Porsche and Lexus dominated GTD/GTD PRO ROAR qualifying

With 12 drivers representing 6 different manufacturers within half a second during Sunday’s ROAR qualifying, the ROLEX 24 GT entries (GTD and GTD PRO) race looks promising. Porsche 911 GT3 and Lexus locked the two front rows while Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, BMW M4 GT3, Ford Mustang GT3 and Mercedes AMG GT3 were not able to lap within one second from both GTD classes (to the exception of #65 Ford Mustang who was 0.009 sec. within the second off Benchmark).

Porsche and Lexus GTD PRO in front row.

Sebastian Priaulx set the fastest lap in the GTD Pro class with a time of 1:44.382 minutes. AO Racing’s #77 Porsche 911, dubbed “Rexy” due to its bright green dinosaur livery, tackles the 24-hour race from pole position.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. Porsche 911 GT3 R #77.

Sebastian Priaulx (Porsche 911 GT3 R #77): “Well, that was unexpected! I gave everything I had and ended up on pole. Today was my day! Everything ran perfectly. Now we have a long race ahead of us. We shouldn’t let the grid position distract us from the big challenge next weekend. Still, it’s always nice when you can go into an important race week with a good feeling and on the wave of success. I’m thrilled.” Source: Porsche.

Last year champion J. Hawksworth with #14 Lexus RC F GT3 was second best for only 0.080 seconds.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #14 Lexus RC F GT3.

GTD Lexus and Porsche in second row

P. Thompson on board of #12 Lexus RC F GT3 was fastest in GTD and 3rd in combined class hence starting from second row of GT entries.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #12 Lexus RC F GT3

In the GTD category, Klaus Bachler lines up on the grid in second place (4th of GT entries) with the #86 Porsche fielded by the customer team MDK Motorsports. The Austrian was just 0.043 seconds off GTD pole position.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. Porsche 911 GT3 R #86.

Klaus Bachler (Porsche 911 GT3 R #86): “That was a great qualifying. Many thanks to the team – this is my first time working with them. Now we can continue to prepare systematically for the race. Although we still need to tick off a few things on our list, second place in qualifying shows that our Porsche is already fast – at least in cool temperatures. Now we have to make sure that this continues in the hotter temperatures next weekend. It’ll be a long race with many challenges and a lot of strategy. We aim to be in the fight for the class win.” Source: Porsche

Acura ladies trio in third row

Katherine Legge kicked off the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with a third-place effort in GTD qualifying (5th combined GT entries) in the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22. 

Legge and co-driver Sheena Monk came close to victory in last year's race before a pit lane fueling issue dashed their hopes in the closing stages of the race. The duo will go for it again this year, joined by Tatiana Calderon for the IMEC races. Stevan McAleer is joining for this year's Rolex 24. 

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.

Katherine Legge (#66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22) qualified third in GTD: "Third, I think, was good. For a second there, I thought we had a shot at the [GTD] pole. I think the conditions today certainly favored our Acura NSX, with it being cooler. So, we tried to capitalize on that and get the JG Wentworth car up at the front of the field. I think we're in a good position to have a strong run next weekend." Source: Acura

Two Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 follow

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024.

Three GTD entries follow in the combined ranking for GT entries:

• K. Marcelli / D. Formal / G. Doyle / A. Harrison with #45 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti GTDLamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 (6th combined GT3 entries)

• M. Goikhberg / L. Spinelli / D. Defrancesco / S. Mitchell with #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 (left) (7th combined GT3 entries)

• M. Franco / A. Costa Balboa / A. Balzan / C. Sbirrazzuoli with #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (right) (8th combined GT3 entries)

Corvette

Antonio Garcia led the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports #3 Oshkosh/Mobil 1 Corvette Z06 GT3.R to third in GTD PRO, 9th combined GT3 entries.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Daytona 2024. #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED THIRD IN GTD PRO: “It was a bit stressful, but luckily I was in the right spot. Basically, I had nobody in front of me or everybody was pushing in front of me, so I had nobody behind me. I could actually gauge that. We only had two good laps once the tire temps were up, so it was difficult to really nail both laps. But in a way, I think it was a decent qualifying considering it’s a 24-hour race. We have a lot of GTDs in the mix with us. But it’s still the start of a long week. I'm happy with where we are, and we just need to go from there. It’s going to be a tight race.” Source: Corvette racing.

3 Italian cars to close the top 12

2 Ferrari and 1 Lamborghini end the group of GT3 entries within half a second from GT3 qualifying for ROLEX 24 Benchmark.

• Antonio Fuoco with the #47 CETILAR RACING Ferrari 296 GT3 he’ll share with Roberto Laporte, Giorgio Semagiotto, and Eddie Cheever is 10th combined GT3 entries and 7th in GTD; (left)

• Frank Perera drove the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 he’ll share with Jordan Pepper, Andrea Caldarelli and Mirko Bortolotti to P4 GTD PRO, 11th combined GT3 entries; (center)

• Daniel Serra drove the #62 Risi Competizione663462GTDPROFerrari 296 GT31 he’ll share with Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado to P5 GTD PRO, 12th combined GT3 entries. (right)

The first Ford Mustang GT3 is 23rd in combined GTD entries ahead of #75 Sun Energy Mercedes AMG GT3, #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The first BMW M4 GT3 (#96 Paul Miller Racing) is 27th in combined GT3 entries!

GTD/GTD PRO combined qualifying results

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