Mazda Goes 1-2 in Saturday Morning Roar Session

Mazda continued to set the pace at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 as Harry Tincknell posted the fastest lap during Saturday morning’s collective test session.

The Joest-run Mazda RT24-P DPi cars ran first and second at the end of an uninterrupted hour of running at Daytona International Speedway.

Tincknell’s time of 1:35.679 in the No. 55 car beat Olivier Pla’s best effort in the No. 77 machine by 0.481 seconds and created a new fastest lap of the event.

The next-best DPi number came courtesy of Tristan Vautier who registered a 1:36.195 in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Fourth in the timing charts was Felipe Nasr in the Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac after the Brazilian set a string of quick laps in the session’s final stages.

Nasr edged out Wayne Taylor Racing’s Renger van der Zande and Acura Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud.

Quickest in GT Le Mans was BMW Team RLL driver Connor de Phillippi who narrowly beat Porsche’s Mathieu Jaminet to the class top spot by 0.065 seconds.

As was the case in DPi, the leading GTLM time improved on the previous best lap of the event so far which was previously held by de Phillippi’s co-driver Colton Herta.

Jaminet’s teammate Nick Tandy lapped third, ahead of Risi Competizione Ferrari driver James Calado and BMW’s Chaz Mostert.

The two Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs rounded out the class order with Antonio Garcia’s 1:44.950 marker taking GM’s new GTLM contender under the 1m 45s barrier for the first time this weekend.

Fastest in GT Daytona was the No. 11 GRT Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo in which Albert Costa produced a time of 1:47.084 to beat Heinricher Racing Acura driver Trent Hindman by nine-hundredths of a second.

Colin Braun set a clear pace in LMP2 with the American putting the DragonSpeed Oreca 07 Gibson 1.2 seconds clear of the next-best car in the class.

Unlike previous sessions, no red-flag incidents were recorded in session three although there was a brief off-track moment for Dennis Olsen who made contact with the infield tire barriers in the Pfaff Motorsports GTD Porsche.

Next up for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field is a 30-minute collective session at 3:35 p.m. ET, shortly before qualifying to determine GTD and LMP2 garage positions for the Rolex 24 race.

RESULTS: Roar Session 3