Rolex 24: Jarvis and Mazda beat Acuras to pole
Oliver Jarvis put the #77 Mazda RT24-P on pole for the 57th Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, but the battle was closer than anticipated as Ricky Taylor was only two tenths slower in the lead Acura ARX-05.
Prototype
Jarvis turned three sub-1min34sec laps to eventually set a 1min33.685sec which was fast enough to eclipse teammate Jonathan Bomarito in the #55 Mazda by half a second.
But in the waning minutes, Acura Team Penske showed its hand, with Taylor and Juan Pablo Montoya filling that gap, the former whittling down to a 1min33.873sec lap, and JPM coming up a further 0.222sec short.
Bomarito retained fourth, while reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Prototype champion Felipe Nasr produced a 1m34.433s to top the Cadillac DPi-V.R. contingent in the #31 Action Express Racing car.
Jordan Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing Caddy was precisely 0.2sec faster than the similar car of Juncos Racing in the hands of impressive IMSA debutant Agustin Canapino.
Action Express Racing’s defending Rolex 24-winning car suffered a brake fire in the hands of Filipe Albuquerque and will start from the back of the DPi field.
James Allen took LMP2 pole by over half a second for DragonSpeed ahead of Gabriel Aubry in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, the pair both qualifying ahead of Jon Bennett’s CORE autosport Nissan DPi.
GT Le Mans
Nick Tandy grabbed pole for Porsche by over 0.3sec as four different brands filled the top four places in the category.
The #911 911 RSR eclipsed the best effort of reigning IMSA GTLM champion Jan Magnussen of Corvette Racing by 0.326sec, while Ryan Briscoe in the #67 Ford GT, Risi Competizione’s Ferrari 488 driven by Davide Rigon and Earl Bamber in the #912 Porsche were mere hundredths apart in second through fifth.
Joey Hand was sixth in the second Ford ahead of both BMW M8s and the Corvette of 2016 Rolex 24 winner Oliver Gavin.
GT Daytona
Marcos Gomes put Via Italia’s Ferrari 488 on pole by a mere 0.067sec as the top four Silver and Bronze drivers battled hard for pre-eminence, each one split by less than one tenth of a second.
Ben Keating was second best in the Mercedes AMG GT run by Riley Motorsports, just ahead of Trent Hindman in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX, and Giacomo Altoe in Ebimotors’ Lamborghini Huracan.
Over half a second off the pace was the Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini of Rolf Ineichen, the Spirit of Race Ferrari of Mathias Lauda, and Spencer Pumpelly’s Magnus Racing Lambo completing the top seven.
The top two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs of Lars Kern (Pfaff Motorsports) and Patrick Lindsey (Park Place Motorsports) were split by Corey Lewis in the Huracan of GTD champions Paul Miller Racing.
Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, Qualifying:
| Pos. | # | Drivers | Class | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 |  Oliver Jarvis  Timo Bernhard  René Rast  Tristan Nunez | DPi | Mazda DPi | 5 | 1'33.685 | |
| 2 | 7 |  Alexander Rossi  Helio Castroneves  Ricky Taylor | DPi | Acura DPi | 4 | 1'33.873 | 0.188 |
| 3 | 6 |  Juan Pablo Montoya  Simon Pagenaud  Dane Cameron | DPi | Acura DPi | 6 | 1'34.095 | 0.410 |
| 4 | 55 |  Harry Tincknell  Olivier Pla  Jonathan Bomarito | DPi | Mazda DPi | 4 | 1'34.212 | 0.527 |
| 5 | 31 |  Pipo Derani Eric Curran  Felipe Nasr | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 5 | 1'34.433 | 0.748 |
| 6 | 10 |  Fernando Alonso  Kamui Kobayashi Jordan Taylor  Renger van der Zande | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 5 | 1'34.479 | 0.794 |
| 7 | 50 |  Kyle Kaiser  Rene Binder Will Owen Agustin Canapino | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 8 | 1'34.679 | 0.994 |
| 8 | 85 |  Rubens Barrichello  Mikhail Goikhberg Tristan Vautier Devlin DeFrancesco | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 8 | 1'35.369 | 1.684 |
| 9 | 84 |  Simon Trummer Juan Piedrahita Chris Miller  Stephen Simpson | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 8 | 1'35.442 | 1.757 |
| 10 | 81 |  Nicolas Lapierre  Henrik Hedman  Ben Hanley  James Allen | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 9 | 1'35.904 | 2.219 |
| 11 | 52 |  Matt McMurry Mark Kvamme  Enzo Guibbert  Gabriel Aubry | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 8 | 1'36.427 | 2.742 |
| 12 | 54 |  Loic Duval Romain Dumas Jon Bennett Colin Braun | DPi | Nissan DPi | 8 | 1'36.686 | 3.001 |
| 13 | 18 |  Pastor Maldonado  Roberto Gonzalez  Sebastian Saavedra  Ryan Cullen | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 9 | 1'37.377 | 3.692 |
| 14 | 38 | Kris Wright Kyle Masson  Cameron Cassels Robert Masson | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 8 | 1'38.121 | 4.436 |
| 15 | 911 |  Nick Tandy Patrick Pilet  Frédéric Makowiecki | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 7 | 1'42.257 | 8.572 |
| 16 | 3 |  Jan Magnussen  Antonio Garcia  Mike Rockenfeller | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 8 | 1'42.583 | 8.898 |
| 17 | 67 | Ryan Briscoe  Scott Dixon  Richard Westbrook | GTLM | Ford GT | 7 | 1'42.634 | 8.949 |
| 18 | 62 |  James Calado  Davide Rigon Alessandro Pier Guidi  Miguel Molina | GTLM | Ferrari 488 GTE | 6 | 1'42.712 | 9.027 |
| 19 | 912 |  Earl Bamber  Laurens Vanthoor Mathieu Jaminet | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 8 | 1'42.796 | 9.111 |
| 20 | 66 | Sébastien Bourdais  Joey Hand  Dirk Muller | GTLM | Ford GT | 6 | 1'42.920 | 9.235 |
| 21 | 24 | John Edwards  Jesse Krohn  Chaz Mostert  Alex Zanardi | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 5 | 1'42.953 | 9.268 |
| 22 | 25 | Connor de Phillippi Augusto Farfus Philipp Eng Colton Herta | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 5 | 1'42.986 | 9.301 |
| 23 | 4 | Marcel Fassler  Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 8 | 1'43.239 | 9.554 |
| 24 | 13 |  Andrea Bertolini Victor Franzoni Chico Longo Marcos Gomes | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 7 | 1'45.257 | 11.572 |
| 25 | 33 | Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating  Luca Stolz Felipe Fraga | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 4 | 1'45.324 | 11.639 |
| 26 | 86 | A.J. Allmendinger Justin Marks  Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 6 | 1'45.396 | 11.711 |
| 27 | 46 | Fabio Babini Emanuele Busnelli Taylor Proto Giacomo Altoè | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 8 | 1'45.475 | 11.790 |
| 28 | 11 |  Rolf Ineichen  Mirko Bortolotti  Rik Breukers Christian Engelhart | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 6 | 1'45.816 | 12.131 |
| 29 | 51 |  Pedro Lamy  Paul Dalla Lana  Mathias Lauda  Daniel Serra | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 8 | 1'45.852 | 12.167 |
| 30 | 44 | Andy Lally  Marco Mapelli Spencer Pumpelly John Potter | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 8 | 1'45.855 | 12.170 |
| 31 | 9 |  Scott Hargrove Lars Kern Dennis Olsen Zacharie Robichon | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 6 | 1'45.945 | 12.260 |
| 32 | 48 | Corey Lewis Bryan Sellers  Andrea Caldarelli Ryan Hardwick | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 8 | 1'46.040 | 12.355 |
| 33 | 73 | Patrick Long Patrick Lindsey Nicholas Boulle  Matt Campbell | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 7 | 1'46.103 | 12.418 |
| 34 | 57 | Simona de Silvestro Katherine Legge  Christina Nielsen Ana Figueiredo | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 7 | 1'46.116 | 12.431 |
| 35 | 14 | Austin Cindric Jack Hawksworth Richard Heistand  Nick Cassidy | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 6 | 1'46.214 | 12.529 |
| 36 | 540 | Marco Seefried Tim Pappas Dirk Werner  Matteo Cairoli | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 5 | 1'46.231 | 12.546 |
| 37 | 12 | Townsend Bell Jeff Segal Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 6 | 1'46.270 | 12.585 |
| 38 | 29 |  Daniel Morad  Dries Vanthoor Christopher Mies  Richard Feller | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 6 | 1'46.309 | 12.624 |
| 39 | 63 |  Toni Vilander Dominik Farnbacher Cooper MacNeil Jeff Westphal | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 7 | 1'46.321 | 12.636 |
| 40 | 99 | Klaus Bachler  Sven Muller  Alfred Renauer Juergen Haering Steffen Goerig | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 7 | 1'46.669 | 12.984 |
| 41 | 8 | Ryan Dalziel Parker Chase  Ezequiel Perez Companc Chris Haase | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 7 | 1'46.710 | 13.025 |
| 42 | 19 | Markus Winkelhock Andrew Davis Will Hardeman Alex Riberas | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 8 | 1'46.781 | 13.096 |
| 43 | 88 | Ian James  Frederic Vervisch  Kelvin van der Linde Roman DeAngelis | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 8 | 1'47.368 | 13.683 |
| 44 | 71 | Fabian Schiller Dominik Baumann Maximilian Buhk JC Perez | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 7 | 1'47.447 | 13.762 |
| 45 | 47 | Don Yount  Milos Pavlovic Steve Dunn  Linus Lundqvist | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 8 | 1'47.809 | 14.124 |
| 46 | 5 | Christian Fittipaldi  Filipe Albuquerque  Joao Barbosa | DPi | Cadillac DPi | |||
| 47 | 96 | Bill Auberlen Jens Klingmann Robby Foley Dillon Machavern | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 5 |
Mazda in “completely different stratosphere” at Daytona in 2019
Alonso airs Balance of Performance concerns for Cadillac
The significance of the next step in WEC/IMSA convergence
Following the latest convergence connection permitting Le Mans Hypercars from the FIA World Endurance Championship to compete against LMDh entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from 2023, it could open up enticing options not only to manufacturers but also for the calendar and race formats
Why a Mazda IMSA Prototype title would bring bitter joy
Can Mazda win this year’s IMSA Prototype championship? Undoubtedly. But it will be the culmination of an achingly hard struggle, after which the brand has decided to quit. David Malsher-Lopez tells the story of a bizarre blend of heartache and positivity.
The GTE dilemma that IMSA has created for the WEC
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s decision to scrap its GT Le Mans class for 2022 raises the question of whether the FIA World Endurance Championship should phase out GTE cars. But it's a much harder decision than it appears on the surface.
Nine things to watch at the 2021 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona
After a 100-minute sprint race to whet the appetite, the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship gets underway properly this weekend. With plenty of significant changes during the winter, here are the key points you need to keep an eye on
Why Magnussen is relishing a fresh start in sportscars
Having gone over seven years without a race win through spells with McLaren, Renault and Haas, Kevin Magnussen's departure from Formula 1 for IMSA with big-hitters Chip Ganassi Racing could give him what he craves most - a chance of success
Oliver Gavin's Corvette Racing highlights
Oliver Gavin has stepped down from the full-time Corvette Racing line-up after a stellar career with the team spanning nearly 20 years. He looks back on a stint that encompassed, among other successes, five Le Mans 24 Hours victories.
How Tandy joined an exclusive club of endurance legends
Victory at last year's Spa 24 Hours meant Nick Tandy had completed the unofficial sextuple crown of the world's six biggest endurance races, becoming the first Briton to do so. Ahead of his fresh start with Corvette Racing, he explains how he did it…
The 12 greatest Sebring 12 Hours ranked
The 2020 edition of the Florida sportscar classic is finally taking place this weekend, eight months after its traditional date in March. That meant there was plenty of time for Motorsport.com to pour over its previous 67 races and select the best.