Daytona Tests – Day 2: BMW dominates the night and the GTs shine

The teams in the championship IMSA completed 10 full hours of testing at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, divided into three sessions, including one at night. 

The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, driven by Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon, and AJ Allmendinger, set the fastest time in the first practice session of the day with a 1:36.231. Porsche The JDC-Miller MotorSports #963 #85 of Bryce Aron, Tijmen van der Helm, Matt Campbell, and Nico Pino dominated the following session with a time of 1:36.015. The night session was won by the Team WRT #2 BMW driven by Marco Wittmann with a time of 1:36.697. Connor Zilisch completed his first GTP laps in the Action Express Racing #31 Cadillac V-Series.R.

First laps in the United States for the Lamborghini Temerario GT3

After a first day entirely dedicated to prototypes, the GTD and GTD Pro category cars also took to the track on Saturday. This provided an opportunity to see the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 in action. Andrea Caldarelli, Marco Mapelli, and Franck Perera shared the wheel of the No. 9 car, prepared by Pfaff Motorsports, this weekend. It sports the Lamborghini colors: Verde Mantis (green), Nero Noctis (black), Bianco Alpi (white), and Rosso Sangue (red), already seen on the Lamborghini SC63 GTP. The traditional Pfaff tartan livery is not yet present.

In addition to the new Lamborghini, several evolutions and new partnerships have also emerged with the updated Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), also known as the 992.2. This version benefits from aerodynamic and suspension improvements. Wright Motorsports, Manthey, and RS1 are exhibiting 911 GT3 Rs this weekend.

The updated Ford Mustang GT3, notably featuring a new splitter, is present with three examples across the two Ford Multimatic Motorsports teams and the new Myers Riley Motorsports car. Jenson Altzman tested the all-new Riley Mustang at Charlotte earlier this week, ahead of the No. 16's arrival at Daytona; he shares the car with Felipe Fraga, Sheena Monk, and Romain Grosjean.

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The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team has been juggling its old and new programs. It has been contributing to the preparation of the BMW M Hybrid V8 GTPs for Team WRT, with some of its members participating in testing this week. Meanwhile, the new RLL Team McLaren, having recently taken delivery of his No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, made his return to GT racing for the first time since 2022. McLaren factory driver Dean MacDonald, Juri Vips and Max Esterson share the car.

La Mercedes-AMG GT3 No. 48 of the GTD PRO class of Winward Racing also completed its first laps with the quartet consisting of Scott Noble, Jason Hart, Maxime Martin and Luca Stolz.

The combined standings for Trials 3 and 4 are HERE

The results of the night practice session are HERE

ALSO READ > Daytona Tests – Day 1: Acura in the lead, first laps for the upgraded GTPs