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Daytona CTSC Pre-Race Notebook

Tony DiZinno’s CTSC pre-race notebook from Daytona…

Photo: IMSA

Photo: IMSA

***Kris Wilson, in the No. 07 TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (1:57.319, GS) and Eric Foss, in the No. 56 Murillo Racing Porsche Cayman (2:04.624, ST) led the 20-minute morning practice. Results from the morning are linked here.

***Corey Lewis’ incident in the morning practice in the No. 48 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 takes the defending race-winning car out of the race. Lewis and Al Carter were set to share the car, with Ashley Freiberg and Shelby Blackstock having been in the car last year.

***The No. 89 TLSS Motorsports BMW 328i (GS) and No. 86 Crucial Motorsports BMW 128i (ST) are also withdrawn, leaving an official field of 53 cars set to start today.

***The No. 29 Tim Bell Racing Nissan 370Z driven by Brian Kleeman and Brett Sandberg is the repaired chassis from Tim Bell’s awful-looking accident at Circuit of the Americas last season. After its pit fire on Wednesday, Bell’s repaired No. 28 is set to start.

***Peter Cunningham is among the late entry additions, in place of Michael Valiante alongside Chad Gilsinger in HART’s No. 93 Honda Civic Si (ST). The seven-time World Challenge champion has been absent from Daytona for several years.

***Automatic Racing adds a second Aston Martin Vantage GT4 this weekend for the Kenny Wilden/Rod Randall pairing, who shared seats at Scuderia Corsa in the TUDOR Championship and Fall-Line Motorsports in CTSC last year.

***Rennsport One’s pair of new Porsche Caymans will feature two different liveries. The No. 17 of Spencer Pumpelly and Luis Rodriguez will run in the predominantly black-and-white scheme the team revealed when announcing its program, while the sister, newer No. 18 of Jon Miller and Adam Isman features a heavier amount of gray.

***While the Nos. 17 and 18 Rennsport One entries were announced, the team also has a third car, the No. 19, added in as a late entry. Connor Bloum and Greg Strelzoff, both formerly of Burton Racing, are set to drive this weekend in the former 2014 Autometrics Racing No. 04 chassis. A new chassis is expected to be built for the No. 19 to run at Sebring.

***Also from the Cayman livery department, Strategic Wealth Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports’ No. 36 Porsche Cayman has been updated from the Roar to a light blue and gray livery with yellow trim for the Matt Dicken/John Lewis-driven entry. The team plans to test at Sebring following the race weekend if the race goes cleanly.

***CRG-I Do Borrow’s No. 44 Honda Civic Si features a striking new pink-and-black livery for the car shared by Sarah Cattaneo and Owen Trinkler, replacing a patriotic red, white and blue livery run in years past.

***There are fewer drivers pulling double duty than normal between the Rolex 24 and BMW Performance 200. Those doing both include Andrew Davis, Mark Wilkins, Al Carter, Andy Lally, Cameron Lawrence, Spencer Pumpelly, Jeff Segal, Michael Lira and Ricardo Flores.

***Today’s BMW Performance 200 is expected to be live streamed via IMSA.TV, IMSA’s new hub for streaming coverage of all sessions. The two and a half hour race begins at 1:45 p.m. ET.

Tony DiZinno (@tonydizinno) is Sportscar365's North American Editor, focusing on coverage of the IMSA-sanctioned championships as well as Pirelli World Challenge. DiZinno also contributes to NBCSports.com and other motorsports outlets. Contact Tony

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