Track records tumble at Daytona 24 qualifying 

Two of the Cadillac Hypercars will occupy the front row for the 2024 24 Hours at Daytona, as all nine of the GTP hypercars went under the track record.

Whelen Cadillac Racing’s Pipo Derani – defending class champion – set the benchmark by obliterating the track record with a 1:32.656 effort, clocking 222.6 kph on his way around the famous circuit.

His #31 V-Series.R eclipsed the Sebastien Bourdais piloted sister car (prepared by Chip Ganassi) by just +0.071s, whilst Porsche’s Felipe Nasr put the Penske run 963 into third over the #25 BMW machine with Connor De Phillippi at the helm.

That means there will be a Trans-Tasman battle up the front to start the race this coming weekend, with NZ Indycar star Scott Dixon in the second placed #2 Cadillac, whilst Porsche’s Aussie gun Matt Campbell will start in third in the #7 963.

Aussie Matt Campbell will start the 2024 Daytona 24 from the second row. image: LAT

The existing track record was held by Oliver Jarvis (1:33.685) in a Mazda DPi class car, set in 2019, with Derani accrediting the perfect conditions for the flurry of GTP to go under the mark, with a 17mph tailwind assisting the effort.

“Obviously, the Cadillac was flying out there today,” Derani said after taking his 10th career IMSA pole.

“It was just a privilege and a pleasure to drive such a car – really well balanced. There was great teamwork to improve what was needed for qualifying. The car felt on rails, and it was nice to enjoy and feel the full potential of GTP.

“In the end, everyone was really tight, I think Porsche was within a tenth of pole (0.22 seconds). It’s about finding those details to find a little extra time, and we were able to do just that today.”

“We weren’t really talking about what was possible, we were just trying to maximize the tools that we had. Quite honestly, I was quite surprised, but I think the conditions were perfect for that – cold, the tires were working well, and obviously for qualifying you’re running low fuel. I would say we were a bit more surprised than not by the lap time.”

Keating topped the LMP2 timesheets for next weekends Daytona 24. Image: IMSA

Out of the ten registered GTP cars, all nine that participated went under the lap record, with the ninth placed Porsche putting in a 1:33.506 to go 0.179 under the 2019 mark.

After a crash in pre-qualifying, the #5 Proton Racing customer Porsche was forced to sit it out, whilst the third row will be an all Acura ARX-06 affair, whilst the #6 Porsche will line up next to the #24 BMW over the JDC-Miller MotorSports customer Porsche in P9.

In the LMP2 class, United Autosports claimed the front row with American Ben Keating behind the wheel, with the #2 ORECA 07 driver registering a 1:38.501.

The #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA will start from second over the #4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR.

Aussie Josh Burdon will start on the second row in the Riley Motorsports machine, whilst last years LMP2 winner Daytona 24 winner, Aussie James Allen, will start from ninth on the class grid.

The GTD Pro field will be headed by the mean looking “Rexy Porsche”. Image: IMSA

In the GTD Pro class, it was the #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) that took pole with a 1:44.38, whilst the GTD class pole will be occupied by the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 car, third in the overall GTD qualifying.

The 24 Hours of Daytona gets going on the 27 of January at 1:40pm US Florida time, and will be streamed for free via the IMSA website.

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