Connect with us

WeatherTech Championship

Tandy Leads Rain-Affected Final Roar Session Before Qualifying

Rain impacts running in final Roar track session before qualifying for Rolex 24 at Daytona…

Photo: Porsche

Porsche’s Nick Tandy became the first non-Acura driver to lead a session at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 by setting the pace during Saturday night’s rain-affected run.

The Brit posted a time of 1:46.206 in the No. 6 Porsche 963 to go quickest, however the numbers were unrepresentative due to wet conditions that resulted in an 11-second deficit to the fastest lap of the Roar so far, set by Meyer Shank Racing’s Colin Braun.

The rain was heaviest at the start of the session, but even when it eased off the track remained slippery and teams practiced caution as only 28 cars went out on track.

Tandy’s co-driver Mathieu Jaminet initially reached the top spot halfway into the two-hour night run, breaking a string of LMP2 cars taking turns at the head of the field.

Josef Newgarden was the first to lap under two minutes but the NTT IndyCar Series driver, representing Tower Motorsports, was eclipsed by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport’s Nicolas Lapierre, TDS Racing’s Job van Uitert and Tower’s Scott McLaughlin.

After putting his Porsche LMDh car above the LMP2s, Jaminet handed the No. 6 Penske-run factory Porsche over to Tandy who improved with eight minutes remaining.

A similarly late improvement from Jack Aitken put the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-LMDh second overall, just under two and a half seconds off the session pace.

The only other GTP cars to appear on track were the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 and the No. 7 Penske Porsche. Of note, Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 Acura ARX-06 did not appear after leading all four of the previous Roar track sessions.

Ryan Dalziel finished third outright in the times, while the Era Motorsport driver also led the LMP2 category with a 1:50.756 effort.

McLaughlin settled for fourth overall, ahead of fellow LMP2 drivers Pietro Fittipaldi and Nicklas Nielsen.

Antonio Serravalle led the way in the LMP3 class for FastMD Racing, one second and one outright position ahead of second-placed Guilherme de Oliveira.

In GTD Pro, Jules Gounon reeled off a 1:57.084 to put WeatherTech Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo on top of the overall GT pile.

GTD pacesetter Marvin Kirchhoefer ended up 0.269 seconds behind Gounon in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3, followed by Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Iron Lynx Lamborghini factory driver Jordan Pepper.

The night session was the final track outing before qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, which gets underway at 1:25 p.m. ET on Sunday.

RESULTS: Session 5

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

Click to comment
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

More in WeatherTech Championship