Meyer Shank Racing in pole position for the 24 Hours of Daytona

The new era ofEndurance began. This Sunday, January 22, 2023, qualifying for the 24 Hours of Daytona, the Roar, took place, one week before the Florida double clock. The opportunity to see the new GTPs in action for the first time in competition.

The first sensation of the year was when Nick Tandy went off the track at the wheel of the Porsche No. 6 Penske Motorsports. The Briton hit the wall after losing control at the chicane, damaging the hood and the left front of his prototype, leaving debris on the track. The red flag was out. Ricky Taylor then occupied first place in the No. 06 Acura ARX-10 of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport in 1:34.198, ahead of Felipe Nasr (No. 7 Porsche). 

The session restarted for less than 2:30, while Sébastien Bourdais (Cadillac Racing n°01) had not yet recorded a flying lap. On new tires, Tom Blomqvist emerged in the very last moments to steal pole position in 1:34.031. Felipe Nasr was inserted between the two Acura ARX-06s while Sébastien Bourdais placed the first Cadillac in fourth place in 1:34.262. The two BMW M Hybrid V8s remained behind, but the three manufacturers are within a second. Promising in terms of performance for racing, but the main question now remains 24-hour reliability.

For comparison, Frenchman Tristan Vautier's pole position during Roar qualifying in 2022 was achieved in 1:34.034 in the JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi.

LM P2: Keating ahead of the two TDS Racing

The LM P2 session was marked by a red flag five minutes from the end of the clock following the exits from the track of John Farano (Tower Motorsport no. 8) and Fred Poordad (Proton Competition no. 55), while Ben Keating held first place with a lap of 1:40.541 in the No. 1 French Mathiasen Motorsports PR52 Nicolas lapierre and Paul-Loup Chatin who will start from first place in their category. 

Another tricolor will see his crew start from the front row with François Heriau and the TDS Racing n°35 which he shares with Giedo van der Garde, Joshua Pierson and Job van Uitert. The second Oreca from TDS Racing, the n°11 will start from third place in front of the AF Corse n°88 of François Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Julien Canal.

Ligier quintuple in LM P3

In LM P3, while the errors multiplied at the end of the session, the Ligier JS P320s clearly dominated the Duqueine D08s with a quintuple. Chilean Nico Pino was quickest in 1:43.197 for Sean Creech Motorsport, ahead of Dakota Dickerson in the #36 Andretti Autosport by 0.110 seconds. Cameron Shields took third place, 0.154 seconds behind, for Performance Tech Motorsports.

Mercedes domination in Grand Touring

On the Grand Tourism side, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 impressed by taking a hat-trick in GTD as well as pole position in GTD Pro. Philip Ellis was the fastest, setting his best lap in 1:46.093. 

The German got the better of his compatriot Fabian Schiller by 0.219 seconds on the Sun Energy 1 of the star brand. Mikael Grenier took the third step of the podium with the No. 32 from Team Korthoff Motorsports.

Maro Engel completed the Mercedes domination during this qualifying session by dominating the GTD Pro field with a lap of 1:46.784 in the No. 79 WeatherRech Racing car. Narrowly, as Ross Gunn took second place just 0.041 seconds behind theAston Martin Vantage n°23 from Heart of Racing Team.

The #3 Lamborghini Huracán GT63 Evo Romain Grosjean will start in 6th position in his category after a lap in 1:48.233 from Andrea Caldarelli. On the side of the Iron Dames and Dorian Pin, a 15th place in GTD awaits them on the grid after Rahel Frey's 1:48.991 during this qualifying session.

Find the complete Qualification rankings HERE

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