Live Updates at Daytona: Limited participation in late, wet session; first race is held
DAYTONA BEACH — After 25 minutes of qualifying for the VP Challenge Series, and 90 minutes of testing for the Michelin Pilot Challenge cars, the 61 Rolex 24 entries hit Daytona International Speedway for a 90-minute session that might be their last "dry run" of the day.
Rain is expected by mid-afternoon Saturday and is forecast to linger into the evening, which would affect a 60-minute afternoon session and Saturday night's two-hour test under the lights as the "Roar Before the Rolex 24" continues. Friday's first day of testing was run in perfect weather.
But in sports-car racing, the show goes on, albeit with grooved tires ("wets," race folks call them) instead of slicks, and with the windshield wipers activated. The new GTP prototypes have tested thoroughly as they approach their worldwide debut, but dealing with Daytona's 3.56-mile road course in wet conditions will put them to another test entirely.
All of this is being done in preparation for next week's four-day Rolex 24 weekend, Thursday through Sunday, which culminates with the running of the 61st Rolex 24 on Saturday-Sunday.
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Meanwhile, Daytona's first checkered flag of 2023 will fly in the afternoon, as the VP Challenge Series runs the first of two 45-minute races scheduled for this weekend. Green flag flies at 2:05 today, at 12:20 Sunday.
The "Roar" concludes Sunday afternoon with 95 minutes of qualifying to set the field for all five classes of cars in the Jan. 28-29 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Porsche tops limited, late Rolex 24 practice
Just 27 of the 61 entries in the Rolex 24 at Daytona took to the track for Saturday's final session, held in darkness and rainy, wet conditions.
Of those, just three of the nine GTP cars took to the track with one of those, a Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW M Team entry, completing just one lap and finishing last on the leaderboard. The other two premier class rides, a Penske Motorsports Porsche (1:46.206) and a Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac (1:48.804) finished first and second respectively.
The late practice was the third of the day and the fifth of the weekend for the WeatherTech Championship series. It was also the final bit of track time for the Rolex 24 cars before Sunday's qualifying, set to start at 1:25 p.m.
Other class leaders in the fifth and final session:
LMP2: No. 31 Oreca (1:50.756)
LMP3: No. 87 Duqueine D08 (1:55.387)
GTD: No. 70 McLaren 720S GT3 (1:57.353)
GTDPro: No. 79 Mercedes AMG GT3 (1:57.084)
Ben Rhodes 8th, Hailie Deegan 10th in Michelin Pilot Challenge practice
NASCAR Craftstman Truck Series drivers Ben Rhodes (2:06.310) and Hailie Deegan (2:06.471) registered the eighth and 10th best times during the day's final Michelin Pilot Challenge practice on Saturday evening.
The two are copiloting the No. 41 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4 entry and are set to compete in the series' four-hour opener on Friday starting at 1:45 p.m. Scott Andrews turned in a time of 2:02.875 to top the leaderboard.
The fifth practice in the WeatherTech Series, scheduled to be the final on-track event on Saturday, was slated to get underway at 6:30 p.m.
Acura maintains its spot atop the speed charts
Session 4 is in the books, and the two Acuras remain fastest among the nine GTP prototypes debuting in next weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona.
As was the case in Saturday's third WeatherTech Series session, it was the No. 60 Acura of Meyer Shank Racing posting the fastest lap - 1:35.038, just over 95 seconds around Daytona's 3.56-mile road course.
That was roughly a tenth of a second faster than the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura (1:35.156).
The two BMW teams, of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, improved on their times from earlier in the day and were third and fourth fastest, followed by Roger Penske's two Porsches, Chip Ganassi's two Cadillacs, and the Cadillac of Action Express Racing.
The other class leaders in the fourth practice session:
LMP2: No. 04 Oreca (1:38.633).
LMP3: No. 33 Ligier (1:42.961).
GTD: No. 44 Aston Martin (1:47.276).
GTD Pro: No. 64 Aston Martin (1:47.309).
Following another Michelin Pilot Challenge session, the WeatherTech cars are scheduled for a nighttime session from 6:30 to 8:30.
We have a winner! VP Challenge series opens 2023 racing season at Daytona
The first checkered flag of 2023 has waved.
Dan Goldburg not only won the first race of the IMSA season, but the first-ever race for the new VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
Driving the No. 73 Duqueine for JDC MotorSports, Goldburg finished a whopping 23 seconds ahead of runner-up Brian Thienes, in the No. 77 Ligier.
Polesitter Bijoy Garg locked up his brakes entering the infield course just past the green flag on the opening lap, and didn't recover. He finished third in a Ligier, 26 seconds back.
The field's nine LMP3 cars swept the top nine positions. Finishing the 10th and winning the GSX class was Billy Griffin in the No. 14 Ford Mustang of Kohr Motorsports.
At the stripe, Griffin was nearly 13 seconds ahead of Moisey Uretsky, in Accelerating Performance's No. 44 Aston Martin.
Next up is a one-hour WeatherTech Championship session, featuring the Rolex 24 cars, from 3:10 to 4:10.
Acura is 1-2 after Saturday's first Rolex 24 session
Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing, carrying the flag for Acura in this year's new GTP class, led the way in Saturday's first 90-minute practice stint. They were separated by just over a 10th of a second over Daytona's 3.56-mile road course.
Tom Blomqvist, aboard the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura prototype, turned a fastest lap of 1:35.363, a blink faster than Felipe Albuquerque (1:35:493) in the No. 10 Taylor machine.
Roger Penske's two Porsches were next, followed by the division's three Cadillacs, with BMW turning the eighth and ninth fastest laps in the nine-car class.
Other classes and their speed toppers:
LMP2: No. 52 Oreca (1:38.877).
LMP3: No. 36 Ligier (1:42.653).
GTD: No. 70 McLaren (1:46.842).
GTD Pro: No. 64 Aston Martin (1:47.341).
After a lunch break and track prep, action resumes at 2:05 with a 45-minute VP Challenge race, the first of two VP races this weekend.
The WeatherTech cars are scheduled to return to the track at 3:10 for a one-hour test session. The latest forecast calls for rain to arrive perhaps by the end of that stint.
Rolex 24 cars on the track for first Saturday session at Daytona
The first Rolex 24 test session of Saturday is underway, with the new GTP prototypes leading the way, again turning laps at a tick above 95 seconds around Daytona's 3.56-mile sports-car course.
This session is scheduled to run through 12:45. Following that, Saturday's next action will be a 45-minute race, beginning at 2:05, featuring cars from IMSA's VP Challenge Series.
Garg, Goldburg continue to top VP Challenge charts
After the two drivers paced the field in both practice sessions on Saturday, Bijoy Garg and Dan Goldburg turned in the best two laps during VP Racing SportsCar Challenge qualifying on Saturday morning.
This time, however, Garg got the better of Goldburg in his Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320, recording a time of 1:43.091 to claim the pole position for Saturday afternoon’s 45-minute race, set to start at 2:05 p.m. A second 45-minute sprint is scheduled for 12:20 p.m. on Sunday, just ahead of Rolex 24 qualifying.
Goldburg’s fastest lap was set at 1:43.425 in his JDC MotorSports Duqueine D08. On Friday, Golburg topped Garg atop both practice leaderboards.
Garg and Golburg are piloting two of nine LMP3 entries for the racing doubleheader which also includes 15 GT4-spec GSX entries. Of those, Billy Griffin turned in the fastest time of 1:53.920 to sit 10th on the overall grid.
The weekend will serve as the inaugural events in the series which replaces the now-caput IMSA Prototype Challenge. Six doubleheaders make up the schedule with all races slated for 45 minutes with no scheduled pitstops.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona 24 hours: Rolex 'roars' into Day 2 of testing - Live Updates
