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IMSA i WEC 2018/19 (sportski prototipovi)


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#61 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 23 January 2018 - 19:07

Penske unveils livery for Acura ARX-05 DPis
Tuesday, 23 January 2018

Acura6.jpg


Team Penske has unveiled its livery for their 2018 Acura ARX-05 DPis.

Running car Nos. 6 and 7, the cars' tail fins will help set them apart, with the No. 6 running a white fin and the 7 car fin dressed in black. The cars feature Acura Motorsports' signature DayGlo Orange trim on the front and Jewel Eye LED headlights that are descendants from Acura's road cars.

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#62 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 24 January 2018 - 01:50


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#63 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 24 January 2018 - 16:52


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#64 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 25 January 2018 - 04:25

Penske hoping to take DPi to Le Mans
Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Marshall Pruett / Image by Galstad/LAT

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Roger Penske is immensely happy with what he's found in IMSA and its Daytona Prototype international formula and wouldn't mind taking it on the road – across the Atlantic – to a little town due west from Paris in the coming years.

Penske, a championship-winning team owner in IndyCar, Can-Am, Trans-Am, NASCAR, and the ALMS, is hoping to add an IMSA crown to Team Penske's legacy with Acura and its ARX-05 DPis, and with the positive momentum building behind the series' top class, barnstorming the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Acura is another goal to pursue. Outside of the team's unsuccessful 1971 run with a Ferrari 512M/P, the famous French event stands as one of few major races Penske has yet to win.
 
"To me, what they've been able to put together, I take my hat off to [IMSA president] Scott Atherton, and hopefully this is going to be a precursor for us to go to Le Mans, maybe in 2020," Penske told RACER.

"Once they see the number of cars, the number of manufacturers, and the costs associated with it, which are minimal compared to what we've seen at Le Mans in the past, maybe there will be some hybrids or things like that they'll throw in, but to me, I feel like we're right back in the same business and with a lot more competition."

Ongoing discussions between IMSA, the ACO – organizers of the Le Mans race – and the FIA World Endurance Championship on the next set of common prototype regulations could, as Penske desires, create a path for the American DPis to compete at the 24-hour classic for the first time.

Under the current rules employed by the ACO/FIA, the custom engines, bodywork, and electronics that make DPis unique compared to their spec WEC LMP2 counterparts are not permitted in the event. The recent rise of popularity within DPi, which opens 2018 with four auto manufacturers invested in the formula, lives in stark contrast to the waning strength of the ACO/FIA's offerings in LMP1 and LMP2; provided the trend continues, Penske believes the French sanctioning bodies will have no choice but to change their tune on IMSA's marquee creation.

"It'll be interesting, but that's a number of years ahead," he continued. "But I think this [DPi growth] is a precursor to that, and with the opportunity to compete, you know, these long-distance races, which we love."

Penske also found the perfect lobbyist for the Acura-ARX-05-to-Le-Mans concept within his team.

"Well, I've got a French driver, don't I, with [Simon] Pagenaud... you need that," he said with a grin. "So we'll get him to do the work for us."


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#65 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 25 January 2018 - 04:28

RACER's Rolex 24 at Daytona Resource Guide
Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Image by Dole/LAT

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The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season gets off to a thrilling start this week at Daytona International Speedway, where 50 cars are preparing to fight for overall and class honors at the 56th Rolex 24 at Daytona.

RACER will be on the ground starting Wednesday, and be sure to follow @RACERmag and @MarshallPruett for regular updates on Twitter, and RACER.com for photos, videos, session reports and feature stories.

ENTRY LIST: Click here.

SPOTTERS GUIDE: Click here.

IMSA LIVE TIMING & SCORING: Click here.

TICKETS: Click here.

WEATHER: Click here.

IMSA RADIO: Click here.

WEATHERTECH CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT SCHEDULE:

Thursday, January 25 (all times Eastern)
9:20 – 10:20 p.m., Free Practice 1
1:40 – 2:40 p.m., Free Practice 2
3:55 – 5:00 p.m., Qualifying
6:30 – 8:00 p.m., Free Practice 3

Friday, January 26
9:40 – 10:40 a.m., Free Practice 4

Saturday, January 27
2:40 p.m., Race Start: WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Round 1 (24 Hours)

Sunday, January 28
2:40 p.m., Race End

TV TUNE-IN INFO
 
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RACER's Marshall Pruett and Porsche sports car champion Patrick Long break down Wednesday at the Rolex 24 at Daytona where teams made their final preparations ahead of a busy Thursday of on-track activity, then move to a race preview for GT Daytona, GT Le Mans, and Prototype.

 


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#66 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 25 January 2018 - 19:24

Mazda fastest in opening Rolex 24 practice
Thursday, 25 January 2018
J.J. O'Malley / Image by Marshall Pruett

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Three weekends ago, Mazda Team Joest's No. 77 Mazda RT-24P missed the opening day of practice during the Roar Before the Rolex 24. Today, that car led the opening one-hour round of official practice for the 56th Rolex 24 At Daytona, with Rene Rast turning a fastest lap of 1m37.428s to lead preparation for the opening race of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

"For us, obviously, it's a good start to Daytona for Mazda Team Joest," Rast said. "We had no issues and a good feeling for the overall balance. We are much better than compared to the Roar, but let's see in a couple of hours – or when the race starts – where we are. We didn't see the picture of everyone today, so it's hard to judge. But I'm positive I think we made the right adjustments and obviously we got a bit of help, we lost some weight from the BoP side, but not too bad."
 
Cadillacs – fastest in all eight sessions in the Roar – took the next three positions in the 20-car Prototype field. Tristan Vautier led the GM contingent, 1m37.435s in the No.90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R, followed by Jordan Taylor in the No.10 Konica Minolta entry, 1m37.452s, and Filipe Albuquerque in the No.5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac, 1m37.519s.

ORECAs took the next four places, led by Alex Brundle in the No.78 Jackie Chan DCR Jota ORECA 07-Gibson, 1m37.530s. The top 13 Prototypes were within one second.

Joey Hand paced the GTLM contingent, 1m44.062s in the No.66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, followed by Alessandro Pier Guidi, 1m44.544s in the No.62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, and Vaurens Vanthoor, 1m44.571s in the No.912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

Risi Competizione was fastest in GTD, with Miguel Molina's lap of 1m47.223s in the No.82 Ferrari 488 GT3. He was followed by Pedro Lamy, 1m47.283s in the No.51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3, and AJ Allmendinger, 1m47.507s in the No.86 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3.

The session was red-flagged for 8m49s when Phil Hanson sustained front-end damage following contact with the tire barrier in Turn 5 in the No.23 United Autosports Ligier JSP217. The car is expected to be ready for the afternoon practice. The lone car of the 50 entries not to participate was the No. 24 BMW M8 GTLM, with that car expected to be ready for the next session.

NEXT UP: FP2, 1:40-2:40 p.m. ET.

 


United Autosport was forced to make quick repairs to the No. 23 United Autosport Ligier JSP217 after an incident in Thursday's opening practice session for the Rolex 24.

Phil Hanson found himself quickly building confidence in his early laps. Suddenly, the car snapped around in Turn 5 and went head-first into a tire barrier.

Fortunately, the car to be co-driven by Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris was repaired as the team replaced the complete front-end section along with the steering rack and components. It will be ready for the second practice, which begins at 1:40 p.m. ET.

"Just a bit too confident in the opening laps," Hanson said. "It was my second flying lap in the infield. Turn 5 is notorious for the bumps, and I was a bit too optimistic on how late I could brake, and unfortunately we had lock-up. There isn't much runoff – characteristic of American tracks – and I went into the grass. With it being a little damp, it picked up a little speed and went head-first into the barrier. It was a slow impact, but that didn't make any difference. It still did a little bit of damage, which put us out for the rest of the session. But we'll be good for the next test."

Following the opening session, Alonso expressed confidence in his teammate.

"I think there is not much to teach guys like Lando [Norris] and Phil with the level of knowledge they have and the experience they have," Alonso said. "There's not much to teach them on the driving side. Probably outside the car in all the commitments we have and the mood we have to enter into every session and every race perhaps there is more experience on my side.

"But to be honest in all the sessions we did so far and even the first laps in the car today, we try to put Phil in the car because he has more experience than us and he will be able to feel the changes in the car probably better than Lando and myself," Alonso added. "It's teamwork, and we try to learn from each other but at the same time try to take care of each other."


 


Edited by Rad-oh-yeah?, 25 January 2018 - 19:24.

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#67 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 25 January 2018 - 19:26

Alonso rates Le Mans chance with Toyota as 50-50
Thursday, 25 January 2018
By Chris Medland / Image by Marshall Pruett

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Fernando Alonso has described his chances of racing for Toyota at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours as 50-50.

The Spaniard is taking part in this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona for United Autosports, marking his first sports car race and his first endurance event in sports cars. Alonso has previously admitted that the race provides him with a good opportunity to learn for a future Le Mans attempt, and he is believed to be close to a deal to race for Toyota in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) this year, having tested for the team in Bahrain at the end of 2017.
 
However, asked about his aspirations for taking part in Le Mans this year, Alonso insists there is still plenty of uncertainty over his participation.

"It's no secret that I would like to race in Le Mans in the future," Alonso said. "If it's this year or not this year is still not 100 percent sure. It could happen, yes, but it's 50-50.

"There are many things that you need to put together to make it happen and we are trying to do everything we can. Hopefully the answer will be yes, but when it will be yes or not you all will know at the same time as I will."

At present Toyota has committed to the 2018/19 WEC Super Season but has yet to confirm whether it will make any changes to its driver line-up as it fields two cars, saying it would make an announcement early this year.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier has previously stated a WEC program would help keep Alonso sharp for Formula 1, despite a record-equaling 21-race season in 2018.


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#68 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 25 January 2018 - 19:28

IMSA announces homologation extension for Prototypes, GTLM
Thursday, 25 January 2018
J.J. O'Malley / Image by Galstad/LAT

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IMSA announced on Thursday that the homologation period for cars participating in the Prototype class has been extended for one year. Both Daytona Prototype international (DPi) and LMP2 cars built to current specifications will now be eligible for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition through the conclusion of the 2021 season.

In addition, homologation for cars currently competing in GTLM are now eligible through the end of 2019 IMSA competition.
 
"As we kick off the 2018 season, we believe the announcement of the extension of our Prototype and GTLM homologations will come as welcome news for many of our competitors," said Simon Hodgson, IMSA Vice President, Competition. "We believe our current regulations have been a catalyst for many manufacturers and constructors to compete in the WeatherTech Championship, and this opportunity to amortize their investment over a longer period will be attractive for current and potentially future competitors."

The extension was made possible through the partnership between IMSA, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which organizes the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, respectively.

With the WeatherTech Championship continuing to follow the traditional calendar, new homologations for GTLM cars – or GTE when competing at Le Mans or in the FIA WEC – and LMP2 cars will come online first in the FIA WEC, prior to being incorporated into the WeatherTech Championship at the start of the following year.


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#69 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 25 January 2018 - 22:30


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#70 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 26 January 2018 - 02:20

Castroneves tops second Rolex practice
Thursday, 25 January 2018
By J.J. O'Malley / Image by Jake Galstad/LAT

Hellio_Rolex_Galstad_.jpg


Acura Team Penske went to the top of the speed chart in Thursday's second practice session for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, as Helio Castroneves posted the best lap of the day so far, 1m37.036s in the No. 7 Acura ARX-05.

Nicolas Lapierre was second in the No. 22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi with a 1m37.360s, followed by Filipe Albuquerque, 1m37.385s in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R. In fourth was the leading LMP2, the No. 54 CORE autosport ORECA 07-Gibson piloted by Colin Braun, who turned a 1m37.613s lap.
 
Patrick Pilet led GTLM with a lap of 1m43.902s, best of the day in the No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR, followed by Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R, at 1m43.970s.

Former Pirelli World Challenge GT champion Alvaro Parente had the fastest lap of the day in GTD at 1m46.790s in the No. 86 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3, followed by Miguel Molina in the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 with a 1m47.032s.

The 60-minute session had a brief red flag for the stopped No. 59 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Matteo Cairoli, which had a mechanical issue in the International Horseshoe. Practice was brought to an early end due to a red flag with about five minutes remaining. 

NEXT UP: Qualifying, 3:55-5 p.m. ET.

 


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#71 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 26 January 2018 - 02:22

Van der Zande narrowly beats Castroneves to Rolex 24 pole
Thursday, 25 January 2018
J.J. O'Malley / Images by Levitt/LAT; Marshall Pruett

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Renger van der Zande saved his best for the final seconds of Thursday's qualifying, turning a track record lap of 1m36.083s at the checkered flag in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R to capture the pole for the 56th Rolex 24 At Daytona. He nipped Acura Team Penske's Helio Castroneves by a mere .007s.

Van der Zande is the new driver for the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac, 2017 winner of the Rolex 24. He will co-drive with Jordan Taylor and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
 
"This is just qualifying, but it's nice to be on the pole here," van der Zande said. "I didn't think we could take the pole, but I'm super happy to do it. It's a good start for the new job. When they told me I was on the pole, I was over the moon."

Van der Zande takes over for Ricky Taylor on the Taylor Racing team. Ironically, van der Zande's pole relegates Ricky Taylor to the outside of the front row in the No.7 Acura ARX05 he shares with Castroneves and Graham Rahal.

"We didn't think the pole was within our grasp, but this team works and works and works," car owner Wayne Taylor said. "Renger had an amazing lap, but it only counts on Sunday."

Filipe Albuquerque was third in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac, 1m36.194s, followed by Pato O'Ward, who ran a final lap of 1m36.318s in the No.38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA 07-Gibson.

Formula 1 star Fernando Alonso qualified 13th, 1m37.008s in the No.23 United Autosports Ligier JSP217 – only 0.925s off the pole in the Prototype class.

"I think it was a good session for us," Alonso said. "It was nice finally to do some laps in the car with no traffic. In free practice, there was traffic and a lot of things going on. In Prototype qualify, you can put some laps together and get used to the car. I was happy with the laps, and I was happy with the balance. We still need to improve a little bit to get a little more speed, but in general, I think we did a good job."

Two pole contenders had brief off-track excursions near the end of the 15-minute session. Tristan Vautier will start fifth in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac, while Felipe Nasr will be seventh in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac.

Nicolas Lapierre tagged the tire barrier in the West Horseshoe. While he was able to continue, he pulled off with left-front suspension damage to the No. 22 Tequila Patron ESM Onroak Nissan DPi.
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Jan Magnussen shattered Joey Hand's year-old GTLM track record, running 1m42.779 in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R. Hand took second, 1m42.798 in the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT. Hand won the 2017 class pole at 1m43.473.

"This is the first pole for me here," Magnussen said. "I'm a little bit surprised and super, super happy. I got a good lap and a good tow from my teammate Ollie [Gavin]. For qualifying, you put on new tires and just go for it. The race is a different ballgame. We'll see how our pace compares to everyone, see how the race goes and hope to go for the win."

The Porsche GT Team took the next two positions. Laurens Vanthoor was third, 1m42.927s in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR, followed by Patrick Pilet, 1m43.062s in the No. 911.

Ferrari placed 1-2 in GTD, led by Daniel Serra's track record 1m46.049s in the No.51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3. Miguel Molina was second in the No.82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3, 1m46.502s, followed by Mirko Bortolotti, 1m46.658s in the No.11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Serra broke a four-year-old mark of 1m46.973s set by Christopher Haase in an Audi in 2014.

NEXT UP: FP3 Night Practice, 6:30-8 p.m. ET.

 


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#72 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 26 January 2018 - 05:23

Vautier, Cadillac lead Rolex night practice
Thursday, 25 January 2018
By J.J. O'Malley / Image by Jake Galstad/LAT

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Tristan Vautier ran the fastest lap of Thursday's 90-minute night practice for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, running 1m37.215s in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R.

After being denied the pole by a scant .007s in afternoon qualifying, Helio Castroneves held the top spot for most of the session with a lap of 1m37.413 in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05. Once again, he wound up second. Pipo Derani was third (+0.302s) in the No. 22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi, a car that was damaged only hours earlier when co-drive Nicolas Lapierre had an off-course excursion into a tire barrier during qualifying.

Lando Norris ran a 1m37.557s before turning the No. 23 United Autosports Ligier JSP217-Gibsion over to Fernando Alonso.

Fords ran 1-2 in GTLM, with Sebastien Bourdais running 1m43.675s in the No 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Ford GT, followed by teammate Richard Westbrook, 1m43.859s in the No, 67 Ford.

Mirko Bortolotti led GTD with a lap of 1m47.513s in the No. 11 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Bortolotti qualified third in class but will start at the back of the grid as the car failed the required post-qualifying stall test due to a broken part.

Sam Bird was second in GTD, 1m47.574s in the No. 64 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.

The fourth-qualifying No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA 07-Gibson brought out a brief red flag late in the session when Kyle Masson ran out of fuel and needed a tow.

The session was also briefly red flagged with 12 minutes remaining when Gustavo Menezes cut a right-rear tire entering Speedway Turn 2. He managed to keep the No. 99 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA 07-Gibson under control and avoided contact in the high-speed incident.

Jordan Taylor had a scare at the beginning of the session with a brief off-course excursion in the infield, driving the pole-winning No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R on cold tires. Taylor kept his composure and continued, and went straight to the top of the chart on his first timed lap.

One of the 50 cars missed the session, with the No. 77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda RT-24P in the garage for an engine change. The No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi also changed engines after experiencing a problem in the second practice session, missing the opening 30 minutes of night practice.

The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors will have only one additional hour of practice, with a Friday session beginning at 9:40 a.m. ET. The Rolex 24 green flag drops at 2:40 p.m. ET on Saturday.

NEXT UP: Final practice, Friday 9:40-10:40 a.m. ET.

 

 


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#73 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 26 January 2018 - 17:41

Conway fastest in final Rolex 24 practice
Friday, 26 January 2018
J.J. O'Malley / Image by Dole/LAT

RD_18_24_1053.jpg


Mike Conway led Friday's final practice session for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, turning a lap of 1m36.865s in the No.31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R in the day's lone on-track activity for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors.

Competitors used the one-hour session to make final changes to their race setups. Many of the teams cycled through all of their drivers, using each pit stop for driver change practice.

Lance Stroll was second fastest in the incident-free session, going 1m37.046s in the No.37 Jackie Chan DCR JOTA ORECA 07-Gibson.

Next was Tristan Vautier in the No.90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R, 1m37.118s, followed by Rene Rast in the No.77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi, 1m37.178s.

Joey Hand ran only five laps before taking the No.66 Ford Chip Ganassi Ford GT to the garage early in the session. He did manage to set the fastest lap of the GTLM class, 1m44.062s. Hand admitted it was a disappointment to miss the GTLM pole by .019 seconds to Corvette driver Jan Magnussen in Thursday's qualifying.

"I didn't quite get all of it in the Bus Stop on my best lap," Hand said. "You hate to lost a pole at Daytona by that kind of margin. Now, we're going to polish it up and do some driver changes."

The Porsche GT Team took the next two positions. Gianmaria Bruni was second in GTLM, 1m44.119s in the No.912 Porsche 911 RSR, followed by Patrick Pilet, 1m44.150s in the No.911.

Matteo Cairoli led GTD, 1m46.905s in the No.59 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, followed by Jeroen Bleekemolen, 1m47.338s in the No.33 Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, and Mathieu Jaminet, 1m47.506s in the No.58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Renger van der Zande – who captured the pole position for the Rolex 24 in sensational style on Thursday – admitted he "slept like a baby" last night. The driver of the No.10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R did spend some time on the phone, though.

"The amount of text messages I got last night, it's as if I had won a championship," van der Zande said.

Two of the 50 qualifiers did not participate in the session – the No.54 CORE autosport ORECA 07-Gibson and the No.55 Mazda Team Joest RT-24P.

NEXT UP: Start of the 56th Rolex 24, Saturday, 2:40 p.m. ET.
 
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Posted 27 January 2018 - 01:07

Norris: United struggling ahead of Rolex 24
Friday, 26 January 2018
Chris Medland / Images by LePage, Dole/LAT

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Lando Norris admits United Autosports is "struggling a lot" with its LMP2 Ligier at Daytona ahead of tomorrow's Rolex 24.

The McLaren protege is sharing the No.23 car with Fernando Alonso and Phil Hanson, with the trio set to start from 13th after the Spaniard completed qualifying on Thursday. Following the final practice session on Friday morning, Norris says the team is still struggling to get a consistent car, and may need the forecast wet weather on Sunday to help its competitiveness.

"At this rate, we're going to need something – basically, anything," Norris told RACER. "At the moment we're struggling a lot. We're not really improving too much. Every time we think we're taking a step forward, we've gone out in the next session and it's just been terrible again.

"So nothing seems to be really working. Straight-line speed we're down on everyone else, and I don't think it's because of the engine, but the aerokit seems quite inefficient. We're struggling a lot with the car in the first sector with traction and over the bumps.
 
"It just seems like the worst track for us, and the team basically, with the car that we have. The car's really strong at other tracks, so it's not like the car is terrible, but for some reason this track and combination seems to be the worst possible for the car.

"I don't know about the wet, I've never driven this car in the wet. So I don't know about the rain because I've never driven with these tires, which seem to be probably the biggest limiting factor for us. So rain could help, it probably couldn't get a lot worse... So I'll be praying for it, it could be quite fun. But at the same time, I'll still enjoy doing the whole race."

Norris believes that the biggest challenge will be maintaining concentration in a difficult car in order to still be in contention late in the race.

"It's going to be very difficult," he said. "Mentally it will be draining, because some of the other cars will be able to just drive around relaxed, when even when we're not pushing, we're sliding out of the corners. For 24 hours of constantly being on top of the car and having to concentrate 100 percent throughout the whole race is going to be tougher than [in] some of the other cars.

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"It will be a challenge, but it's still fun. I still enjoy driving every lap. It's all something different, so I'll try and make the most of it. I think it will be a big achievement if we can just make the 24 hours. I don't think we'll do badly.

"If we can just stay in the race until the final two hours and try and make the car a bit better today and during the race, maybe we can do a bit better by the end of the race. But it's going to be tough."

Paul di Resta, who is sharing the sister No.32 car with Bruno Senna, Will Owen and Hugo de Sadeleer, says there are common problems that both United Autosports entries have been facing.

"With three guys in the [No.23] car they've had a bit more running so they're definitely a bit more in tune with how it's all running, but the guys have shared everything," di Resta said. "There's no secret that we are struggling on the side of performance, so even more so we're all having a chat. There have definitely been some comparisons that have gone across that you wouldn't want to share!

"But the team needs to be sharp. It's not over. Tactically you can do a very good job, you can look elsewhere [for performance]. We're quite a nice, tight group of people all here. You need to be ready to react to racing here because it is different, and ultimately the way the yellow flags work, you can stay on the lead lap.

"The final fight is in the last two hours, which equally could be wet as well. So going into the race, you've just got to be very open-minded and get the car to that point, hopefully. There is no question that somebody could make a mistake, and that is the risk of what 24-hour racing is all about, isn't it? So collectively we'll go in there with the best intentions."



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#75 Rad-oh-yeah?

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Posted 27 January 2018 - 16:37


24h Dejtone startuje za nekih 4 sata.


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