DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken originally won the overall pole Thursday (Jan. 22) for this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with a lap at 136.429 mph. However, that pole position was stripped away in post-race inspection.
IMSA officials determined that “the car’s friction area of the rear skid block was beyond the permitted tolerance.” What that would translate to is the possibility that Aitken’s Cadillac VSeries.R was running too low in the rear of the car.
As a result, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Renger van der Zande will inherit the overall pole in his Acura ARX-06.
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Louis Deletraz will start second in his Cadillac, .028 seconds behind. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr will start third, followed by Tom Blomqvist in the second Acura. The No. 6 Penske Porsche of Kevin Estre will start fifth.
In practice Thursday morning, Blomqvist was fastest overall in his Acura. Qualifying saw the veteran racer put himself on top of the chart early. Meanwhile, BMW M Team WRT’s Marco Wittmann had an early spin that set him back. He would eventually qualify 10th.
Blomqvist’s time on pole was short as first Aitken, then defending pole winner Dries Vanthoor took the provisional pole. It was at that point that the pace really picked up.
Van der Zande was able to put himself on provisional pole with the fastest lap of the entire weekend. He then bettered that lap with one at 136.281 mph.
However, Aitken was able to come back with one final lap with three minutes to go to take the pole. The rest of the pack could not beat his time, giving Action Express Racing and Cadillac the overall pole.
The top-five overall were separated by .354 seconds. Eight drivers qualified within one second of van der Zande’s time.
Unlike the GT classes, the normal rules requiring bronze-rated drivers to qualify in LMP2 were still in effect Thursday. As a result, it was up to the gentlemen drivers to put their best foot forward.
Early on, it was Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Chris Cumming and Inter Europol Competition’s Georgio Kolovos that traded the top spot back and forth. However, United Autosports’ Dan Goldburg rose to the top just before the halfway point.
The one missing element at the front of the class was PJ Hyett in “Spike.” He ended up getting a late start to the session, but came alive after the halfway point. With four minutes to go, Hyett went from the back of the class, two seconds off pole to the first driver in the 99-second bracket.
Hyett’s time on pole was short-lived as Inter Europol Competition’s Jeremy Clarke set a lap at 128.222 mph to put himself on pole. That lap held up for Clarke to take his first career pole.
Clarke’s lap was a mere .008 seconds faster than Hyett. Goldburg will start third, followed by Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ Ben Keating. TDS Racing’s Tobias Lutke was fifth.
GTD Pro saw RLL Team McLaren’s Dean MacDonald top the charts early on, but Paul Miller Racing’s Neil Verhagen stepped up late with a lap at 121.737 mph to put his BMW on top.
With five minutes to go, Verhagen chose to pull into the pits, leaving the other 14 teams to do battle. This may not have been the best choice.
A couple of minutes later, Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Alexander Sims set a lap at 121.934 mph to take the class pole away. The rest of the field tried their hardest, but they could not prevent Sims from claiming the pole.
Sims’ lap was .170 seconds faster than Verhagen’s BMW. MacDonald will start third in class, then 75 Express’ Maro Engel. Triarsi Competizione’s Alessio Rovera, who was fastest in morning practice, was fifth.
In GTD, qualifying was nothing short of a brawl. A number of drivers were in contention throughout the session.
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Trent Hindman was in the hunt, as was AF Corse’s Antonio Fuoco. DXDT Racing’s Charlie Eastwood was able to put his Corvette on top of the charts as well.
However, with six minutes to go, The Heart of Racing’s Zacharie Robichon set a lap at 121.926 mph. A number of drivers came close over the final few minutes, but that time held up to put the No. 27 Aston Martin on the GTD pole, just .007 seconds slower than Sims.
Robichon won the pole by .074 seconds over Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis. Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley will start third, then Eastwood and van der Steur Racing’s Valentin Hasse-Clot. The top-five drivers were separated by .268 seconds. It was .884 seconds back to Wright Motorsports’ Elliott Skeer in 10th.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Rolex 24 at Daytona Qualifying Results
The Rolex 24 at Daytona is scheduled to go green at 1:40 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. NBC coverage will go until 2:30 p.m. ET, then the race will be exclusive to Peacock until Noon ET Sunday. At that point, NBC will rejoin the race through the finish.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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.