Nasr Quickest in Roar Qualifying

Felipe Nasr kept Cadillac on top in Roar qualifying, ensuring Action Express Racing will lead the field to green in Sunday’s Motul Pole Award 100 that will set the grid for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Light rain fell sporadically throughout qualifying and drivers reported mixed conditions around the track.

Nasr’s clocked in a session-best 1:34.311 on his fifth flying lap in the No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R, edging Mazda’s Oliver Jarvis by 0.131 seconds.

Tristan Vautier was third a mere 0.043 seconds further adrift in the No. 5 Cadillac from JDC-Miller Motorsports, followed by IMSA debutant Kevin Magnussen for Chip Ganassi Racing.

The top Acura ARX-05 runner was Filipe Albuquerque in fifth for Wayne Taylor Racing.

LMP2 saw Ben Keating jump to the front for the defending IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 champions PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports in the No. 52 Oreca 07 Gibson.

Dennis Andersen was over a second behind in the runner-up position for High Class Racing, with Roberto Lacorte impressing in the Dallara P217 fielded by Cetilar Racing.

Fresh off of winning in the IMSA Prototype Challenge series opener, Moritz Kranz locked down the top spot in the new-for-2021 LMP3 class in the No. 6 Duqueine D08 Nissan for Muehlner Motorsports.

Reigning Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR champion Ryan Norman was second in class for Fort7, also in a Duqueine.

The top Ligier JS P320 Nissan was Rasmus Lindh in third for Performance Tech Motorsports.

Both Riley Motorsports entries did not set times, while Kranz was the only LMP3 driver to qualify ahead of the entire GT Le Mans field with the rest sprinkled in amidst the GTE-spec machinery.

Nevertheless, the LMP3 field will start head of both GT classes in tomorrow’s qualifying race.

BMW Goes 1-2 in GTLM

Marco Wittman led the charge in a BMW Team RLL 1-2 in the GTLM class for the Motul Pole Award 100.

Wittman cracked the 1:43 barrier with a best lap of 1:42.980 in the No. 24 BMW M8 GTE, 0.343 seconds clear of his teammate Timo Glock in the sister car.

Alexander Sims qualified the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R third in his Corvette Racing debut followed by the No. 3 Corvette of Jordan Taylor.

Alessandro Pier Guidi and Cooper MacNeil completed the GTLM field for Risi Competizione and WeatherTech Racing, respectively.

GT Daytona class honors when to Wright Motorsports driver Ryan Hardwick, who took the top spot by 0.264 seconds in the No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Simon Mann was second in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, with Madison Snow’s Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo and Russell Ward’s Winward Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo close in tow.

For statistical purposes, an IMSA official clarified that these results will not count as official pole positions in the record book. That distinction will be earned in tomorrow’s 100-minute qualifying race.

The session does count as an official session for the purpose of track records, however, which saw the WeatherTech Championship LMP3 track record set by default in the first official session for the class in the championship.

RESULTS: Roar Qualifying