Joest Quickest in Roar Session 1

Oliver Jarvis set the pace in the first official on track session of the year for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Roar Before the 24.

The Briton turned the fastest time in the session in the No. 77 prototype for the new-look Team Joest operation that underwent significant personnel changes in the buildup to the 2019 season.

Jarvis’ best time of 1:35.989 was 0.418 seconds quicker than the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Jordan Taylor, while Harry Tincknell made it two Multimatic-built prototypes in the top three in the sister No. 55 entry.

Action Express Racing took positions four and five led by Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Cadillac DPi with Filipe Albuquerque close behind in the No. 5 entry.

Two of the four cars entered in LMP2 turned laps in the session with Gabriel Aubry quickest in class in the No. 52 Oreca 07 Gibson for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, while Kris Wright was 1.552 seconds adrift in the No. 38 Oreca from Performance Tech Motorsports.

Aubry did encounter trouble late in the session when he stopped on track in the final minutes and the car had to be towed back to the garage.

Neither of the DragonSpeed-entered Orecas turned laps after both cars encountered delays coming through transport and customs, but both cars are now on site.

Porsche took the top two spots in GT Le Mans with Patrick Pilet putting the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR just ahead of Earl Bamber in the No. 912 car.

Dirk Mueller and Ryan Briscoe brought Ford Chip Ganassi Racing to third and fourth, respectively, with the No. 62 Risi Competitizione Ferrari 488 GTE fifth at the hands of Davide Rigon.

Jeroen Bleekemolen put the retro-liveried Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports at the top of the GT Daytona class followed by a pair of Ferraris driven by Pedro Lamy and Toni Vilander.

Bill Auberlen and Jack Hawksworth completed the top-five for Turner Motorsport and AIM Vasser Sullivan, respectively.

The second and final session of day is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.

RESULTS: Session 1