Porsche and Cadillac topped sessions 3 and 4 of the Roar before the 24, the traditional pre-season test weekend for the Daytona 24 Hours, the season opener of the IMSA Sportscar Championship.
In the third session, Laurens Vanthoor was quickest, driving the #6 Porsche 963. The Belgian set a 1:36.549 to go fastest, 0.419 faster than his Porsche Penske teammate Lauren Heinrich in the #7 machine.
Third was Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac, a further 0.053 off Heinrich.
In LMP2, in the third session, Mathias Beche was quickest in the third session in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca, setting a 1:40.159. This was 0.156 faster than Hunter McElrea in the #2 United Autosports Oreca, while Jonny Edgar was third in the #99 AO Racing Oreca, popularly named “Spike” after its purple dinosaur livery. Edgar was a further 0.035 off McElrea.
Felipe Fraga topped the combined GTD Pro / GTD times in the third session, in the GTD-entered #16 Myers Riley Ford Mustang GT3. The Brazilian set a 1:47.453 to go quickest, 0.159 ahead of Indycar star Will Power in the GTD Pro-entered #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The next two cars were also GTD Pro cars: Maxime Martin in the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, and Sandy Mitchell in the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Both were will within a tenth of GTD Pro class leader Power, but Mitchell was over two tenths off Fraga at the head of the times.
Second and third in the GTD class were Indy Dontje in the sister #57 Winward Racing Mercedes, and Jake Walker in the #66 Gradient Racing Ford.
Albuquerque tops fourth session
After coming third in the third session, Albuquerque went top in the fourth, although still slower than L. Vanthoor compared to earlier. The Portuguese veteran set a 1:36.731 to top the timesheets, just over a tenth ahead of L. Vanthoor’s teammate in the #6 Porsche, Kevin Estre.
Third was Jack Aitken in the #31 Cadillac, a quarter of a second off Albuquerque.
Ben Hanley topped the timesheets in the fourth session in the LMP2 class, in the #2 ar, which had finished second earlier in the hands of McElrea. Hanley set a 1:39.922, considerably faster than McElrea, and 0.121 faster than Sebastien Bourdais in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca.
Third fastest was Paul Di Resta in the sister #22 United Autosports Oreca, a further 0.056 off Bourdais.
Once again a GTD car was fastest from both the GTD Pro and GTD classes in the fourth Roar 24 session. This time, former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean was quickest, onboard the #16 Myers Riley Ford Mustang, which earlier Felipe Fraga had been fastest in.
Grosjean was a little slower than Fraga by a couple of tenths, with the Frenchman setting a 1:47.667. This was over two tenths quicker than Ollie Millroy in the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari.
The fastest GTD Pro car was driven by Christopher Mies, the #65 Ford Mustang GT3. He set a 1:47.906 to go quickest in class, but was getting on for three tenths off Grosjean. Incidentally, he set the same time as Millroy ahead, but as Millroy set it first, he was classified ahead.
Marvin Kirchoffer was second fastest in GTD Pro, onboard the #3 Corvette Z06 GT3R, just 0.016 off Mies ahead.
Fifth in the combined GTD Pro-GTD standings and third in GTD was Ferrari factory driver Yifei Ye, in the #23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, 0.027 off Millroy ahead in GTD.
Third in GTD Pro, but seventh in the combined GTD Pro-GTD standings, was Davide Rigon in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari, just a few hundredths of a second off Kirchoffer and even less off fellow Ferrari driver Ye. Between them was another GTD car, Philip Ellis, in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
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