Testing report
IMSA Daytona January testing
Mazda tops opening session in Roar Before the Rolex 24
Oliver Jarvis nailed the top time for Mazda Team Joest in the opening session in the Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona, as Fernando Alonso and Kamui Kobayashi got their first laps in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Jan 4, 2019, 6:11 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber

In the first official IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship test of the 2019 season, Jarvis lapped the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course in 1min35.989sec in the #77 Mazda RT24-P to beat Jordan Taylor’s best in WTR’s Cadillac DPi-V.R by 0.418sec.
Alonso and Kobayashi were around half a second off Taylor’s best as they familiarized themselves with the #10 Cadillac they will also share with Renger van der Zande.
Harry Tincknell in the second Mazda was just 0.042sec further back in third, while Felipe Nasr narrowly edged Action Express Racing teammate Joao Barbosa for P4.
Will Owen was fastest of Juncos Racing’s quartet ahead of the team’s first Rolex 24 to grab sixth fastest ahead of another team running a Caddy DPi for the first time, JDC-Miller Motorsports.
The Acura Team Penske duet of Ricky Taylor and Juan Pablo Montoya were eighth and 10th, split by Simon Trummer in the second JDC-Miller Cadillac.
Gabriel Aubry was fastest of the two LMP2 cars in action, with 11th fastest overall for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, around four seconds off the fastest DPi time.
In GT Le Mans, the Porsche 911 RSRs of Patrick Pilet and Earl Bamber went 1-2, followed by the Ford GTs of Dirk Muller and Ryan Briscoe.
Davide Rigon wheeled the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 to fifth fastest ahead of the two Corvettes and two BMW M8s.
The booming GT Daytona class saw a familiar driver/car/team combo on top – Jeroen Bleekemolen preeminent in the Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT ahead of two Ferrari 488s, the Spirit of Race machine piloted by Pedro Lamy and the WeatherTech-liveried Scuderia Corsa car of Toni Vilander.
Bill Auberlen slotted Turner Motorsport’s BMW M6 into fourth ahead of Jack Hawksworth in the faster of AIM Vasser-Sullivan’s Lexus RC Fs and Daniel Morad in Land Motorsport’s Audi R8.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Pruett named Grand Marshal of Daytona 24 Hours
Next article Alonso: Second Rolex 24 attempt "about winning"
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment

More from
David Malsher-Lopez

Alex Zanardi: The man whose name is a synonym for “hero”
IndyCar
IndyCar
Alex Zanardi: The man whose name is a synonym for “hero”

Remembering Michele Alboreto: F1 ace, Le Mans winner and a good man
Formula 1
Formula 1
Remembering Michele Alboreto: F1 ace, Le Mans winner and a good man

IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
IMSA
IMSA
Laguna Seca
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
Latest news
![]()
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Phoenix
1 h
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead

GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
6 h
GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend

Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 7 h
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
11 h
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe