Rolex 24 qualifying: Daytona track records fall as Pipo Derani puts Cadillac on pole
DAYTONA BEACH — Closing out three days of practices and races at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona was qualifying for next week's 62nd running of the twice-round-the-clock endurance race.
And it was a record-breaking affair.
The field's 59 entries were split into three sessions on Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway. The first was comprised of GTD Pro and GTD entries, the second was held for LMP2 cars and the last featured the LMDh rides in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) Class.
Four drivers won poles — Pipo Derani in the GTP Class, Ben Keating in the LMP2 Class, Seb Priaulx in GTD Pro and Parker Thompson in GTD. Derani, Priaulx and Thompson set new records with Derani's serving as the track record with a blistering time of 1:32.656. That bested the old record by over a second, a lap of 1:33.695 turned by Oliver Jarvis in 2019.
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Cold conditions and favorable wind — a stout breeze that served as a headwind getting into the treacherous bus stop and a tail wind heading through the frontstretch dogleg — certainly helped. But Derani, who claimed his 10th IMSA pole, credited another year wiser and faster in the LMDh prototype that was introduced in the GTP Class last year.
“I think a lot of it is us understanding the car,” Derani said. “The conditions helped, as usual this time of year, it was quite cold in Daytona.
“But everyone is so much more in tune with the tools we have and how to extract lap time from such a different car. At least on our side, we’re a much better team with electronics and complexity with the hybrid race car than we were 10 months back.”
Derani serves as part of the only three-man driver team in the GTP class, with teammates Jack Aitken and two-time defending overall winner Tom Blomqvist piloting the Whelen Cadillac Racing No. 31 car. Sebastain Bourdais, driving the No. 01 Cadillac Racing entry, gave the manufacturer a front-row sweep on Sunday, coming in just under a tenth behind Derani with a time of 1:32.727.
All nine GTP cars that took part in qualifying came in under the old track-record time. Neel Jani, driving the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche, was involved in a crash in a 15-minute session earlier on Sunday and the team did not make a qualifying run.
Monday and Tuesday will serve as off days for teams and drivers with a pair of practices in the Mazda MX-5 Cup and a Michelin Pilot Challenge practice scheduled for Wednesday. Competitors in the Rolex 24 will next hit the track for practice at 10:05 a.m. Thursday.
Here's a recap of Sunday's LMP2 and GTD/GTD Pro qualifying sessions:
Ben Keating, serving double duty, claims LMP2 pole
Ben Keating, who is participating in both the the GTP and LMP2 races in next week's Rolex 24, wheeled the No. 2 United Autosports USA Oreca to the fastest time among LMP2 cars on Sunday, completing a lap of 1:38.501 to claim the pole by little over a tenth of a second.
It marked the fifth pole at Daytona for Keating, tying Nick Tandy for the most all time. But like Derani, Keating was a bit surprised by just how much speed he was able to find on Sunday afternoon.
“The track was unbelievably fast today, almost perfect conditions,” the Texan said. “It showed up as a (1:38.3) on my dash and I was shocked. I couldn’t believe how quick it was. I came on the radio and said, ‘Guys, I’m not sure I have anything more than that.’ ”
Luckily, it was all he needed.
Keating, who is also a part of the JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche No. 85 team in the GTP Class, edged Nick Boulle in the Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA (1:38.603 with George Kurtz taking third in the No. 4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA (1:39.252).
GTD Pro, GTD classes: Priaulx takes pole for Porsche
While the GT3 entries are divided into two classes — GTD Pro and GTD — that division's separation is based on drivers, not any difference in the cars. Therefore, all entries in both classes are grouped into one qualifying session and they were the first to go out Sunday afternoon.
The qualifying session was put under a red flag almost immediately after David Brule crashed entering the first horseshoe in the No. 92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche. The car required a tow truck and several minutes of work from track officials to clear the track. Upon restart, drivers had only around eight minutes to get their fastest lap in.
On the last circuit, Seb Priaulx piloted the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche in the GTD Pro Class to the fastest time, coming in with a time of 1:44.382 to claim the pole position among GT3 entires. Fellow GTD Pro driver Jack Hawksworth was just 0.08 seconds off the pace and came home second in the No. 14 VasserSulivan Lexus ride.
“I got the tire temperature up nicely, prepared the car well on our out lap and put everything together and it just clicked today,” Priaulx observed.
After those two came six entries in the GTD Class headed by Parker Thompson in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus with a time of 1:44.494. Klaus Bachler in the No. 86 MDK Motorsports Porsche and Katherine Legge in the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura rounded out the top five.
“This was my first ever qualifying session in GTD and I wanted to go out and have fun,” Thompson said. “It’s amazing what happens when you just have fun.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Rolex 24 qualifying results: Derani, Cadillac set Daytona track record
