Daytona Sunday Notebook

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

***Porsche ended the Roar Before the Rolex 24 on top of the leaderboard, with the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr leading a 1-2-3 for the German manufacturer. The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Filipe Albuquerque was the quickest non-Porsche in fourth, with a best lap that was more than four-tenths slower than Nasr’s benchmark, which was set in the opening session.

***Porsche LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle said: “We completed the test program cleanly and were able to focus exclusively on our plan throughout. The Porsche 963 ran flawlessly, and the drivers delivered strong performances. The results from JDC-Miller Motorsports show that our customer team has also made noticeable progress over the winter. We are ideally prepared for the season opener, although we will only really be able to assess the competitive order during race week.”

***Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin Valkyrie returned to action in the final “all-skate” session on Sunday morning after missing two of three sessions on Saturday due to an engine change. Marco Sorensen set the tenth quickest time in the GTP class, out of 11 cars.

***The final WeatherTech Championship test session on Sunday afternoon was reserved for FIA Bronze-rated drivers only, which was led by the No. 99 AO Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of PJ Hyett, despite having a late-session spin in mixed conditions.

***Trackhouse NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain toured the Action Express Racing transporter, garage and pit tent on Saturday, showing his support of teammate Connor Zilisch, who is making his GTP race debut next weekend in the team’s No. 31 Whelen-sponsored Cadillac V-Series.R.

***Chastain said: “The depth of the team and seeing it and asking Connor probably some silly questions, but it’s just some stuff that I never learned. It was just cool to learn about. We could be in this very pit stall for the Daytona 500 next month, and it doesn’t compare at all to this, which is good in our respective series.”

***Zilisch added: “It was cool to show Ross kind of where I came from, and he’s loves racing and just wants to see the different disciplines and see how teams do things differently from what we do at Trackhouse Racing. It was cool to show him around the car and walk him through the haulers — he’s seen all this stuff before, but it is a little bit different here in IMSA and with Cadillac.”

***Longtime Pratt Miller Motorsports car chief Brian Hoye retired during the off-season, which has seen gearbox technician Tom Dix, who worked under Dan Binks as a mechanic, stepping up to the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R entry in Hoye’s former position.

***Casper Stevenson, who has made the switch from Heart of Racing to DragonSpeed as part of its Michelin Endurance Cup lineup, said he was satisfied with the three-day test, with the biggest gains having come in “understanding” how to drive the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The Corvette is the seventh different GT3 model that the 22-year-old will have raced.

***Stevenson said: “It’s hard to know exactly where we are, but we’ve done a lot of laps; I think close to the most out of everyone. The car has run faultlessly so I don’t see how it could have been more productive. I feel like we’ve made progress not just with the Corvette but also the small things like seat belts, the seats and everything.”

***Andrea Caldarelli is sporting a special helmet design for Daytona, highlighting the Lamborghini factory driver’s accomplishments with the Huracan GT3, which will be making its final appearance with a factory-supported team in the Rolex 24 before the debut of the all-new Temerario GT3 at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.

***GetSpeed, again in association with drag racing’s Bartone Bros. Racing, is receiving logistics and crew support from RealTime Racing for its second Rolex 24 outing. The Peter Cunningham-owned operation, known for its success in SRO America/World Challenge competition, has lent a half-dozen staff, including team manager Nathan Bonneau, as well as its transporter and pit equipment to the German squad.

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