ROAR: GTP ranking after free practices

The four ROAR practices on Friday and Saturday saw all GTP on track with both Acura dominating the debates.

📷 © Luc Warnotte: #60 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb AgajanIan Acura ARX-06 at ROAR 2023

Except for ROAR session 3, the last year's manufacturers winner improved their lap time with Colin Braun at the wheel of #60 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb AgajanIan Acura ARX-06 setting the Benchmark during session 4 at 1:35:028.

📷 © Luc Warnotte: #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 at ROAR 2023.

Brendon Hartley with #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 set the second-best performance of all ROAR sessions only 0,118 sec slower than Braun during the same fourth session.

Both BMW M RLL have steadily improved their lap time during the last day session with more than a second ending third and fourth of the GTP class.

📷 © Luc Warnotte: BMW M Hybrid V8 #24 at ROAR 2023.

Eng was the fastest with #24 BMW in 1:35:372

📷 © Luc Warnotte: BMW M Hybrid V8 #25 at ROAR 2023.

Nick Yelloly was fourth with #25 BMW in 1:35:458

Cadillacs and Porsches were trusting the last 5 spots of the combined sessions as they did not improve their best laps during the last session.

📷 © Luc Warnotte: Porsche 963 #6 at ROAR 2023.

Nick Tandy set the fifth-class best performance with Porsche #6 in 1:35:498 during the third ROAR session.

📷 © Luc Warnotte: Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh #01 at ROAR 2023.

Scott Dixon was the fastest driver of the Cadillac Racing Cadillacs with a best time of 1:35:585 which he established during session 2 on Friday on board of #01 Chip Ganassi Racing.

Van der Zande commented: "During the second session we ran all the way and made some nice improvements on the cars and their systems. That's what you need to do at the Roar: chip away and make things better."

📷 © Luc Warnotte: Porsche 963 #7 at ROAR 2023.

Porsche Penske Motorsport #7 is seventh overall with Scott Dixon establishing the best lap for the car during session 3 at 1:35:601

📷 © Luc Warnotte: Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-LMDh #31nat ROAR 2023.

Pipo Derani set the eighth-best lap in 1:35:819 with Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-LMDh #31.

Teammate Aitken, who is making his first start in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and saw the bulk of the laps in the Friday afternoon session said: “It was busy out there and good to get a feel of how it is going to be in the race. We were not necessarily looking for clean laps because we’ll have to deal with the traffic in the race. It was finding a rhythm, getting past people, and doing it without taking too much risk. The car was solid. We have a good baseline from the test in December and the track is still rubbering in so it has low grip at the moment. It’s going to get better and better as the week goes on.”

📷 © Luc Warnotte: Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh #02 at ROAR 2023.

Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh #02 is closing the march with a lap time of 1:35:994 established by Alexander Lynn during the third ROAR session.

"All in all, a pretty positive day for Cadillac Racing," Bamber said. "It's a new era so there's a lot of excitement around the paddock and it is great to see so many fans out already. We have two new cars, so we're getting everything ironed out as we go along and we’re learning constantly even after the development phase. I think the pace was good today and we'll keep going faster."

Only 27 of the 61 cars participated in the wet night session.

Mathieu Jaminet took advantage of a slight drying of the track to take the wheel of the #6 Porsche 963 with just 40’ remaining followed by Nick Tandy who set the best time of the session in 1:46:206 which was still more than 10 sec. slower than the best performance in dry conditions.

Action Express Racing Cadillac V-LMDh was the only other GTP to go on track with Jack Aitken, setting a time that was 2.6sec off Tandy.

The #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-LMDh co-driven by Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken, the #01 Cadillac V-LMDh co-driven by Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon, and the #02 Cadillac V-LMDh co-driven by Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook.

Related news

📷 © Wayne Taylor Racing: #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 gets rolling at the ROAR. Read here.

📷 © Cadillac Racing: Cadillac V-LMDh and drivers are ready for ROAR. Read here.