Pipo Derani claimed the first pole position of the year during an exciting Roar Before the 24 qualifying session, which set up the 59-car grid for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opener next weekend.
Ahead of the 62nd edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona, a thrilling qualifying took place to conclude the Roar Before the 24, a three-day event featuring the first track action of the year.
After the sixth and final Roar test session, a spree of 15 minute sessions took place for both of the GTD (and Pro) classes, followed by LMP2 and GTP.
As the reigning champion, Derani began his 2024 IMSA season on a positive note for Action Express Racing, although not without a fight for the maiden top spot.
As soon as the first session got underway, a red flag was deployed after David Brule in the #92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche hit the wall at Turn 3, having spun his 911 GT3.R on cold tyres.
With seven-and-a-half minutes remaining, the session continued and so times were close across the board, which meant improved lap times found drivers jumping each other with the slightest marginal gains.
Katherine Legge in the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 set a promising lap time of 1.44.640 which ended up being sixth overall, fourth in GTD, and put the sole Acura GT3 on the third row.
It was an even stronger run by Seb Priaulx in the #77 AO ‘Rexy’ (GTD Pro) Porsche after he set a lap time of 1.44.382, which positioned him at the front of the combined field of GTD cars.
The #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 – as reigning GTD Pro champions – qualified second with a 1.44.462 by Jack Hawksworth, as the sibling #12 Lexus qualified third in the overall order and first in GTD with credit to the efforts of Parker Thompson.
LMP2 qualifying housed an unsurprisingly tense spectacle, in which 13 Bronze-rated drivers fought for places in the secondary prototype category.
A few spins occurred as drivers warmed the cars up around the Daytona International Speedway Road Course, like the #88 AF Corse Oreca 07 driver Luis Perez Companc who spun at Turn 5, clipping the bodywork on the wall after he missed his breaking point.
Dwight Merriman (#18 Era Motorsport Oreca) briefly spun at T16, as United Autosports’ Ben Keating cunningly prevented a costly spin into the Le Mans Chicane.
The Texan’s early outright benchmark was retained throughout the session, thus he claimed LMP2 pole position with a 1.38.501 time, having taken the feat for last year’s event.
Nick Boulle narrowed down on Keating’s time, with his best efforts of 1.38.603 lining the #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca in second place.
Third place was taken by George Kurtz in the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, setting an impressive form of pace (1.39.252) to start on the second row in the LMP2 class.
GTP qualifying started with the confirmation of bad news for the #5 Proton Competition Porsche 963, in that they could not participate due to ongoing repairs.
This came after Neel Jani tapped the wall at The Kink during the final test session, in which he took action to avoid a slow #01 Cadillac, therefore the #5 will start last in the GTP category.
All times quickly surpassed the pole position of 1.34.031 from last year, as all GTPs lapped within a second of one another.
By the end of an enticing GTP qualifying session, reigning champion Pipo Derani claimed pole position in his #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing with a 1.32.656, a new lap record.
Second place was secured by the #01 Cadillac V Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, who put a fastest time of 1.32.727 – just 0.71 behind Derani.
In third place was Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche Penske 963, with a time of 1.32.876.
Fourth position was taken by BMW RLL’s Connor De Phillippi, who drove the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 to a 1.33.022.
Louis Deletraz rounded off the top-five in front of the sibling Acura ARX-06 run by Wayne Taylor with Andretti, having achieved a 1.33.100 in the #40.
See the full order of qualifying results here.
