In Daytona, Wednesday dawned ugly. Heavy recent rains turned much of the infield into a mud waller. Getting even one wheel off the track could spell trouble. In the first practice, team owner/driver Kris Wright found that out the hard way when he slid his Kris Wright Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche Cayman off course and impacted the barriers, requiring a tow into the garage. Wright was evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center.
Multimatic Motorsports‘ Scott Maxwell had an off-course excursion of his own during the second session. Maxwell slid off the course in the International Horseshoe and impacted the tires slightly. He was able to pull away on his own, but the No. 15 Ford Shelby GT350R-C did suffer some damage.
With the changeable conditions on-track, there were only a couple of constants. Those were CJ Wilson Racing and Rum Bum Racing.
CJ Wilson Racing, which has moved up to Grand Sport from Street Tuner for 2016, definitely seems to have something going with their new Porsche Cayman GT4. During the first session, held on a drying track until raindrops returned in the final 15 minutes, Marc Miller turned in the fastest time with a lap of 2:06.864 (101.022 mph). That lap was a little more than two-tenths of a second faster than Matt Plumb in Rum Bum Racing’s No. 13 Porsche 911. To give you an idea of the conditions, these laps were roughly 12 seconds off the pace of what the teams would have been capable of in the dry. Billy Johnson was third quickest in the Multimatic Ford Shelby GT350R-C.
The second session, held in slightly wetter conditions, was more of the same. Miller’s teammate, Danny Burkett, set the fast time once again for CJ Wilson Racing with a lap of 2:07.973, the only driver able to break an average of 100 mph during the session. That time was a second and a quarter faster than Hugh Plumb in the No. 13. Compass360 Racing‘s Pierre Kleinubing was third fastest in another Ford Shelby GT350R-C.
Street Tuner saw the BimmerWorld pairing of team owner James Clay and Tyler Cooke fastest in the first session with a lap of 2:15.263 (94.749 mph), while the No. 74 Audi S3 of Jim McGuire and Nico Rondet for Compass360 Racing took full advantage of their all wheel drive setup to turn in the second fastest time. Murillo Racing‘s Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss were third fastest.
The second session saw Rennsport One‘s No. 19 Porsche Cayman driven by Connor Bloum turn in the fastest time with a lap of 2:16.136 (94.141 mph). Robin Liddell, driving the No. 8 Porsche Cayman for Rebel Rock Racing, was second quickest, followed by Michael Valiante in the HART Honda Civic Si.
Many of the teams chose to run only one of the two sessions. For example, Murillo Racing’s Mosing and Foss chose to only run during the first session. On the other hand, Rennsport One’s No. 17 for Spencer Pumpelly and Nick Galante chose to run only in the second session. Two teams, Rebel Rock Racing’s No. 7 Porsche Cayman for Jim Jonsin and Mike Mathe and CRG-I Do Borrow‘s No. 44 Honda Civic Si for Sarah Cattaneo and Owen Trinkler did not run in either session.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
Go Ford Performance, Multimatic Motorsports, Roush Yates Engines & Chip Ganassi Racing Teams!