Porsche power topped both classes in qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Joerg Bergmeister claiming overall – and Daytona Prototype class – pole for Flying Lizard Motorsports and Dominik Farnbacher putting his TRG Porsche GT3 at the top of GT times.
Farnbacher, however, only ran the second fastest lap on track – the best time going to his TRG teammate Andy Lally. However, post-qualifying scrutineering found the rear wing on his no.67 Porsche was found to be mounted too far back and pole was given to Farnbacher in the no.66 car, whose time had be three-tenths down on Lally's.
The no.67 car's disqualification also lifted the no.44 of Magnus Racing into third in class. The car boasts two Porsche works drivers – Marco Holzer and Richard Lietz – among its four wheelmen. Porsche teams took five of the top six positions in the GT class.
In the premier class it was the power of a familiar Porsche flat-6 engine that took pole, pushing Joerg Bergmeister and the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche-Riley around the track in 1:40.099.
“It was a great team effort. This is the Lizards’ first time running a DP; everyone put their heads down and we learned step by step, improving the setup incrementally as we understood more about the car,” said Bergmeister – another Porsche works driver.
“Nearing the end of the session, I was in P3, and didn’t expect much more,” he continued. “But after our strategist Thomas Blam told me the gap to first was only nine one-hundredths of a second, I decided to go for it and I was able to pull it out. That was the first qualifying session in which I didn’t take a breath during the entire lap! In the end the pole is nice to have but is just the first step in what will be a very long and difficult race.”
Bergmeister shares the car with Seth Neiman, Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Long for the race.
The two Action Express Racing cars ended qualifying a lowly 12th and 13th
The other two Porsche powered DP cars in the field – both from Action Express Racing and powered by Porsche Cayenne derived V8 engines – qualified twelfth and thirteenth of the 15 DP entrants who attempted a qualifying lap.
