The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is wrapping up its four day, pre-season homologation test at Daytona International Speedway Saturday. Forty-two cars took part, including all the factory-backed GTP cars, plus a complement of LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD teams. The first day featured GTP and LMP2 only, while all cars participated in the second day. Days three and four were reserved for GTD PRO and GTD while the series conducted targeted performance testing to help set the Balance of Performance for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
New cars
Testing featured the IMSA-sanctioned debut of the new Ford Mustang GT3 (run by Multimatic Motorsports) and Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R (fielded by Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Mo torsports). Both cars logged a lot of miles, although the No. 4 Corvette shared by Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner suffered a fire due to a refueling rig problem. Damage to the car was minimal, but did require a substantial amount of cleanup of fire bottle residue.
The Mustangs were quick, keeping near the top of the unofficial time sheets, although the No. 1 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 was consistently at the top, despite the BMW’s Daytona struggles in the past two Rolex 24s.
Heart of Racing had one car at the test, the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, although Aston Martin is still playing with cards close their chest with the car. It was shared by Roman De Angelis – whose full-season co-driver in GTD has yet to be named – and the GTD PRO squad of Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Mario Farnbacher.
The Lamborghini SC63 LMDh car that will compete in WeatherTech Championship Michelin Endurance Cup races beginning at Sebring made its North American testing debut at Daytona, and was quick from the start with Andrea Calderelli posting a fast time on the first day. Other GTP-class cars were quicker on Saturday, but the Lambo remained within a second of the fast time. In addition to Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti, Romain Grosjean and Daniil Kvyat were on hand to test the car.
Targeted Performance testing
As noted in Marshall Pruett’s explanation of new Balance of Performance testing procedures taking place at Daytona