IMSA’s Roar Before the 24 continued on Saturday with three test sessions for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: the first taking place in the morning (at 10:50 a.m.), the second in the middle of the afternoon (at 3:30 p.m.), and the final one at night (at 6:30 p.m.).
Saturday’s running saw one manufacturer continue to dominate the Prototype class, and another do the same in GTLM. Meanwhile, three different marques spent time at the top in GT Daytona.
Below are reports about all three classes:
CADILLAC CONTINUES TO LEAD THE WAY IN PROTOTYPE
The Cadillac DPi-V.R remained its dominant self on Saturday, with all three sessions seeing a Cadillac at the top of the field when the checkered flag fell.
In the morning practice (Practice 3 for the weekend), it was Wayne Taylor Racing’s turn at the top, with Jordan Taylor leading the way in the No. 10 Konica Minolta entry. In the mid-afternoon session (Practice 4 for the weekend), Action Express Racing returned to the top, after leading both sessions on Friday, with Felipe Nasr leading the way in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering machine. Eric Curran subsequently kept the No. 31 Cadillac on top in the day’s final session (Practice 5 for the weekend) and the only night session on tap across the three days at the Roar.
Further, the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Cadillac ranked in the top five of all three sessions (second in Practice 3, third in Practice 4, and fourth in Practice 5).
All told, it meant Cadillac swept the Saturday sessions, echoing the feat from Friday, even taking the top four spots in Practices 4 and 5.
The only other cars in the top five in any session were Oreca 07 Gibsons. CORE Autosport went third quickest in Practice 3, with their No. 54 Oreca, Jackie Chan DCR JOTA was fifth in Practices 4 and 5 in their No. 78 Oreca, and JDC-Miller Motorsports was fifth quickest in Practice 3 with their No. 99 Oreca.
Also: Team Penske entered the top 10 in the overall time sheets for the weekend, with the No. 6 ARX-05 turning the seventh fastest time of the weekend so far, doing in Practice. The sister No. 7 entry ranks 12th at the end of Day 2, its fastest lap also coming in Practice 4.
FORD TOPS ALL THREE SESSIONS IN GTLM
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing saw one of its Ford GTs lead the way in all three sessions. Scott Dixon topped Practice 3 in the No. 67 machine, with co-driver Ryan Briscoe keeping the No. 67 at the top in Practice 4. Sebastien Bourdais then put the No. 66 entry atop the time charts in Practice 5 (the No. 66 Ford was third in Practice 5, respectively).
The Porsche GT Team was able to nip at the heels of the Ganassi-led squad, however, especially in Practice 5, when Gimmi Brunni put the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR in second. The sister No. 911 entry was fourth in that session, with Corvette Racing putting the No. 4 Corvette C7.R in fifth during the final practice of the day.
PORSCHE, ACURA, LEXUS TRADE PLACES ATOP GT DAYTONA
The GT Daytona class saw three different marques at the top of the three Saturday sessions. Practice 3 saw the No. 59 Porsche 911 GT3 R from Manthey Racing, in the hands of Matteo Cairoli, lead the way. Practice 4 saw Acura takes its turn up front, with Mario Farnbacher doing so in the NSX GT3 from Michael Shank Racing. Finally, in Practice 5, 3GT Racing put the No. 14 Lexus RCF GT3 at the front.
Practice 5 ended with GRT Grasser Racing Team in second, with their No. 11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Third went to the No. 15 Lexus from 3GT Racing, followed by the No. 73 Porsche 911 GT3 R from Park Place Motorsports in fourth. Montaplast by Land-Motorsport completed the top five with their No. 29 Audi R8 LMS GT3.
Of note: the fastest GT Daytona time of the weekend still belongs to GRT Grasser Racing Team, whose best lap of 1:47.104 was set on Friday during Practice 1.
Results from all three of Saturday’s sessions are below, along with combined results from all five completed sessions.
The third and final day of the Roar Before 24 kicks off Sunday, with Practice 6 beginning at 10:45 a.m. followed by qualifying sessions to decide pit box and garage locations.
Practice 3 Results
Practice 4 Results
Practice 5 Results
Combined Practice Results
