Castroneves Ends Friday on Top at Roar

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Helio Castroneves kept Acura on top of the time sheets in the second and final IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship session of the opening day at the Roar Before the Rolex 24, with the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 leading the way at Daytona International Speedway.

The Brazilian made a late-session improvement to a 1:35.210 lap time to bump fellow Acura squad Filipe Albuquerque to second in the GTP class running order.

Castroneves edged out the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport entry by 0.110 seconds, with the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh ending the session third in in the hands of Scott Dixon.

Michael Christensen was fourth in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, with Earl Bamber completing the top-five in the No. 02 CGR Cadillac.

The No. 6 Porsche ventured out for the final 20 minutes of the session after repairing a left-front wheel bearing issue with the car and managed to set the eighth quickest time, ahead of the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, which completed 31 laps after encountering shifting issues in the first session.

LMP2 was led by the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Mikkel Jensen, while the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 Nissan driven by Gabby Chaves topped LMP3.

The No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Fabian Schiller was quickest overall in the production-based ranks, with the Mercedes-AMG-affiliated driver recording a 1:47.020 lap time in the Akkodis ASP-run GTD entry.

It was 0.020 seconds quicker than the GTD Pro pace-setting No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Ben Barnicoat, followed by the sister No. 12 Lexus, which runs in the GTD class.

The No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, which paced the opening session, was fourth amongst the GT3-spec cars and third in the GTD classification.

Unlike the morning session, there were no red flags in the 1 hour and 45-minute second session although several cars had minor incidents.

Saturday’s WeatherTech Championship action kicks off at 11:15 a.m., with three sessions on tap, including the first night running of the weekend.

RESULTS: Session 2

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John