Rolex 24: Jarvis takes pole for Mazda, Taylor shunts Acura
Oliver Jarvis took his second straight pole for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, opening round of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, but the Prototype session was curtailed due to Ricky Taylor shunting his Acura ARX-05.

After setting a 1min33.711sec lap around the 3.56-mile course, Jarvis had already pitted his #77 Mazda RT24-P, comfortable in the knowledge that he’d beaten Juan Pablo Montoya’s #6 Acura by 0.443sec and Mazda teammate Jonathan Bomarito by 0.458sec.
Then all eyes turned to the Bus Stop chicane, where Taylor’s Acura, at that point lying seventh in the times, had suffered heavy nose damage.
The #7 Penske entry had bounced off the new curb at the first part of the chicane, landed with its wheels pointing the wrong way and had too much momentum for former IMSA champion Taylor to gather up the car before it plowed over the grass and into the tire wall. Taylor alighted without aid, and surveyed the heavy front-end damage before being taken to the medical center for a check-up.
The abbreviated session saw Felipe Nasr end up as fastest Cadillac driver in the Action Express Racing entry in fourth, ahead of Wayne Taylor Racing’s new full-time recruit Ryan Briscoe.
The JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillacs of Tristan Vautier and Joao Barbosa were sixth and eighth, 0.743 and 1.336sec off the ultimate pace.
In LMP2, the remarkable Ben Keating delivered pole for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, beating Henrik Hedman’s DragonSpeed entry by 0.282sec.
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A gripping battle between the two Porsche 911 RSRs was resolved in favor of the #911 car, Nick Tandy beating Laurens Vanthoor by just 0.049sec as the pair beat the qualifying lap record.
Tandy’s 1min42.207sec was also 0.338sec faster than the quicker of the two Corvette C8.Rs, which will start third and fourth in class on their debut after being qualified by Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner.
The BMW M8 GTEs of Phillipp Eng and John Edwards were respectively 0.734 and 0.882sec off the ultimate pace, while Alessandro Pier Guidi’s Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE was a surprising 1.46sec adrift.
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Zacharie Robichon set a new GTD track record to claim pole in the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. His 1min45.237sec enabled the car he’ll share with Dennis Olsen, Lars Kern and Patrick Pilet to beat Jeff Westphal’s Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 by an impressive 0.476sec.
Trent Hindman’s Heinricher Racing Acura NSX GT3 was third, edging Robby Foley’s Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 by just 0.035sec.
The Steijn Schothorst-steered Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo took fifth ahead of the WRT SpeedStar Audi Sport R8 and the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Thus seven different manufacturers are represented in the top seven spots in the GTD field.
The #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus did not participate in qualifying because it is undergoing an engine change, while the Magnus GRT Lamborghini discovered a mechanical issue before the session.
The #54 Black Swan Racing Porsche inevitably was absent as it is still being repaired from its heavy shunt in first practice.
Qualifying results:
Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap | Interval |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 77 | | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'33.711 | ||
2 | 6 | | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'34.154 | 0.443 | 0.443 |
3 | 55 | | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'34.169 | 0.458 | 0.015 |
4 | 31 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'34.294 | 0.583 | 0.125 |
5 | 10 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'34.442 | 0.731 | 0.148 |
6 | 85 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'34.454 | 0.743 | 0.012 |
7 | 5 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'35.047 | 1.336 | 0.593 |
8 | 52 | | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'37.446 | 3.735 | 2.399 |
9 | 81 | | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'37.728 | 4.017 | 0.282 |
10 | 8 | | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'39.275 | 5.564 | 1.547 |
11 | 38 | Robert Masson | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'39.397 | 5.686 | 0.122 |
12 | 911 | | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'42.207 | 8.496 | 2.810 |
13 | 912 | | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'42.256 | 8.545 | 0.049 |
14 | 18 | Dwight Merriman | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'42.262 | 8.551 | 0.006 |
15 | 3 | | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 1'42.545 | 8.834 | 0.283 |
16 | 4 | | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 1'42.801 | 9.090 | 0.256 |
17 | 25 | | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'42.941 | 9.230 | 0.140 |
18 | 24 | | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'43.089 | 9.378 | 0.148 |
19 | 62 | | GTLM | Ferrari 488 GTE | 1'43.668 | 9.957 | 0.579 |
20 | 7 | | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'44.065 | 10.354 | 0.397 |
21 | 9 | | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'45.237 | 11.526 | 1.172 |
22 | 63 | | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'45.713 | 12.002 | 0.476 |
23 | 57 | | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'45.837 | 12.126 | 0.124 |
24 | 96 | | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'45.872 | 12.161 | 0.035 |
25 | 11 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'46.040 | 12.329 | 0.168 |
26 | 88 | | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 1'46.175 | 12.464 | 0.135 |
27 | 12 | | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'46.185 | 12.474 | 0.010 |
28 | 48 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'46.191 | 12.480 | 0.006 |
29 | 86 | | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'46.478 | 12.767 | 0.287 |
30 | 16 | | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'46.485 | 12.774 | 0.007 |
31 | 47 | Eric Lux Jonathan Hoggard | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'46.835 | 13.124 | 0.350 |
32 | 98 | | GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'46.880 | 13.169 | 0.045 |
33 | 23 | | GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'47.041 | 13.330 | 0.161 |
34 | 19 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'47.148 | 13.437 | 0.107 |
35 | 74 | | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'47.273 | 13.562 | 0.125 |
36 | 14 | | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | |||
37 | 44 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | |||
38 | 54 | | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | |||
View full results |

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