IMSA – Cadillac and Porsche at the forefront at the Roar

The Cadillac DPi-VRs set the pace during the first day of the Roar Before the Rolex 24, an official test session held as a preamble to the 24 Hours of Daytona (January 27-29) which will open the 2018 season of theIMSA.

Thanks to Philip Albuquerque, the n°5 example of Action Express Racing, which the Portuguese shares with Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, took the lead in the two Friday sessions, initially achieving a time in 1'37″266, then improving to 1'37″196.

If Cadillac had scored a quadruple in EL1, the No. 07 Oreca 54 – CORE Autosport of Romain Dumas, Loïc duval, Jon Bennett and Colin Braun came to disrupt the hierarchy established in the first session, by positioning themselves 107 thousandths from the peak DPi, thanks to Colin Braun.

Followed by the No. 10 – Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-VR of J. Taylor, Renger van der Zande and Ryan Hunter-Reay at two tenths and the No. 90 – Spirit of Daytona of Tristan Vautier – Matt McMurry – Eddie Cheever III. Vautier was the fastest of the trio in 1'37″469. The Oreca 07 n°78 – Jackie Chan DC Racing of Tung – Brundle – Felix da Costa – Habsburg completes the top 5 of the day at 0″511.

The second driving session saw the first Nissan DPi – ESM of van Overbeek – Derani – Stone take ninth place ahead of the sister car of Pla – Sharp – Dalziel. Dane Cameron – Juan Pablo Montoya – simon pagenaud thanks to the Frenchman, the first Acura ARX-05 DPi of Acura Team Penske is at the gates of the top 10.

Fernando Alonso, associated to Lando Norris and Phil Hanson in the No. 217 Ligier JS P23 – United Autosports, emerges in 13th position in FP2. Only one of the two Mazda RT24-Ps from Mazda Team Joest set a time with the #55 of Bomarito – Pigot – Tincknell, ranked 15th in the second session.

Porsche takes the lead in GTLM

Now at the heart of the Weissach program, the GTLM category saw Porsche show the most verve in its first confrontation on track in 2018 with Ferrari, Ford, Corvette and BMW.

Ford had achieved the double in EL1, but the 911 RSR no. 912, driven by Laurens Vanthoor – Gianmaria Bruni – Earl Bamber, ended the day in the lead with a best time from the Belgian in 1'44″065, 30 thousandths better than Richard Westbrook (Ford) earlier today.

Porsche also scored a double in EL2 with the No. 911 of Pilet – Tandy – Makowiecki. The two Ford GT – Chip Ganassi Racing follow in the standings of the session ahead of the first Corvette C7.R n°3 of Magnussen – Garcia – Rockenfeller and the Ferrari 488 n°62 – Risi Competizione.

In GTD, Franck Perera, new recruit to the Grasser Racing Team, was the fastest in the second part of the day, completing a lap of the Florida track in 1'47″175, at the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 n °11 – GRT. This same car, with Rolf Ineichen, dominated FP1 in 1'47″104.

Ranking Roar Before the Rolex 24 EL1

Ranking Roar Before the Rolex 24 EL2

Discover the photos of the Roar before the 24 of Daytona