Practice report
IMSA Roar Before The 24
Rolex 24: Castroneves’ late flyer puts MSR top in second Roar session
Meyer Shank Racing led an Acura 1-2 in the second Roar Before the 24 practice session, as defending Rolex 24 race-winner Helio Castroneves took advantage of cool conditions and a clear track to grab P1.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Jan 21, 2023, 9:00 AM
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GTP
On his fifth lap, Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Acura ARX-06 of Wayne Taylor Racing beat the fastest lap that Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura, driven by Colin Braun, set in the morning session. A 1min35.580sec around the 3.56-mile course put him some 1.6sec ahead of his nearest opposition, which came from the #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh and the two BMW M Hybrid V8s.
Albuquerque then raised the bar to 1min35.320sec, and Earl Bamber’s Cadillac was 0.7sec adrift, but still ahead of teammate Scott Dixon in the #01 sister car.
Both of the CGR Cadillacs were displaced by Blomqvist once the MSR team had overcome issues with a pitlane speedlimiter that wouldn’t release, and he moved up into second behind the Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti Autosport team to complete an Acura 1-2.
This was spoiled by Dixon getting into second place, 0.265sec from top spot, but Simon Pagenaud trimmed the MSR Acura’s deficit down to less than half a tenth before pitting.
His teammate in IMSA and IndyCar, Helio Castroneves, did rather better than that, and moved to the top of the times with a 1min35.210sec with under three minutes to go and backed this up with a 1min35.310sec.
Thus Castroneves led an Acura 1-2 by 0.110sec, he and Albuquerque sharing the three fastest sector times.
That left Dixon’s best Cadillac time some 0.375sec adrift in third, although the six-time IndyCar champion was a similar distance ahead of the fastest of the Porsche Penske 963s, Michael Christensen’s #7 entry.
Bamber was barely half a tenth slower in the second Ganassi Cadillac, ahead of Sheldon van der Linde’s best effort in the quicker BMW, while Marco Wittmann was a further half a second adrift.
The second Porsche 963, shared by Mathieu Jaminet, Dane Cameron and Nick Tandy, turned only nine laps with technical issues that Cameron didn’t wish to share with IMSA Radio, but their late appearance on track was still enough time for Tandy and Jaminet to push the Action Express Racing Cadillac of Jack Aitken down to the bottom.
LMP2
Matthieu Vaxiviere was the first driver in class to bust below the 100sec barrier, setting a 1min39.835sec on his fifth lap in the AF Corse machine, but then Ben Keating in the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports entry went almost half a second quicker.
It took only until his third lap for Mikkel Jensen’s TDS Racing car to trim 0.64sec from that to go fastest, and his 1min38.730sec stood firm as the top time in class for the remainder of the session.
Vaxiviere trimmed a few hundredths from his best to take second, but was still 0.6sec from Jensen, with Keating third. Christian Rasmussen was the fastest of Era Motorsport’s drivers to nab fourth ahead of Scott McLaughlin who again impressed in the Tower Motorsports entry.
LMP3
Felipe Fraga in the #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier which ran only three laps in the first session was the first car to hit the track in the second, and he produced a 1min43.389. However, Gabby Chaves in the Andretti Autosport Ligier eclipsed that with a 1min42.926, and that was the fastest lap for the LMP3 machines.
Former Rolex 24 winner Joao Barbosa left it until the last minute to move the Sean Creech Motorsports car into second, 0.45sec adrift, mere hundredths ahead of Fraga’s former benchmark. The impressive Yu Kanamaru of FastMD Racing was fourth in the fastest of the Duqueine cars.
#75 Sun Energy 1 Mercedes AMG GT3: Fabian Schiller, Axcil Jefferies
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
GTD Pro and GTD
Fabian Schiller moved to the top of the table early on, producing a 1min47.020sec in the SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3, less than a tenth faster than Parker Thompson’s Lexus RC F run by Vasser Sullivan Racing.
Nicki Thiim in the Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage and Russell Ward’s Winward Racing Mercedes were third and fourth at this stage, this quartet all swifter than the fastest GTD Pro cars – the second Lexus driven by Jack Hawksworth and the Heart of Racing Aston piloted by Alex Riberas.
When Ben Barnicoat took over the #14 GTD Pro Lexus, it moved up to shade its sister car by half a tenth, albeit 0.02sec off the SunEnergy1 car.
Luis Perez Companc moved AF Corse’s new Ferrari 296 GT3 into fifth in GTD ahead of Maxi Goetz’s Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes, while Mirko Bortolotti’s Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan was third of the GTD Pro runners.
Practice 3 runs for 90mins on Saturday, starting 11.15am local (Eastern) time.
Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Laps Time Gap 1 60 Tom Blomqvist
Colin Braun
Helio Castroneves
Simon Pagenaud
GTP Acura ARX-06 35 1'35.210 2 10 Ricky Taylor
Filipe Albuquerque
Louis Deletraz
Brendon Hartley
GTP Acura ARX-06 37 1'35.320 0.110 3 01 Sébastien Bourdais
Renger van der Zande
Scott Dixon
GTP Cadillac V-LMDh 33 1'35.585 0.375 4 7 Matt Campbell
Felipe Nasr
Michael Christensen
GTP Porsche 963 35 1'35.974 0.764 5 02 Earl Bamber
Alex Lynn
Richard Westbrook
GTP Cadillac V-LMDh 41 1'36.013 0.803 6 25 Connor de Phillippi
Nick Yelloly
Sheldon Van Der Linde
Colton Herta
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 50 1'36.032 0.822 7 24 Philipp Eng
Augusto Farfus
Marco Wittmann
Colton Herta
GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 43 1'36.547 1.337 8 6 Mathieu Jaminet
Nick Tandy
Dane Cameron
GTP Porsche 963 9 1'36.754 1.544 9 31 Pipo Derani
Alexander Sims
Jack Aitken
GTP Cadillac V-LMDh 31 1'37.128 1.918 10 11 Thomas Steven
Mikkel Jensen
Scott Huffaker
Rinus van Kalmthout
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 47 1'38.730 3.520 11 88 François Perrodo
Matthieu Vaxiviere
Julien Canal
Nicklas Nielsen
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 43 1'39.341 4.131 12 52 Ben Keating
Paul-Loup Chatin
Alex Quinn
Nicolas Lapierre
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 45 1'39.372 4.162 13 18 Dwight Merriman
Ryan Dalziel
Christian Rasmussen
Oliver Jarvis
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 43 1'39.559 4.349 14 8 John Farano
Scott McLaughlin
Josef Newgarden
Kyffin Simpson
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 41 1'40.105 4.895 15 04 George Kurtz
Ben Hanley
Matt McMurry
Esteban Gutierrez
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 49 1'40.140 4.930 16 35 François Heriau
Giedo van der Garde
Josh Pierson
Job Van Uitert
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 49 1'40.450 5.240 17 20 Dennis Andersen
Ed Jones
Anders Fjordbach
Raffaele Marciello
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 46 1'40.635 5.425 18 51 Eric Lux
Devlin DeFrancesco
Austin Cindric
Pietro Fittipaldi
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 43 1'40.809 5.599 19 55 Fred Poordad
Francesco Pizzi
James Allen
Giammaria Bruni
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 39 1'41.744 6.534 20 36 Jarett Andretti
Gabby Chaves
Dakota Dickerson
Rasmus Lindh
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 36 1'42.926 7.716 21 33 Lance Willsey
Joao Barbosa
Nicolas Pino
Danny Soufi
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 37 1'43.375 8.165 22 74 Gar Robinson
Felipe Fraga
Glenn van Berlo
Josh Burdon
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 41 1'43.389 8.179 23 87 Yu Kanamaru
James Vance
Antonio Serravalle
Nicholas Boulle
LMP3 Duqueine D08 35 1'43.820 8.610 24 17 Anthony Mantella
Wayne Boyd
Nico Varrone
Thomas Merrill
LMP3 Duqueine D08 40 1'44.290 9.080 25 13 Orey Fidani
Matthew Bell
Lars Kern
Moritz Kranz
LMP3 Duqueine D08 45 1'44.600 9.390 26 85 Till Bechtolsheimer
Tijmen van der Helm
Luca Mars
Mason Filippi
LMP3 Duqueine D08 43 1'44.882 9.672 27 38 John DeAngelis
Christopher Allen
Cameron Shields
Connor Bloum
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 29 1'45.468 10.258 28 43 Sebastian Alvarez
Danial Frost
Alex Vogel
Guilherme de
LMP3 Ligier JS P320 34 1'46.152 10.942 29 75 Fabian Schiller
Axcil Jefferies
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 32 1'47.020 11.810 30 14 Jack Hawksworth
Ben Barnicoat
Mike Conway
GTD PRO Lexus RC F GT3 41 1'47.040 11.830 31 12 Aaron Telitz
Frankie Montecalvo
Kyle Kirkwood
Parker Thompson
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 44 1'47.096 11.886 32 44 John Potter
Andy Lally
Spencer Pumpelly
Nicki Thiim
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 40 1'47.166 11.956 33 57 Russell Ward
Philip Ellis
Indy Dontje
Lucas Auer
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 40 1'47.335 12.125 34 23 Ross Gunn
Alex Riberas
David Pittard
GTD PRO Aston Martin Vantage GT3 33 1'47.561 12.351 35 21 Mann Simon
Luis Perez Companc
Miguel Molina
Francesco Castellacci
GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 38 1'47.575 12.365 36 32 Mike Skeen
Mikael Grenier
Kenton Koch
Maximillian Goetz
GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 41 1'47.575 12.365 37 70 Brendan Iribe
Frederik Schandorff
Ollie Millroy
Marvin Kirchhofer
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 40 1'47.609 12.399 38 93 Ashton Harrison
Danny Formal
Kyle Marcelli
Ryan Briscoe
GTD Acura NSX GT3 31 1'47.676 12.466 39 63 Andrea Caldarelli
Mirko Bortolotti
Jordan Lee Pepper
Romain Grosjean
GTD PRO Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 40 1'47.735 12.525 40 79 Cooper MacNeil
Daniel Juncadella
Jules Gounon
Maro Engel
GTD PRO Mercedes AMG GT3 40 1'47.768 12.558 41 27 Roman De Angelis
Marco Sorensen
Ian James
Darren Turner
GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 38 1'47.794 12.584 42 023 Onofrio Triarsi
Charles Scardina
Alessio Rovera
Andrea Bertolini
GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 33 1'47.847 12.637 43 62 Alessandro Pier Guidi
James Calado
Daniel Serra
Davide Rigon
GTD PRO Ferrari 296 GT3 22 1'47.921 12.711 44 3 Antonio Garcia
Jordan Taylor
Tommy Milner
GTD PRO Corvette C8.R GTD 36 1'48.006 12.796 45 47 Roberto Lacorte
Giorgio Sernagiotto
Antonio Fuoco
Alessandro Balzan
GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 34 1'48.112 12.902 46 64 Ted Giovanis
Hugh Plumb
Matt Plumb
Owen Trinkler
GTD PRO Aston Martin Vantage GT3 25 1'48.115 12.905 47 66 Sheena Monk
Katherine Legge
Mario Farnbacher
Marc Miller
GTD Acura NSX GT3 41 1'48.135 12.925 48 78 Mikhail Goikhberg
Loris Spinelli
Benjamin Hites
Marco Mapelli
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 38 1'48.322 13.112 49 42 Don Yount
Jaden Conwright
Kerong Li
Alessio Deledda
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 42 1'48.381 13.171 50 83 Rahel Frey
Sarah Bovy
Michelle Gatting
Doriane Pin
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 39 1'48.578 13.368 51 96 Patrick Gallagher
Robby Foley
Michael Dinan
Jens Klingmann
GTD BMW M4 GT3 34 1'48.695 13.485 52 19 Raffaele Giammaria
Frank Perera
Claudio Schiavoni
Rolf Ineichen
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 39 1'48.811 13.601 53 9 Klaus Bachler
Patrick Pilet
Laurens Vanthoor
GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 34 1'48.881 13.671 54 1 Bryan Sellers
Madison Snow
Corey Lewis
Maxime Martin
GTD BMW M4 GT3 40 1'49.028 13.818 55 95 Bill Auberlen
Chandler Hull
Bruno Spengler
John Edwards
GTD PRO BMW M4 GT3 43 1'49.405 14.195 56 77 Alan Brynjolfsson
Trent Hindman
Max Root
Kevin Estre
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 37 1'49.453 14.243 57 16 Ryan Hardwick
Jan Heylen
Zacharie Robichon
Dennis Olsen
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 36 1'49.599 14.389 58 92 David Brule
Alec Udell
Andrew Davis
Jeroen Bleekemolen
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 34 1'49.701 14.491 59 91 Alan Metni
Kay van Berlo
Jaxon Evans
Julien Andlauer
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 40 1'49.762 14.552 60 80 PJ Hyett
Seb Priaulx
Gunnar Jeannette
Harry Tincknell
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 25 1'49.790 14.580 61 53 Mark Kvamme
Trenton Estep
Jan Magnussen
Jason Hart
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 43 1'49.990 14.780 View full results
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