BMW M Team WRT Leads Day One of Roar Before The 24 at Daytona
Daytona, FL – BMW M Team WRT set the pace on the opening day of the Roar Before The 24 with a top time of 1:36.742 during the second of seven test sessions. Driving the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, Sheldon van der Linde’s benchmark was the fastest overall but remains off the GTP course record.
The session faced early interruptions due to two incidents. Job van Uitert of Intersport Racing crashed the #37 ORECA 07-Gibson into the turn one barrier, leading to a red flag. Van Uitert emerged unscathed, but the car was retired for the day. Shortly after the session resumed, Nolan Siegel spun the #343 Inter Europol Competition ORECA without significant damage. Meanwhile, Esteban Masson experienced a mechanical issue in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3.
Following van der Linde on the GTP leaderboard, Tijmen van der Helm placed the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 second with a time of 1:36.880. Laurin Heinrich in the #7 Porsche Penske rounded out the top three at 1:36.908.
Cadillac entries continued to show competitive strength, with Earl Bamber’s #31 Whelen Cadillac finishing fourth. Filipe Albuquerque and Jordan Taylor secured fifth and sixth positions in the #10 and #40 Cadillacs, respectively. Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche Penske was seventh, while the GTP field was tightly clustered, with 1.271 seconds separating all 11 cars.
In LMP2, Ben Hanley topped the times with a 1:39.136 in United Autosports USA’s #2 ORECA, followed by Enzo Fittipaldi in the #73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA and Tom Dillmann in the #43 Inter Europol car.
In GTD PRO, Chaz Mostert led with a 1:47.625 in the #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. Christopher Mies’ #65 Ford Mustang GT3 Evo and reigning champion Alexander Sims in the #3 Corvette completed the top three. Corey Lewis in the #66 Gradient Racing Ford claimed the fastest time in the GTD class with a 1:47.522.
The Roar Before The 24 will continue with the next test session scheduled to start at 11:15 AM ET tomorrow.
