With rain starting more than an hour before the beginning of the two hour final test session of the Roar Before the 24, the only one run in full darkness, less than half the 61 entries ventured onto the track. Nick Tandy, in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, posted to the top time late in the session, a 1m46.359s lap, about 11s slower than fast times set in the other sessions. His co-driver, Mathieu Jaminet had held the fast time until that point, when Tandy went a hundredth faster.
With practically no chance of rain predicted for next Saturday and Sunday, most teams didn’t see the need to venture out to test rain setups, but rather used the session to give drivers experience in the nighttime at Daytona International Speedway. Some cars went to pit lane, including the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura that had topped all the previous sessions, but never went out. The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac in the hands of Jack Aitken was the only other GTP car to post a fast time.
Most of the LMP2 field, though, went out, with Ryan Dalziel setting the quick time for Era Motorsports in the No. 18 ORECA.
The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG spent most of the session undergoing a differential change, but when it emerged to check everything was OK, Daniel Juncadella set the fastest time in GTD PRO, the first time a GTD PRO car was quicker than the fastest GTD car in a session all weekend. Marvin Kirchhofer set the top time in GTD in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3.
UP NEXT: Qualifying for the 61st Rolex 24 at Daytona beginning at 1:25 p.m. ET. Qualifying will be livestreamed on Peacock.
Comments