
Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA
***Rolex 24 at Daytona pole-sitter Dries Vanthoor admitted the issue for the sister No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde in qualifying, which resulted in an early red flag in qualifying, made it “difficult for everyone” in the GTP class to get a quick lap, especially due to the cold track conditions.
***Vanthoor said: “For sure it wasn’t easy with the red flag. It made tire warming a bit more difficult for everyone. I think we’ve been improving on that quite a lot, especially over the last year. It had been a big struggle point for us last year… It was just about getting the lap together and trying to do the best I could. That worked out luckily, so I’m very happy.”
***Tom Blomqvist said the qualifying clash with Mirko Bortolotti ‘sucks for both of us’ after the two drivers came to blows on the banking on their final respective flying laps.
***Blomqvist told Sportscar365: “I was on a good lap obviously. We were in a bad track position. I caught him at a point where I thought I wasn’t going to get held up too long and I managed to get a really good drive, so I could basically try and get past him but he didn’t want me to go past him as I would screw his lap through the [Le Mans Chicane]. My lap before wasn’t great, so if I had some clearness I thought I could improve. He tried to close me down the banking, which then just screwed both of us.”
***GTD Pro class pole-sitter Mike Rockenfeller revealed that a “heat soak” contributed to his benchmark-setting 1:45.523 in the No. 64 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3, as well as the qualifying pace of the sister, No. 65 car, with the pair of factory Mustang GT3s locking out the front row.
***Rockenfeller said: “I don’t know why nobody did it, but I did this heat soak. I went back in the pits right after my out-lap, and I was waiting for the break temps [to] get into the tire. It’s so cold, it gave me so much more grip. You could see it through the sister car as well. I think that was a good decision, and it worked out. That’s why we’re on pole.”
***LMP2 class pole-sitter Dan Goldburg revealed that his United Autosports engineers got the idea to also perform a heat soak during qualifying on the No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson from watching Rockenfeller in the GTD Pro session.
***Goldburg’s LMP2 pole position marked the end of a five-year Rolex 24 class pole streak from Ben Keating. The Texan, who qualified second on Thursday, had been on class pole every year from 2020-24, which included class victory in two qualifying races.
***Rockenfeller, meanwhile, scored his first IMSA pole in nearly 20 years, with the German’s GTD Pro class pole in the No. 64 Multimatic Ford Mustang GT3 his first since the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway in an Alex Job Racing Crawford-Porsche DP.
***The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R changed gearboxes between opening practice and qualifying. Laurin Heinrich qualified the car seventh in class for the race.
***A new-for-2025 rule change that could see cars lose their best time in qualifying should they bring out a red flag in practice was nearly applied when the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche 963 stopped on track in Practice 1. IMSA, however, decided later not to penalize the car due to it being a mechanical failure.
***Sportscar365 understands that a car’s best qualifying time also could be retroactively deleted if they are deemed at fault for causing a yellow in night practice or in final practice on Friday. Daytona is the only WeatherTech Championship event where there are practice sessions after qualifying.
***Proton’s Porsche 963 sustained right-front suspension failure, and was not a tire puncture as originally suspected, in opening practice that resulted in the red. Tristan Vautier told Sportscar365 that he heard a “big pop” as he approached Turn 1. It was one of three cars not to set a time in qualifying.
***All classes are also allowed to change tires during qualifying, in a change for three of the four classes. Previously, GTP entries were only eligible to do so.
***Connor Zilisch, who is part of Trackhouse by TF Sport’s Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R lineup this weekend, said his LMP2 class victory in last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with Era Motorsport helped “prove himself” in top-level sports car racing. The 18-year-old Trackhouse driver was recently announced to be making his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Circuit of The Americas next month.
***Zilisch said: “It was a big confidence booster, one, but also opened up so many opportunities for me in this side of the paddock. I felt like I had to make a name for myself before I got the opportunity to jump into a GT car and race with a team like TF Sport and race with Corvette.”
***Trackhouse by TF Sport co-driver Ben Keating has suggested that he’d like to see Max Verstappen contest the Rolex 24 in the future, while Scott McLaughlin offered up Valentino Rossi as another superstar name that he’d personally like to see race in the Florida endurance classic in the future.
***While a number of teams have undergone crew changes during the off season, Porsche Penske Motorsport has remained “very stable” according to its managing director Jonathan Diuguid, who revealed there’s been “very, very few changes” which “bodes well for this year as the group knows how to win together.”
***IMSA has declared the time period where Michelin’s Soft compound tires will be eligible in the GTP class, confirming the time period from 5 p.m. ET on Saturday through 10 a.m. on Sunday during the race. Medium tire sets are permitted at all times except if the race director declares the use of wet-weather tires.
***GTP teams are also permitted to utilize Soft tires during night practice tonight.
***A total of 45 Bronze or Silver drivers will be required to take part in night practice in order to be approved to drive during periods of darkness in the race. Click Here for the list.
***IMSA has announced an additional technical inspection for all GTP cars prior to the start of the race on Saturday, beginning with the No. 6 Penske Porsche at 9 a.m. ET and running through 9:55 a.m.
***Meyer Shank Racing team co-owner Mike Shank was honored by the Road Racing Drivers Club with the 2024 Phil Hill Award. The 2019 award recipient, RRDC President Bobby Rahal, made the presentation at the annual RRDC members’ dinner on Wednesday evening.
***Patrick Long, meanwhile, was named the 2024 recipient of the RRDC Bob Akin Award.
***NBC Sports will utilize 14 commentators, analysts and reporters on-site for coverage of the Rolex 24, led by Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, Townsend Bell, Dave Burns and Brian Till in the booth. Dale Jarrett and Marty Snider will be on the Peacock Pit Box on pit road, while Kevin Lee, Dillon Welch, Kim Coon, Matt Yocum, and Chris Wilner will be on pit road.
***Bell, along with James Hinchcliffe and Parker Kligerman, meanwhile, will be pulling double duty between NBC Sports duties and driving in the race.
Davey Euwema & Jonathan Grace contributed to this report
