The new Porsche 911 RSR has made an impressive North American debut in qualifying for the 24-hour race at Daytona by claiming positions one and two on the grid. During the 15-minute session on the Daytona International Speedway, Nick Tandy (Great Britain) in the No. 911 vehicle and Belgium’s Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 912 sister car fought a heated duel for the fastest lap time.
Both drivers tapped the full potential of the ca. 515 hp 2019-generation GT racer, which is based on the high-performance 911 GT3 RS* road-legal sports car, and swapped places at the top of the time sheets. In the end, Tandy snatched pole position with a time of 1:42.207 minutes ahead of Vanthoor, thus beating his own GTLM-class qualifying record, which he set at Daytona in 2019.
In the GTD class, pole position also went to Porsche. Zach Robichon turned the fastest lap in his 911 GT3 R (#9) with a time of 1:45.237 minutes. Not only did the Canadian achieve pole position for his Pfaff Motorsports team with this result, he also set the fastest time ever in a GTD-class qualifying at Daytona. Driving for Wright Motorsports, Ryan Hardwick (USA) concluded the qualifying session on tenth. The No. 54 Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Black Swan Racing was unable to take part in the qualifying due to repairs after an accident in free practice. The vehicle will take up the race on Saturday from the last grid spot.
The 24-hour Daytona classic gets underway on Saturday, 25 January, at 1:35pm local time (7:35pm CET) and can be viewed live outside the USA and Canada on www.imsa.com.
Qualifying result
GTLM class
1. Tandy/Makowiecki/Campbell (GB/F/AUS), Porsche 911 RSR, 1:42.207 minutes
2. Vanthoor/Bamber/Jaminet (B/NZ/F), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.049 seconds
3. Garcia/Taylor/Catsburg (E/USA/NL), Corvette C8.R, + 0.338 seconds
4. Gavin/Milner/Fässler (GB/USA/CH), Corvette C8.R, + 0.594 seconds
5. De Phillippi/Eng/Spengler/Herta (USA/A/CDN/USA), BMW M8 GTE, + 0.734 seconds
GTD class
1. Olsen/Robichon/Kern/Pilet (N/CDN/D/F), Porsche 911 GT3 R, 1:45.237 minutes
2. MacNeil/Vilander/Westphal/Balzan (USA/FIN/USA/I), Ferrari 488 GT3, + 0.476 seconds
3. Parente/Goikhberg/Hindman/Allmendinger (P/RUS/USA/USA), Acura NSX GT3, + 0.600 seconds
10. Hardwick/Long/Imperato/Bachler (USA/USA/USA/A) Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 1.248 seconds
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