Tincknell Surprised GT Pace “Magically” Jumped in Qualifying

Ford driver Harry Tincknell has expressed his surprise at how the GTD Pro pace “magically” jumped in qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, leaving the two new Mustang GT3s off the pace.

Both of Ford Multimatic Motorsports entries were among the top five fastest cars in their class across the Roar Before the 24 testing, with the No. 65 car of Dirk Mueller third with a best lap of 1:46.007 prior to Sunday’s qualifying session.

However, come qualifying, Mueller could only produce the ninth-fastest time, 0.991 seconds behind the pole-winning AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Seb Priaulx, while Tincknell was 13th and last in class in the sister No. 64 car, 1.458 seconds off the pace.

Prior to qualifying, the AO Porsche had only produced a best lap of 1:46.402, which Priaulx bettered by more than two seconds on Sunday.

“Up until qualifying we were looking quite decent,” Tincknell told Sportscar365. “We’ve been clear from the outset we’ve been running fair and square.

“We found a little bit of time taking the fuel out. I had a bit of traffic on my best lap, which was a shame, but we were maybe six tenths faster than before.

“We were running what we thought was the pace, but then the pace magically moved on quite a bit.”

As well as the AO Porsche, the second-placed Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth was another to improve significantly in qualifying, finding a little under two seconds compared to testing.

On the performance of the Porsche, which he drove at the Rolex 24 in 2023, Tincknell said: “It seems like they just turned it up.

“In the week (during testing), we were passing them a bit more easily than I expected, but they are good in the corners, I know that from last year, so it looks like they may have just turned up the power.

“And the Lexus, they were only 10kg heavier than last year… [Maro] Engel really had to wrestle the win off them. I expected them to be good, so it was doesn’t surprise me that they are there now.”

Despite the disappointment of qualifying down the order, Tincknell said he has been pleased at a trouble-free run for the brand-new Mustang GT3 throughout the Roar.

“The reliability has been super strong, we’ve worked through the program well,” he said. “It’s a long program and this is the first race, so we have many things to prove.

“We are learning every time we’ve been in the car, and by (Saturday) we felt we were in a reasonable window. Hopefully we can be competitive (in the race), but on this evidence it looks like it will be a little bit tougher.

“Of course it’s a big race and the first race back for Ford, so we want to do the best job we can. We still want to get the best points we can, as it’s a long season ahead.”