Today is qualifying day. It is the Motul Pole Award 100. For decades, the Daytona 500 has had a tradition of qualifying races, and now, sports cars will do so, for the first time for the Rolex 24 at Daytona next weekend. There have been a lot of changes over the off season, and it is the biggest week in IMSA racing. This is a 100 minute sprint to determine the grid for the Rolex 24. The teams might go through their routines, but there are championship points on the line as well. This changes everything. The full-season teams are going to go for it. Jimmie Johnson is driving the #48 Action Express/Hendrick Motorsports Ally Bank Cadillac, sharing with Kamui Kobayashi.
Ben Keating spins the #52 LMP2 poleistting Oreca. It is treacherous out there. The LMP3 cars are a new class to the WeatherTech Championship. Six GT Le Mans cars led by the BMW M8 factory cars. GT Daytona with the GT3 cars are here. Here comes the field, forming up out ofNASCAR turn four. Green flag! Oliver Jarvis gets the jump and the battle is between Kevin Magnuseen and Tristan Vautier in the #01 and #5 Cadillac's. Chip Ganassi Racing making astatement already with Kevin Magnussen at the controls. Here come the GT cars. Marco Wittman in the defending champion #24 BMW M8 GT and Timo Glock in the #25 sister BMW. Jarvis and Magnuseen are flying right now. The #4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. of Alexander Sims splits the BMW's early. Kevin Magnussen leads DPi. Sims used to drive the BMW M8 GT. He is going to be challenging for the lead, and grabs it!
The Corvette's are on different tires. This is not a wet weather race declared. We had showers an hour before the race was to start and we still have sprinkles as the track is damp. Whoops, the #51 Ligier LMP2 RWR Eurasis car off the road. Salih Yoluc at the controls, lops it and continues as Felip Nasr battles Dane Cameron and makes the move. Jimmie Johnson is driving the #48 AXR Cadillac. Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Acura DPi for Wayner Taylor Racing is also in there. We watch the GT Daytona battle. BMW vs. Ferrari with the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. Rolf Ineichen leads the class in the #111 GRT Grasser Lamborghini.
The #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R with Ryan Hardwick at the wheel of it. He is moving up well through the field. He is right behind the #44 Magnus Racing Acura NSX GT3. Hardiwck is being chased by the #28 Alegra Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. The #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 is in the pit lane with Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow. He is back to being a Silver driver now. Kevin Magnussen leads OIliver Jarvis, Tristan Vautier and Felipe Nasr. Good scrap too, look, in LMP2 as we have a few cars spin off the road at turn one. The LMP2 and LMP3 blokes are skating 'round already.
Full Course Yellow. One car is nosed into the wall. Trying to tell who it is. Dwight Merriman in the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca 07 LMP2. Six year old Owen up in Canada, drew and colored the paint scheme on the car. The amateur driver in LMP3 starts the motor race. LMP3 and GT Le Mans run similar lap times and speeds. Merriman is spun and so is the #33 LMP3 car of Dr. Lance Willsey. The GT Daytona cars are the only cars with anti lock brakes. John Farano has righted the #8 LMP2 Tower Motorsport car he is sharing with Frenchman Gabriel Aubry.
We are under Full Course Yellow as the cars circulate on track. Limited fans here at Daytona due to the pandemic. Yours truly wishes he could make a return trip. Maybe next year, should this unbelievable pandemic situation around the world, slow down a little bit. The Magnus Racing Acura #44 is carrying the livery of cartoon racer and hero, Speed Racer. Some of the GT cas are being pointed past the Lexus LC 500 safety car. Deary me. Another spot of bother for the #33 LMP3 car. That's the Lance Willsey and Joao Barbosa driven Sean Creech Motorsports entry. A Ligier JS P320. Meanwhile, all four drivers for each team is in these cars. Helio Castroneves now will race for the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05. Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque have the driving duties today.
We're back to green. Punch it! 47 cars still in the motor race. Kevin Magnussen leads as Tristan Vautier is pushing hard, moving around Oliver Jarvis and here comes Felipe Nasr, sharing with Mike Conwayy. The GTD battle is all wadded up along with the GTLM cars. This is multiple class racing at it's best. Down the backstretch and to the Bus Stop Chicane. Cooper MacNeil is running well. The #88 Team Hardpoint EBM GT Daytona Porsche 911 GT3R is off the road, Christina Nielsen at the wheel of it. She went around the outside of the Lamborghini, spins into the wet grass. We do not know if it is Earl Bamber or Rob Ferriol sharing the car.
Meantime, DFane Cameron is pushing hard and in the lane, the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 for Vasser Sullivan Racing. Spinning off again is the #18 Era Motorsports LMP2 car of Dwight Merriman, sharing with Kyle Tilley. The points you can win here are multiplied from last year. It will be a tight championship this year. #12 is being penalized for an illegal wave by. They are being held for three minutes. Meantime, the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari is in the lane with Ed Jones and Bret Curtis sharing the driving chores. Trouble in the lane as well, look for the #91 LMP3 car. That's the car for Riley Motorsports being shared by Jim Cox and Dylan Murry, a Ligier JS P320.
All three GTD cars that were in the pit lane are now back on track. Pit stop time in DPi. WTR Acura, JDC-Miller Cadillac, Whelen and Ally AXR Cadillac's, everyone is in. This should be an easy two stop race with the rain. Jimmie Johnson and Felipe Nasr are in the two AXR Cadillac's. Bit of a stack up here, in the lkane, look. Kevin Magnussen remains in the lead of the motor race. We continue to watch the cas circulate under yellow and the GTLM cars are now headed for the lane. Corvette #4 and BMW #24 are two takers as are the sister cars for their rspective teams. GT Daytona cars also in the lane and driver changes are going on as we speak.
We watch Ferrari #21 for AF Corse. That's Nicklas Nielsen of Denmark sharing with Briton Simon Mann. Meantime, after pit stops you have missed nothing. We remain under Full Course Yellow. But soon we might see a restart. Pit stop time for more cars. The MSR #60 Acura of Dane Cameron and Olivier Pla and the #47 Cetilar Racing LMP2 Dallara of Roberto Lacorte and Antonio Fuoco, an all Italian duo. The delayed #33 LMP3 machine is also in the lane. That's the Sean Creech entry of Joao Barbosa and Dr. Lance Willsey.
Townsend Bell, for Vasser Sullivan Lexus says that Robert Megennis and Zach Veach are in the cars, being thrown into the fire to get the bugs worked out of the car so problems can be avoided. Bell is confident about the big race next week. We are set for another restart. Magnussen stays out and has not switched to slick ties with an hour to go. The tack might begin dying and here comes Tristan Vautie and Felipe Nasr are pushing. Keep the nose planted, and get the heat in the tires. If you are on slicks you will generate temperature quick. Here comes Harry Tincknell monstering Ricky Taylor. Mazda vs. Acura. Filipe Albuquerque and Oliver Jarvis were the starting drivers in those cars. Tincknell won the sprint race at Daytona in July. Alessandro Pier Guidi stays on track in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, looking for water.
Tristan Vautier takes the lead as Kevin Magnussen's tires are going to be knackered here. The rain is easing off. We see a dry line on the road here at Daytona. Vautier is sharing with Sebastien Bourdais. Vautier seems to hbe getting a bette exit off tun six and screaming down the backstretch to the chicane and moe stife fo the #21 Ferrari! A flat left rear tire for Nicklas Nielsen and that will tear that bodwork apart. He is in limp home mode to pit lane. Nasr is really applying the blowtorch. Nasr is reeling in Tristan Vautier hand over fist as we watch the #48 Action Expess Hendrick Motorsports Cadillac. The #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari has spun and wrecked out of pit lane. James Calado may be in the car after Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Lead change. Felipe Nasr has moved around Tristan Vautier with 50 minutes left on the board. Through turn five, late braking, but well controlled, pressing very hard indeed. You see the opportunity and go for it. No points for the race, but bragging rights. Bill Auberlen has the wheel of the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 headed for the pit lane from the GT Daytona lead. Time for a driver change. Don "The Ice Man" Salama, is the strategist at Turner Motorsports. Meantime, the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Oliver Gavin. He is the new GTD leader and he was a huge surprise being added to the Lexus team after leaving Corvette Racing after Sebring last November.
Jack Hawksworth I believe is the co-driver for this sprint event. In LMP3 once more, look, Joao Barbosa continues to lead the class. A four-time winner at the Rolex, three overall. Barbosa is a former driver for Action Express and is now driving for Sean Creech, a man he's known in racing for two decades. George Kurtz is now diving the #54 CORE Autosport LMP3 machine, another Ligier JS P320. Bennett said he'd retire from driving. Not so. He still wants it. Felipe Nasr leads by 1.8 seconds to Tristan Vautier. 49 cars entered for these races. 11 more than last year and some argy bargy between Mirko Bortolotti and Patrick Long. Wright Motorsports, chasing "the raging bull" of Mirko Bortolotti. Lamborghini are going for four straight in the Rolex 24.
Patrick Long is pushing, pushing, pushing, trying to move around Bortolotti as Oliver Gavin continues to lead in class in GT Daytona. As you know, the points structure has changed and the points will surely add up with the bonus points. Lexus vs. Lamborghini in GTD. Bortolotti raced with Audi last year but then swapped back to Lamborghini for 2021. Jimmie Johnson moves by in the #48 AXR/Hendrick Motorsports Ally Bank Cadillac, feeling out the dynamics of multiple class racing. Jimmie Johnson has run this race seven times, and finished on the podium. But the DPi cars are rocketships and have all the great technology to make a driver enjoy racing them.
Meantime, Patrick Long is applying the blowtorch to Mirko Bortolotti and Oliver Gavin to try moving back onto the lead lap in the motor race. Nasr leads followed by Vautier, Tincknell, and Taylor. Great battle in GT Daytona as there is a new leader with Mirko Bortolotti in car #111. He is monstering Oliver Gavin and Patrick Long, and Bortolotti moves ahead in the Lambo he shares with Rolf Ineichen. We also saw the #79 WeatherTech Racing GTLM Porsche of Cooper MacNeil and Kevin Estre. Estre at the wheel of it. Porsche has entered their 2020 factory entry just a few weeks back after their GTLM Ferrari deal fell through. Proton Competition were going to compete in their own car, however, this team just came together and will run GTLM for the whole season.
Cooper MacNeil called it "a Rubiks cube" of different people coming together. Renger van der Zande now has the wheel of the #01 Cadillac DPi-V.R replacing co-driver Kevin Magnussen, a former Formula 1 star. Felipe Nasr still leads Tristan Vautier by 3.7 seconds! 35 minutes now left on the board. Kevin Magnussen was going to come over three weeks back to do simulator work. Magnussen had a travel delay and his wife had their baby earlier. He went to Sebring last Tuesday for a seat fitting and now is here racing at Daytona. That car is in primer gray. Kevin Magnussen's father Jan Magnussen lead Corvette Racing to a lot of success over the years.
In LMP2 we watch Giedo van der Garde in the #29 Racing Team Nederland car, a Dallara, delayed in the ocean trip on the ship. Pit stop time for the #31 car. Frits van Eerd is the proprietor of Jumbo Supermarkets in Holland. Harry Tincknell now leads the race in the sole factory Mazda in the field, with just 33 minutes left to run before we call this one done and dusted. Pit stop time as well, look, for a myraid of the LMP2 contenders. On the pit stop exchange the order has shuffled slightly and may reshuffle. We will keep you informed. Good scrap in LMP2 between Racing Team Nederland and Cetillar Racing, two of the teams over to Daytona from Europe and the World Endurance Championship.
Harry Tincknell has dropped to second behind Olivier Plan. Kamui Kobayashi and Felipe Nasr at AXR are third and fourth. Tristan Nunez has a ride in LMP2 but he was pressing hard as a Mazda driver. Felipe Nasr retakes the lead as the clock dwindles. If you win in class, you will be the polesitter for the big dance next weekend. Andy Lally runs 12th in GT Daytona in the Acura NSX GT3, a car that was the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 last year. This is the "Speed Racer" liveried car. He tore his ACL last year doing Jiu Jitsu. On Christmas Eve, he had an infection and is still in pain. He has switched to left foot braking from his NASCAR and open wheel experience.
Left foot braking, if you are in a rhythm, you are in good shape. But, in traffic it is tough. Fortunately, ABS makes it easier. Laurents Hoerr leads LMP3 and he won the IMSA Prototype Challenge event yesterday with these same cars, with Moritz Kranz. Ligier and Duqueine are the two companies representing the class at Daytona. The big deal for LMP3 will be running these automobiles for 24 hours. How will they perform? Garrett Grist for Dragonspeed, the Canadian is leading LMP2 in the their Oreca 07 he shares with Rob Hodes.
Now we continue to watch the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 making its way around the track and resume in the lead with Pipo Derani in the #31 Whelen Cadillac. The sun is out at Daytona now after the rain at the start of this motor race. We have been watching Loic Duval and Harry Tincknell battling, and now, Olivier Pla is moving in fast. Pla is one of the fastest prototype sports car drivers in the world, sharing full-time with Dane Cameron on the Meyer Shank Racing team. Nicky Catsburg has the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R sharing with Jordan Taylor and they are third in class behind the sister #4 Corvette C8.R in the hands of Nick Tandy. Kevin Estre leads GTLM for Porsche in the #79 WeatherTech entry.
Good battle in LMP2 between Antonio Fuoco and Mikkel Jensen as well. #47 is putting in a bit of a gap. But the Dane, Mikkel Jensen is pressing hard. Oreca vs. Dallara. Oreca is the backbone of the Acura DPi car and Dallara is backbone of the Cadillac chassis. Good recovery for the #52 after Ben Keating spun on the pace lap. Final minutes of the motor race are upon us. Who will the winner be? We have seen one of the other returning GT Daytona contenders, having a bit of a star crossed race today, the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3 of Kenny Habul the car owner, from Australia, and Italian Raffaele Marciello who is a hot shoe in a Mercedes GT3 car.
The LMP2 battle rages on. Fuoco vs. Jensen. It's been an incredible battle. The Dallara really ho0lds itself together against the Oreca. Five classes for this race, for the Rolex 24, and all season. Many of these drivers we will see them for the longer races. Fuoco runs wide in turn one on the road course and here comes Jensen! Jensen walks right through that open door. Good driving from both drivers. Fuoco opens his hands and realizes he has to give it up. Stay safe and don't wad up the car. Nick Tandy leads GT Le Mans. Could he win on debut with Corvette? He's won every big endurance event especially with Porsche, but is now a Corvette driver after the Porsche factory team closed up shop due to the pandemic.
Laurents Hoerr leads LMP3 along with Moritz Krantz and the #6 Muehlner Motorsports car, a German team that has been based in the United States for the last decade and they won the Prototype Challenge race yesterday with the same type of automobile. They've done two 24 hour tests to see if the durability is there with the LMP3 cars. We watch again, the LMP2 lead pass between Jensen and Fuoco. This motor race is drawing to a close with just seven minutes on the clock. #47 is in the pit lane. What have we here with the Cetilar team? Regular service? A driver change? What is the scoop, mate? The Motul Pole Award 100 is drawing to a close.
Pipo Derani won the Rolex 24 with ESM and Nissan in 2016. Seven DPi cars in class. Loic Duval is third in the #5 JDC-Miller Mustang Sampling Cadillac and Olivier Pla is pressing hard for an podium. Will he make a move on Loic Duval? The top four are seconds apart. Derani, Tincknell, Duval, and Pla. Don't take extra risks. Focus forward and the big picture is what you've got to look at. Ricky Taylor is fifth overall in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Acura. A minute and a half to go. Pipo Derani is pressing on and soon, he will be on his final lap. He is staying off the curbs. Keep the car in one piece. Don't clobber the curbs.
White flag. Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani, Mike Conway, and Chase Elliott will share this automobile next weekend. He will be on the pole! Pipo Derani, sharing with Felipe Nasr, Mike Conway, and Chase Elliott. So, here are the class pole sitters for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
DPi: #31 Derani/Nasr Whelen Engineering Action Express Cadillac DPi-V.R.
LMP2: #52 Keating/Jensen PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 LMP2
LMP3: #6 Krantz/Hoerr Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan VK
GT Le Mans: #4 Tandy/Sims Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R
GT Daytona: #96 Auberlen/Foley Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3
51 laps, 181 and a half miles, were completed in the race. Stay tuned, for later tonight, there will be post-race coverage, and more news, through the week, leading up to the 59th Rolex 24 at Daytona. So long, for now, from Daytona International Speedway. Have a good afternoon and evening. Take care, everybody.
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