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BMW caps off GTP testing under the lights at Daytona

Thirty-seven cars from all IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes shared the track for 10 hours of running on day two of the November IMSA Sanctioned Test at Daytona.

The day started with Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 car setting the fastest time in the morning session. AJ Allmendinger briefly led with a 1m36.523s, but his time was surpassed by Colin Braun – a 1m36.231s.

JDC-Miller MotorSports’ No. 85 Porsche 963 went second-quickest with Bryce Aron behind the wheel, but in the 4h30m afternoon session (the fourth), it was Nico Pino that set a 1m36.015s, the fastest time of the day in GTP. 

Behind Pino, Nick Yelloly was second-quickest in the No. 93 Acura, followed by Julien Andlauer in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, which spent much of the morning stationary as PPM chased setup gremlins according to co-driver Matt Campbell. Campbell split time this weekend between the two Penske factory cars with the latest Evo updates and the JDC “Banana Boat” running in 2025 specifications.

Yelloly’s 1m35.725s set Friday stood as the quickest time of the weekend as the GTP and LMP2 classes wrapped up their two days of testing with a 2h night session.

Night running was led by BMW M Team WRT’s two revamped M Hybrid V8s, the No. 25 of Marco Wittmann (1m36.697s) ahead of the No. 24 of Dries Vanthoor (1m36.770s).

Of note, Connor Zilisch completed a full day of running in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R; across three sessions, he turned 81 laps and finished with a best time of 1m37.455s.

The No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie also recovered from its persistent electrical gremlins that kept the car in the garage for most of Friday and turned 141 laps. 

Pietro Fittipaldi and Pratt Miller Motorsports paced the field in LMP2 throughout the day. The third-generation Brazilian driver set a 1m39.609s to lead the morning session, and a 1m39.177s, the second-best time of the weekend, to lead the fourth session aboard the No. 73 ORECA 07-Gibson.

His time from the afternoon was just one millisecond behind the top time set Friday by Charles Milesi in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA.

The top three from Saturday morning featured the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition car of Tom Dillmann and the No. 99 AO Racing car of Jonny Edgar. In the afternoon, the No. 99 AO Racing car brought out a red flag when a wheel started to come loose, forcing Dane Cameron to pull off course.

Malthe Jakobsen finished second in session four in the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR car, with Dillmann in third. Jakobsen’s Crowdstrike/APR co-driver, Alex Quinn, led the final night session with a 1m40.340s.

GTD testing kicked off with a powerful showing by Mercedes teams. Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

As GTD PRO and GTD cars began their two days of testing, Winward Racing’s new No. 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO went fastest in GTD PRO across all three sessions. Maxime Martin (1m47.622s in session three, 1m47.646s in session five) and Jason Hart (1m47.813s) each took a turn at the top of the class.

The No. 75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG made it a Mercedes 1-2 in every session, thanks to quick times from pro drivers Mikaël Grenier and Will Power.

RLL Team McLaren gradually got its new No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo up to speed as the day went on – Dean McDonald turned in a 1m48.183s to go third-quickest in session five, the car’s best time of the day.

In its first IMSA test session, the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 not only completed 134 laps with no major issues, but Lamborghini Squadra Corse factory ace Andrea Caldarelli set a 1m48.242s halfway through session five to take fourth place in class and establish a solid benchmark.

Winward Racing’s back-to-back GTD title-winning No. 57 Mercedes-AMG set the fastest time not just in GTD, but across both GTD classes, to cap off the night. Lucas Auer set a 1m47.156s in session five, putting him ahead of two of the newest Porsche 911 GT3 Rs – the No. 28 RS1 Porsche of Jan Heylen and the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Elliott Skeer.

The No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo set the fastest time in sessions three and four, with Spencer Pumpelly (1m47.537s) leading the former and Nicki Thiim (1m47.662s) leading the latter – all despite the No. 44 “Virtual Energy” machine bringing out a red flag in session three after John Potter began to lose steering and pulled over.

Heylen’s 1m47.677s set in session three was the best time by any of the three new 992.2-generation Porsches. Tomasso Mosca, making his first IMSA test appearance, set a 1m48.203s in session four – the best time for the new No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo. 

SESSION THREE RESULTS

SESSION FOUR RESULTS

SESSION FIVE RESULTS