Daytona Beach, Fla. – The 2015 racing season is barely underway but at least three headline events have taken place or are about to. Leading the way was the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown in Arizona and trailing in its dust will be the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa. Sandwiched in between is the Roar before the Rolex24 at Daytona, which is the three-day test underway this weekend on the road-course at the legendary Daytona International Speedway.
Fifty-three teams in four classes are on hand at DIS for the must-do test sessions. Over the three days, some 12 hours of on-track practice takes place, to include 90 minutes under the lights.
A breakdown of the 53 entries: 16 Daytona Prototypes, eight Prototype Challenges, 10 GT LeMans and 19 GT Daytona cars.
Based on experience, teams recognize the importance of testing. A year ago, two of the eventual four class winners topped the charts in the Roar and all four of the fastest teams in the Roar finished the Rolex24 in the top five.
Due to the importance of the Rolex24, the event draws the best drivers from around the world and the line-up is comprised all an all-star line-up of sports-car, IndyCar and NASCAR drivers.
Two rounds of practice were held today with the morning run affected by unseasonably cool weather and lack of rubber on track. For the most part, a team’s best drivers saw action. In round two, lap times improved slightly with teams giving most, if not all, drivers with time behind the wheel.
In the opening round, IndyCar champion Scott Dixon led the way followed by new teammate Joey Hand, who will co-drive with perennial champion Scott Pruett. They were both driving Ford EcoBoost Riley DPs fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
Dixon’s fast lap around the 3.56-mile course was done in a time of 1:39.406.
In round two, Hand took over atop the timing charts with a faster run of 1:39.397. Said Hand, “It was a great first day on the job for me. It was a fun day and it is always a delight to be at Daytona, and I feel like I never left this team. I’ve only done four races with this team, but feel like I’ve been here for a long time. Getting the fastest time gives me a big boost of confidence.”
In addition to Dixon, Pruett and Hand, the Ganassi team has assembled a stellar cast that includes IndyCar luminaries Tony Kanaan, Sage Karam and Charlie Kimball along with NASCAR stalwarts Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson.
Pedro Ramy led the way in round 1 driving an Aston Martin Vantage V8 at 1:42.699. Phillip Eng took the speed honors in GTD racing at 1:47.753 while driving the Porsche 911 GT America from Wright Motorsports. Lastly, Bruno Junqueira had the hot hand in the PC class at 1:42.699. He and three co-drivers wheel an ORECA FLM09.
Lamy’s time held up in round two and he was pleased with the result. “The car was quite balanced, and we just kept working on the car. We will have to see what tomorrow will bring.”
In the afternoon session, PC driver Renger van zer Zande took the honors with a time of 1:42.360. On the GTD side, Marc Goosens set the pace at 1:46.948 in a Dodge Viper SRT.
Two more days of practice will take place on Saturday and Sunday.
2015 Rolex 24Daytona International SpeedwayFeatured