In the second session for the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Daytona International Speedway, it was a familiar team on top of the charts. However, that familiar team has a new look.
Multimatic Motorsports’ Jade Buford topped the charts for the session with a lap of 116.499 seconds (110.010 mph) in the team’s new Ford Mustang GT4. The Mustang GT4 is the replacement for the Ford Shelby GT350R-C that the team has run for the past year and a half. Buford, who raced for Racers Edge Motorsports last year in Pirelli World Challenge’s GTS class, replaces defending champion Billy Johnson. Due to an eligibility rule change, Johnson can no longer race in the series because he has a platinum driver rating.
Buford’s lap was more than a second faster than anyone else. However, the rest of the fast Grand Sport drivers were grouped closely together.
Muehlner Motorsports America’s Cameron Lawrence was second fastest in the No. 21 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, followed by CJ Wilson Racing’s Marc Miller. Miller’s teammate Damien Faulkner was fourth quickest in the No. 35 Porsche. TeamTGM’s Guy Cosmo was fifth, three-hundredths of a second slower than Faulkner.
Automatic Racing/VOLT Racing’s Alan Brynjolfsson, MIA/Pfaff McLaren’s Jesse Lazare and Compass360 Racing’s Matt Plumb‘s McLarens were sixth, seventh and eighth. Charles Espenlaub was ninth quickest in his Aston Martin, followed by Bodymotion Racing’s Trent Hindman and Nico Rondet in the second Compass360 McLaren. The next ten drivers behind Buford were separated by just under two-thirds of a second.
In Street Tuner, the margins were close as well. Unlike Grand Sport, no one had a big advantage over the rest of the pack.
Murillo Racing’s Eric Foss was quickest with a lap of 125.547 seconds (102.081 mph) in the No. 56 Porsche Cayman. That lap was 45 thousandths of a second quicker than Rennsport One’s Connor Bloum in second. BimmerWorld Racing’s Greg Liefooghe was third quickest, followed by Compass360 Racing’s Pierre Kleinubing and MINI Team JCW’s Mark Pombo.
Session No. 3 of the Roar for the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge will roll off at 11:05 a.m. on Saturday. It is currently scheduled to be one hour in length.
About the author
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.
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