Despite only setting the 14th best time of the Rolex Series’ ‘Roar Before the 24’ test the Wayne Taylor Racing squad were in positive mood at the close of the three day event at Daytona International Speedway.
“This test is more about a checklist than outright speed and we were methodical about getting through some very fundamental changes, working through routine operations with each driver, driver changes, where the switches are, etc,” said Indycar champion Ryan Hunter–Reay who was confirmed alongside regular driver Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. “This is less about going fast than it is about everybody executing together and doing their job without making mistakes. This team is certainly proven in that regard and I am looking forward to coming back here in a few weeks.”
In a test dominated by the Riley chassis Daytona Prototypes it was Angelelli who set the team’s fastest lap of the weekend at 1:43.171, over a second slower than the ultimate pace, set by former Wayne Taylor Racing driver Michael Valiante, now with Michael Shank Racing.
“As for this test, I know that everybody is expecting to see the #10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP on top of the timesheet,” said Angelelli, the team announced the new sponsor the day before testing began at Daytona. “But we needed to do some experiments for the 24-hour involving new items and we learned a lot this weekend that will be very, very important for the race. We got the lap times we did with all that taken into consideration. I’m pretty confident that, for a long race, a fast lap time is not what it’s all about. Let’s see where we will be at the end of 24 hours.”
“In a 24-hour race, you’re never going to have a clean lap,” echoed Jordan Taylor, who replaces elder brother Ricky as a full-season driver at the team for 2013. “At this test, you’ve got all 60 cars on the track at once, so it’s really difficult to get a clean lap here this weekend, too. Outright lap time might never be shown at the test, or even the middle of the race, so I guess we’ll see who’s got the real speed when it comes to qualifying on Thursday afternoon come race weekend.”
The first on track action of the Rolex 24 at Daytona weekend is scheduled for 9am local time (2pm UK time) on Thursday January 24.
