Roar - EL2: Meyer Shank Racing and Acura continue

The Acuras were in the best shape during this first day of testing at Daytona. After Colin Braun, it was Helio Castroneves who distinguished himself with the Japanese LMDh of Meyer Shank Racing.

Published on 21/01/2023 à 00:05

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Roar – EL2: Meyer Shank Racing and Acura continue

#60: Meyer Shank Racing W/Curb-Agajanian, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud

The impression left during the pre-season tests in December seems for the moment to be confirmed at Daytona since the first day of the Roar Free Practice was dominated by the Acura ARX-06.

After Colin Braun for Meyer Shank Racing a little earlier, it's his teammate Helio Castroneves who distinguished himself this Friday by setting a lap in 1:35.210, synonymous with the best performance of the day. The Brazilian beat Filipe Albuquerque (Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport) in the final minutes of this driving session by just 0.110 seconds.

The first Cadillac took third place with #01 (Bourdais, van der Zande, Dixon) à 0.375 seconde. BMW et Porsche suivent du 5e au 8e rang, mais à une bonne distance des prototypes japonais.

GTP Ranking

Pile Peugeot en WEC, Mikkel Jensen distinguished himself in LM P2 with the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca. The Dane set his personal best in 1:38.730. He beat the Frenchman Matthieu Vaxiviere (AF Corse n°88) by 0.611 seconds and the experienced Ben Keating (PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport n°52) by 0.642 seconds.

LM P2 classification

As for LM P3, it was Colombian Gabby Chaves who was the fastest in Free Practice 2 with the No. 320 Ligier JS P36 from Andretti Autosport.

LM P3 classification

Among the GTs, it was once again a GTD which set the tone. Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°75 of Sun Energy 1 led by Fabian Schiller, author of a lap in 1:47.020. He beat the #3 Lexus RC F GT14 of the Vasser Sullivan team with Ben Barnicoat at the wheel by 0.020 seconds (1st GTD Pro).