Shane van Gisbergen’s AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F GT3 has claimed the GTD class pole at the Roar Before the 24 in Daytona.
A busy day of track action saw a slew of practice sessions as well as a mock qualifying for GTD and LMP2 machinery during which van Gisbergen’s co-driver Frankie Montecalvo topped the 18 car GTD field with a 1:46.754s effort.
It left the squad, which also includes Townsend Bell and Aaron Telitz, just over a tenth clear of second best.
The LMP2 pace was set by Ben Keating for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports at 1:38.056, six tenths clear of the opening day’s pace setters DragonSpeed.
Times from the qualifying session will be used to determine garage and pit lane order for the Rolex Daytona 24 event week later this month.
It was followed by an hour long night practice session during which Oliver Jarvis set the quickest time for Mazda Team Joest.
Mazda enjoyed a one-two at the head of proceedings with the squad’s sister entry second fastest courtesy of Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Scott Dixon recorded the third best time aboard the Cadillac DPi machine he’s sharing with Ryan Briscoe, Kamui Kobayashi, and Renger van der Zande.
Porsche again showed strongly in GTLM with both factory efforts topping the classes, the Earl Bamber led #912 topping Matt Campbell’s #911 by just 0.080s.
Chaz Mostert’s BMW M8 GTE was fifth fastest of the seven runners in class, just over eight tenths off the leading Porsche.
Lamborghini dominated the GTD night running, the Italian marque locking down the top three places in class, van Gisbergen’s Lexus sixth best but within four tenths of the leading runners.
Competitors in DPi and GTLM classes will have their opportunity to compete for pit and garage places on Sunday (local time), the final day of the season’s precursor event.
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