Mazda Team Joest and Wayne Taylor Racing Share Out Saturday Roar Sessions

Harry Tincknell kept Mazda Team Joest at the top of the Roar Before the 24 timesheets during Saturday morning’s practice session at the Daytona International Speedway, while Renger van der Zande put Wayne Taylor Racing on top in the afternoon, before the #55 Mazda returned to the top in the evening session with Jonathan Bomarito.

In LMP2, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports showed good pace to lead two of the three sessions, with DragonSpeed topping the afternoon, and it was a similar story in GT Le Mans, with Porsche leading the first and last sessions, either side of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing leading the way in the afternoon.  Black Swan Racing, Meyer Shank Racing and Via Italia Racing each led a session in GT Daytona.

Morning Session

Day two began with the #55 of Tincknell, Bomarito and Olivier Pla setting the pace for Mazda, but they were closely followed by the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Fernando Alonso, who was just 0.127 seconds back in the car he shares with van der Zande, Jordan Taylor and Kamui Kobayashi.

The #77 Mazda RT24-P of Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez, Timo Bernhard and Rene Rast finished third overall ahead of the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac of Luis Felipe Derani, Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran, while the sister #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac of Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque, Christian Fittipaldi and Mike Conway rounded out the top five ahead of the two Acura Team Penske entries, the #6 ahead of the #7.

For the first time this week, all four LMP2 competitors turned laps, but once more it was the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Matt McMurry, Gabriel Aubry and Mark Kvamme who hit top spot, with McMurry setting the best time of 1:38.107, just over half a second ahead of the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca of Kyle Masson.

Both DragonSpeed entries took to the track and finished third and fourth overall, the #18 ahead of the #81, Roberto Gonzalez setting the best time in the former and James Allen in the latter.

Matthieu Jaminet was the pacesetter in GT Le Mans in the #912 Porsche he shares with Earl Bamber and, when he returns from paternity leave, Laurens Vanthoor, with Jaminet setting the best time of 1:43.862, just 0.007 seconds clear of the #3 Corvette Racing C7.R of Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller.

Frederic Makowiecki put the #911 Porsche into third ahead of the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari of Miguel Molina, while Richard Westbrook put the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing GT into fifth.

The #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche of Matteo Cairoli, Tim Pappas, Marco Seefried and Dirk Werner topped the GT Daytona class with a time of 1:45.919, 0.026 seconds clear of the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of AJ Allmendinger, Mario Farnbacher, Trent Hindman and Justin Marks, while the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Daniel Serra, Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda were third.

Two more Ferrari’s, the #63 Scuderia Corsa of Cooper MacNeil, and the #13 Via Italia Racing of Victor Franzoni, completed the top five.

Afternoon Session

Van der Zande put the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac to the top on Saturday afternoon with a time of 1:34.534, 0.483 seconds clear of the #7 Acura Team Penske machine of Jordan Taylor, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi.

The #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac of Conway was third fastest ahead of the #55 Mazda of Pla, with Dane Cameron putting the #6 Penske he shares with Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud into fifth ahead of the #54 CORE Autosport Nissan of Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, Romain Dumas and Loic Duval.

Nicolas Lapierre put the #81 DragonSpeed Oreca he shares with Henrik Hedman, Ben Hanley and Allen on top in LMP2, ending PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport’s run at the top, with the #18 DragonSpeed of Pastor Maldonado, Gonzalez, Ryan Cullen and Sebastian Saavedra third.

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing hit the top for the first time in GT Le Mans, with Westbrook setting the pace in the #67 with a lap of 1:43.148, just ahead of the #911 Porsche of Patrick Pilet, with the #66 Ford of Sebastien Bourdais third fastest.

Bamber placed fourth in the #912 Porsche ahead of the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari, with the #4 Corvette, #24 and #25 BMW Team RLL and #3 Corvette rounding out the nine-car field.

Trent Hindman put the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura on top in GT Daytona with a time of 1:45.533, just under eight-tenths of a second ahead of the sister #57 Acura of Katherine Legge, with the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti rounding out the top three.

The #19 Moorespeed Audi of Alex Riberas and the #71 P1 Motorsports Mercedes of Maximilian Buhk rounded out the top five ahead of the #29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi of Dries Vanthoor.

Evening Session

Bomarito returned Mazda Team Joest to the top in the session under the lights on Saturday evening, with the American racer setting a time of 1:34.533, 0.444 seconds ahead of the sister #77 of Jarvis, while the #31 of Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac of Derani was a further 0.202 seconds back in third place.

The #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac of Conway was fourth fastest ahead of Braun on board the #54 CORE Autosport Nissan, with Kobayashi sixth in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Aubry was quickest in LMP2 ahead of the pair of DragonSpeed Orecas, the #81 of Hanley ahead of the #18 of Maldonado, with the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca of Kris Wright fourth after the car missed out on running in the afternoon session.

The Porsche GT Team finished first and second in GT Le Mans, the #911 of Nick Tandy ahead of the #912 of Bamber, with the two Ford Chip Ganassi Racing GT’s of Bourdais and Scott Dixon third and fourth in the #66 and #67 respectively.

Colton Herta was fifth fastest for the #25 BMW Team RLL ahead of the sister #24 of Chaz Mostert, with the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari and the two Corvettes rounding out the class.

In the final GT Daytona session of the Roar, Franzoni was quickest in the #13 Via Italia Racing Ferrari with a time of 1:45.842, 0.112 seconds clear of Daniel Serra in the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari, with the #71 P1 Motorsports Mercedes of Buhk third ahead of the #57 Meyer Shank Racing Acura and the #46 EBIMOTORS SRL Lamborghini.