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.
GT Le Mans
Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images
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.
GT Daytona
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
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 |  Oliver Jarvis  Tristan Nunez  Olivier Pla | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'33.711 | ||
| 2 | 6 | Dane Cameron Simon Pagenaud  Juan Pablo Montoya | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'34.154 | 0.443 | 0.443 |
| 3 | 55 | Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell Ryan Hunter-Reay | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'34.169 | 0.458 | 0.015 |
| 4 | 31 | Mike Conway  Pipo Derani  Filipe Albuquerque Felipe Nasr | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'34.294 | 0.583 | 0.125 |
| 5 | 10 |  Renger van der Zande  Ryan Briscoe  Scott Dixon  Kamui Kobayashi | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'34.442 | 0.731 | 0.148 |
| 6 | 85 | Juan Piedrahita Matheus Leist Chris Miller Tristan Vautier | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'34.454 | 0.743 | 0.012 |
| 7 | 5 | Sébastien Bourdais Loic Duval Joao Barbosa | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'35.047 | 1.336 | 0.593 |
| 8 | 52 | Ben Keating  Simon Trummer Nicholas Boulle Gabriel Aubry | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'37.446 | 3.735 | 2.399 |
| 9 | 81 | Ben Hanley  Henrik Hedman Colin Braun Harrison Newey | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'37.728 | 4.017 | 0.282 |
| 10 | 8 | Ryan Dalziel  David Heinemeier Hansson  John Farano Nicolas Lapierre | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'39.275 | 5.564 | 1.547 |
| 11 | 38 | Cameron Cassels Robert Masson Kyle Masson Don Yount | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'39.397 | 5.686 | 0.122 |
| 12 | 911 | Matt Campbell Nick Tandy Frédéric Makowiecki | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'42.207 | 8.496 | 2.810 |
| 13 | 912 |  Laurens Vanthoor Earl Bamber Mathieu Jaminet | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'42.256 | 8.545 | 0.049 |
| 14 | 18 | Kyle Tilley Dwight Merriman Ryan Lewis Nicolas Minassian | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'42.262 | 8.551 | 0.006 |
| 15 | 3 |  Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nick Catsburg | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 1'42.545 | 8.834 | 0.283 |
| 16 | 4 | Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fassler | GTLM | Corvette C8.R | 1'42.801 | 9.090 | 0.256 |
| 17 | 25 | Connor de Phillippi  Philipp Eng Bruno Spengler Colton Herta | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'42.941 | 9.230 | 0.140 |
| 18 | 24 | John Edwards Augusto Farfus Chaz Mostert  Jesse Krohn | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'43.089 | 9.378 | 0.148 |
| 19 | 62 | James Calado  Alessandro Pier Guidi Daniel Serra Davide Rigon | GTLM | Ferrari 488 GTE | 1'43.668 | 9.957 | 0.579 |
| 20 | 7 | Ricky Taylor Helio Castroneves Alexander Rossi | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'44.065 | 10.354 | 0.397 |
| 21 | 9 |  Dennis Olsen Zacharie Robichon  Lars Kern Patrick Pilet | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'45.237 | 11.526 | 1.172 |
| 22 | 63 | Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander Jeff Westphal Alessandro Balzan | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'45.713 | 12.002 | 0.476 |
| 23 | 57 | Alvaro Parente Mikhail Goikhberg Trent Hindman A.J. Allmendinger | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'45.837 | 12.126 | 0.124 |
| 24 | 96 | Robby Foley Jens Klingmann Bill Auberlen Dillon Machavern | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'45.872 | 12.161 | 0.035 |
| 25 | 11 | Richard Heistand Steijn Schothorst Franck Perera Albert Costa | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'46.040 | 12.329 | 0.168 |
| 26 | 88 | Mirko Bortolotti Rolf Ineichen Daniel Morad Dries Vanthoor | GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 1'46.175 | 12.464 | 0.135 |
| 27 | 12 | Frankie Montecalvo Shane van Gisbergen Aaron Telitz Townsend Bell | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'46.185 | 12.474 | 0.010 |
| 28 | 48 | Madison Snow Bryan Sellers Corey Lewis Andrea Caldarelli | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'46.191 | 12.480 | 0.006 |
| 29 | 86 | Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry Shinya Michimi Jules Gounon | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'46.478 | 12.767 | 0.287 |
| 30 | 16 | Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long Anthony Imperato Klaus Bachler | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'46.485 | 12.774 | 0.007 |
| 31 | 47 | Brandon Gdovic Eric Lux Mark Kvamme Jonathan Hoggard | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'46.835 | 13.124 | 0.350 |
| 32 | 98 | Pedro Lamy Ross Gunn Mathias Lauda Andrew Watson | GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'46.880 | 13.169 | 0.045 |
| 33 | 23 | Ian James Nicki Thiim Roman De Angelis Alex Riberas | GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'47.041 | 13.330 | 0.161 |
| 34 | 19 | Christina Nielsen Katherine Legge Tatiana Calderon Rahel Frey | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'47.148 | 13.437 | 0.107 |
| 35 | 74 | Lawson Aschenbach Ben Keating Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'47.273 | 13.562 | 0.125 |
| 36 | 14 | Parker Chase Jack Hawksworth Michael de Quesada Kyle Busch | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | |||
| 37 | 44 | John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly Marco Mapelli | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | |||
| 38 | 54 | Tim Pappas Jeroen Bleekemolen Sven Muller Trenton Estep | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | |||
| View full results | |||||||
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New Corvette C8.R needs work to catch Porsche, say drivers
About this article
| Series | IMSA |
| Event | Daytona 24 |
| Author | David Malsher-Lopez |
