’s rollout of its LMDh car last week, Sportscar365 believes Acura will likely be the next LMDh manufacturer in line to break cover, with a first shakedown possibly in the cards for March or April, followed by from Cadillac, which is expected to debut in May. The BMW M LMDh, meanwhile, is on track for a June or July rollout.
***SealMaster has joined Vasser Sullivan’s two-car Lexus RC F GT3 program as the title sponsor of both cars. This is the team’s fifth season with the pavement sealer manufacturer and distributor of pavement maintenance and sports surfacing products and equipment, which first joined as a partner of the team in its NTT IndyCar Series program.
*** Sportscar365 understands that Hardpoint is set to expand into the Michelin Pilot Challenge competition with a new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport starting round two of the season at Sebring International Raceway.
***Wright Motorsports has been named the new operators of the VOLT Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Trent Hindman and Alan Brynjolfsson, who were previously managed by Archangel Motorsports.
***Despite opting not to continue in the European Le Mans Series or Ferrari Challenge North America, Cooper MacNeil told Sportscar365 he intends to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 911 RSR- 19 prepared by Proton.
*** MacNeil explained that the class the car will race in and its co-drivers are “to be determined”. WeatherTech Racing has raced in the GTE-Pro class for the past two years.
*** The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America offers discounted admission to Rolex 24 ticket holders as well as IMSA-registered and single-accredited personnel. Admission to the concourse, located outside the NASCAR Turn 4 tunnel, is $7 for those who qualify and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report
