- Last weekend, IMSA held their annual postseason test session at Daytona International Speedway. Friday was for Prototypes only, Saturday was mixed, while Sunday was GT-only.
Session No. 1 on Friday saw Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Nick Yelloly go fastest in his Acura with a lap at 133.884 mph. After two days of prototype testing, this lap held up as the fastest lap of the whole test.
Yelloly's lap was .516 seconds faster than teammate Tom Blomqvist. Nico Pino, driving for JDC-Miller MotorSports,
was third fastest in his Porsche 963, then Cadillac's Filipe Albuquerque. Porsche Penske Motorsport's Felipe Nasr was fifth.
In LMP2, Inter Europol Competition's Tom Dillmann was fastest with a lap at 129.162 mph. His lap was .569 seconds faster than Pratt Miller Motorsports' Pietro Fittipaldi. Dane Cameron was third fastest in "Spike," while Mikkel Jensen was fourth in United
Autosports' No. 2. TDS Racing's Mathias Beche was fifth.
The Heart of Racing failed to set a time during the session due to an electrical issue on their out lap. That resulted in a red flag to retrieve the car.
Session No. 2 saw Renger van der Zande keep the No. 93
Acura on top of the chart with a lap at 133.303 mph. The lap was just one-thousandth of a second faster than Porsche Penske Motorsport's Julien Andlauer. Pino was third, then Blomqvist and Matt Campbell in the second Penske Porsche.
TDS Racing's Charles Milesi was fastest in LMP2 with a lap at 129.225 mph, which ended up being the fastest LMP2 lap of the test. The lap was .012
seconds faster than CrowdStrike Racing by APR's Malthe Jakobsen. Pratt Miller Motorsports' Enzo Fittipaldi was third, followed by Inter Europol Competition's Bijoy Garg. Jensen was fifth.
This session had two red flag periods. The first occurred when Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports' Misha Goikhberg spun and hit the tires in West Bend. Later on, Intersport
Racing's Jon Field also went off the road.
Saturday's first session saw Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Colin Braun go fastest with a lap at 133.180 mph. The lap was .310 seconds faster than JDC-Miller MotorSports' Bryce Aron. BMW M Team WRT's Dries Vanthoor and Philipp Eng were third and fourth, followed by Nasr.
In LMP2, Pietro Fittipaldi was fastest with a lap at 128.663 mph, .156 seconds faster than Dillmann. AO Racing's Jonny Edgar was third, then Beche. Tristan Vautier was fifth in the repaired Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports No. 52.
In GTD, Magnus Racing's Nicki Thiim was fastest in his Aston
Martin with a lap at 119.178 mph. The lap was .140 seconds faster than the Porsche of Rennsport One's Jan Heylen. Winward Racing's Russell Ward was third, then Myers Riley Motorsports' Romain Grosjean and Vasser Sullivan's Aaron Telitz.
GTD Pro saw Winward Racing's Maxime Martin go fastest with a lap at 119.083 mph, .085 seconds slower than Thiim. The lap was .067 seconds faster
than 75 Express' Mikael Grenier. Ford Multimatic Motorsports' Christopher Mies was third, followed by Paul Miller Racing's Connor de Phillippi. Ben Barnicoat was fifth in his Lexus.
Session No. 4 saw Pino go fastest with a lap at 133.479 mph in his Porsche. The lap was .282 seconds faster than Yelloly's Acura. Nasr was third, then BMW M Team WRT's Kevin Magnussen.
Blomqvist was fifth.
Pietro Fittipaldi was fastest in LMP2 with a lap at 129.224 mph. The lap was .291 seconds faster than Jakobsen. Dillmann was third, then Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports' Parker Thompson. Tower Motorsports' Sebastien Bourdais is fifth.
In GTD, Thiim was fastest once again with a lap at 119.039 mph. His lap was .065 seconds faster than Ward. Heylen was third, then AF Corse's Tommaso Mosca. Wright Motorsports' Tom Sargent was fifth.
Winward Racing's Jason Hart was fastest in GTD Pro with a lap at 118.872 mph, .151 seconds slower than Thiim. His lap was .103 seconds faster
than Grenier. Vasser Sullivan's Jack Hawksworth was third, then Paul Miller Racing's Dan Harper and Mies.
In Night Practice, BMW M Team WRT's Marco Wittmann was fastest overall with a lap at 132.538 mph. He was .073 seconds faster than Vanthoor. Andlauer was third, then Pino and Blomqvist.
CrowdStrike Racing by APR's Alex Quinn was fastest in LMP2 with a lap at 127.726 mph. The lap was .084 seconds faster than Tower Motorsports' Sebastian Alvarez. Beche was third, then Vautier and United Autosports' Paul di Resta.
Winward Racing topped both of the GT classes. Lucas Auer was fastest in GTD with a lap at 119.601 mph, the fastest
GTD lap of the weekend. The lap was .539 seconds faster than Heylen. Wright Motorsports' Elliott Skeer was third, then Magnus Racing's Spencer Pumpelly. Grosjean was fifth.
Martin was fastest in GTD Pro with a lap at 119.057 mph. The lap was .292 seconds faster than 75 Express' Will Power. RLL Team McLaren's Dean MacDonald was third, then Pfaff Motorsports' Andrea Caldarelli in the
new Lamborghini Temerario GT3. Thomas Preining was fifth in the Manthey Porsche.
Sunday started the GT-only portion of the test. Here, Martin was fastest with a lap at 119.606 mph in his Mercedes, the fastest GTD Pro lap of the weekend. The lap was .532 seconds faster than MacDonald. Power was third, then Hawksworth and Caldarelli.
Philip Ellis in the Winward No. 57 was fastest in GTD at 119.415 mph, .171 seconds slower than Martin. He was .490 seconds faster than Thiim. Wright Motorsports' Callum Ilott was third, then Mosca and Heylen.
In the final session, Grenier was fastest in his SunEnergy1 Mercedes with a lap at 119.567 mph. The lap was
.513 seconds faster than Preining. Winward Racing's Luca Stolz was third, then Hawksworth and RLL Team McLaren's Max Esterson.
Heylen was fastest in GTD with a lap at 118.942 mph. His lap was .123 seconds faster than Ilott. Pumpelly was third, then Vasser Sullivan's Esteban Masson. Wayne Taylor Racing's Lamborghini Huracan for Danny Formal was fifth.
Connor Zilisch turned in 91 laps during the test session in Action Express Racing's Cadillac VSeries.R. His best lap was 131.917 mph, 1.73 seconds off the best lap of the weekend. There is a real chance that Zilisch could have the fourth seat with the team for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but no announcement has been made to this point.
- DragonSpeed announced Tuesday that they will switch from the Ferrari 296 GT3 to
the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for their run in the GTD class in 2026. Henrik Hedman, who has driven for the team off and on for the last decade, will drive full-time for the team and go after the Bob Akin Award. He'll have Giacomo Altoe as his teammate. Casper Stevenson will move over from The Heart of Racing to compete in the endurance races.
Photo is courtesy of IMSA.
