BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde was fastest in the second session for the Roar Before the 24, the traditional pre-race weekend of the Daytona 24 Hours, the IMSA Sportscar Championship season opener.
This marks the first official IMSA session that Team WRT, BMW’s factory partner and new IMSA partner team, have headed. The South African set a 1:36.742 to go quickest in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with the car completing 51 laps over the session.
Tijmen van der Helm was second fastest in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche 963. He was 0.138 slower than S. van der Linde, with the car completing 53 laps.
Third was the car which topped the first session, the #7 Porsche, although Felipe Nasr wasn’t at the wheel this time. Instead it was his teammate Lauren Heinrich, 0.166 off S. van der Linde.
The three Cadillacs were next; Earl Bamber in the #31 Action Express Cadillac followed by Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac, then Jordan Taylor in the #10 WTR machine.
Tom Blomqvist was eighth in the #60 Acura, followed by Kevin Magnussen in the #25 BMW. Ross Gunn was 10th in the #23 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie, while Renger van der Zande rounded out the top 10 in the #93 Acura.
In LMP2, Ben Hanley was quickest in the #2 United Autosports Oreca. He set a 1:39.136, a tenth and a half quicker than the #73 Pratt Miller Oreca of Enzo Fittipaldi. Tom Dillmann was third fastest in the #43 Inter Europol Oreca, a further tenth off.
Corey Lewis topped the joint GT classes in the GTD-entered #66 Gradient Racing Ford Mustang GT3, with a 1:47.522. Chaz Mostert was a tenth off in the GTD Pro-entered #75 75 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, while second and third fastest in GTD went to Danny Formal in the #45 WTR Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and Russell Ward in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Second in GTD Pro was Chris Mies in the #65 Ford Mustang GT3, while third in class was the #3 Corvette Z06 GT3R of Alexander Sims.
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