Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia
Qualifying report

Daytona 24 Hours: Cadillacs dominate qualifying, Jani stars

Action Express scored an impressive 1-2 on the grid with their pair of Cadillac DPi-V.Rs, but WEC champion Neel Jani took a brilliant third in Rebellion Racing’s Oreca-Gibson.

#31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi: Eric Curran, Dane Cameron, Mike Conway, Seb Morris, #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi: Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque

#31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi: Eric Curran, Dane Cameron, Mike Conway, Seb Morris, #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi: Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque

Brian Cleary

#5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi: Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque
#31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi: Eric Curran, Dane Cameron, Seb Morris, Mike Conway
#2 Tequila Patrón ESM Nissan DPi: Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel, Luis Felipe Derani, Brendon Hartley
Ryan Dalziel, Tequila Patrón ESM
Detail, #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi: Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli, Jeff Gordon
#55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi: Jonathan Bomarito, Tristan Nunez, Spencer Pigot
#13 Rebellion Racing ORECA 07: Neel Jani, Sébastien Buemi, Stéphane Sarrazin, Nick Heidfeld

Two-time series champion Joao Barbosa earned his first pole position for over two years, as he wound the AXR Cadillac around the 3.56-mile Daytona road course in just 1min36.903sec on his sixth and final lap in the Prototypes’ 15min segment.

His reigning champion teammate Dane Cameron fell just 0.07sec short of beating him, but more impressive still was Jani’s time, just 0.22sec from pole for Rebellion.

That was just enough to break up the Cadillac trio, as Wayne Taylor Racing’s Ricky Taylor scored fourth on the grid.

WTR’s Caddy was almost half a second clear of the Patron ESM Racing Nissan Onroaks DPis, Brendon Hartley 0.6sec ahead of Ryan Dalziel.

Stephen Simpson was seventh in the JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca, with Tom Kimber-Smith eighth in the Ligier of PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.

The two Mazda DPis of Jonathan Bomarito and Joel Miller completed the top 10, three seconds off pole-winning time, while Marc Goossens was the final qualifier in VisitFlorida Racing’s Multimatic Riley.

Loic Duval, who shunted the DragonSpeed Oreca in practice, did not make it to pitlane for a qualifying run.

James French prevailed to grab Prototype Challenge pole for what will probably prove to be the last time PC cars are seen in the Rolex 24 Hours.

French threw the Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca around the course in 1min42.559sec to decimate his nearest opponent by over eight tenths of a second.

That rival was the “unretired” Johnny Mowlem in BAR1 Motorsports’ #26 car, edging Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice by 0.12sec.

Chris Cumming was four seconds slower than French, but still managed to beat his Starworks teammate Alex Popow by a full second.

ClaNumDriverClassChassisLapsTimeGap
1 5 brazil Christian Fittipaldi 
portugal Filipe Albuquerque 
portugal Joao Barbosa 
P Cadillac DPi 6 1'36.903  
2 31 united_kingdom Mike Conway 
united_states Dane Cameron 
united_states Eric Curran 
united_kingdom Seb Morris 
P Cadillac DPi 7 1'36.973 0.070
3 13 france Stéphane Sarrazin 
germany Nick Heidfeld 
switzerland Sébastien Buemi 
switzerland Neel Jani 
P ORECA 9 1'37.123 0.220
4 10 united_states Jeff Gordon 
united_states Jordan Taylor 
united_states Ricky Taylor 
italy Max Angelelli 
P Cadillac DPi 6 1'37.169 0.266
5 22 brazil Bruno Senna 
new_zealand Brendon Hartley 
united_states Ed Brown 
united_states Johannes van Overbeek 
P Nissan DPi 9 1'37.609 0.706
6 2 new_zealand Brendon Hartley 
brazil Pipo Derani 
united_states Scott Sharp 
united_kingdom Ryan Dalziel 
P Nissan DPi 9 1'38.251 1.348
7 85 switzerland Mathias Beche 
canada Mikhail Goikhberg 
united_states Chris Miller 
south_africa Stephen Simpson 
P ORECA 9 1'38.915 2.012
8 52 united_states R.C. Enerson 
united_kingdom Tom Kimber-Smith 
mexico Jose Gutierrez 
united_states Mike Guasch 
P Ligier 9 1'39.149 2.246
9 55 united_states Spencer Pigot 
united_states Jonathan Bomarito 
united_states Tristan Nunez 
P Mazda DPi 7 1'39.940 3.037
10 70 canada James Hinchcliffe 
united_states Tom Long 
united_states Joel Miller 
P Mazda DPi 8 1'39.973 3.070
11 90 germany René Rast 
belgium Marc Goossens 
netherlands Renger van der Zande 
P Multimatic/Riley 7 1'40.532 3.629
12 38 united_states James French 
united_states Nicholas Boulle 
united_states Kyle Masson 
united_states Patricio O'Ward 
PC ORECA FLM09 10 1'42.559 5.656
13 26 united_kingdom Johnny Mowlem 
united_states Adam Merzon 
united_states Trent Hindman 
united_states Tom Papadopoulos 
PC ORECA FLM09 9 1'43.396 6.493

CLICK HERE for complete qualifying results

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Daytona 24 Hours: Ford, Ferrari lock out GTLM and GTD front rows
Next article Daytona 24 Hours: Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac tops night practice

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia