By John Oreovicz
IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (January 23, 2025) – A tough start turned into a strong finish for BMW M Team RLL in qualifying for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the opening round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 driven by Sheldon van der Linde caused a red flag when it stalled on track less than five minutes into the 15-minute Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class qualifying session. But Dries Vanthoor saved the day as he drove the team’s No. 24 entry to the GTP and overall pole for Saturday’s 24-hour contest.

BMW was extremely competitive in the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 test sessions, with Vanthoor setting the fastest overall time. The 26-year-old Belgian, who is embarking on his first full season of IMSA competition, repeated that form when it counted in qualifying.

It was Vanthoor’s first IMSA Motul Pole Award and also the first for BMW within GTP, as the manufacturer enters its third year in the new class. With the stoppage for the stalled No. 25 BMW, he and the other GTP contestants had time for only two flying laps. The younger Vanthoor brother (older brother Laurens is the endurance driver in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963) will share the polesitting No. 24 BMW with full-season co-driver Philipp Eng, Formula 1 veteran Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello.

“For sure it wasn’t easy with the red flag,” said Vanthoor, whose Motul Pole Award winning lap was timed at 1 minute, 33.895 seconds (136.493 mph). “It makes tire warming a bit more difficult for everyone. That was a big struggle for us last year, but we have been improving a lot. Then it was just about getting the lap together and trying to do the best that I could. That worked out, luckily, so I am very happy.

“We’ve been working hard,” he added. “It’s nice to see that it’s working for everyone here, and also everyone back at the factory. I think everybody can be happy and proud of that, but (the pole) is a little cherry on a big cake and there’s still a big thing still to happen. That’s the race, and that can go any way.”

Nick Yelloly qualified the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 on the outside of the front row in Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian’s return to IMSA competition after a year off at 1:34.186 (136.071 mph). Defending GTP class champion Felipe Nasr was third in the No. 7 Penske Porsche (1:34.280, 135.935 mph).

Qualifying was staged in difficult, cold conditions, with wind chills at Daytona in the low 40s ambient, and track temperatures not much warmer. Vanthoor wore a heavy parka and ski cap when he met the media after qualifying.

“It’s a bit cold in the car, but when you come out you’re sweating a lot,” he remarked. “You can get sick easily, and that would be the last thing we need going into a 24-hour race.”

LMP2: United Autosports Dominates as Goldburg Breaks Through

United Autosports USA dominated Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class qualifying for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, with Daniel Goldburg and Nick Boulle securing first and third on the grid for the team co-owned by McLaren Formula 1 team principal Zak Brown and Richard Dean.

It’s Goldburg’s second career Motul Pole Award in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition, and first since Road America in August 2021 in the former Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class.

Additionally, Goldburg’s lap ended Ben Keating’s run of five straight pole positions achieved at the Rolex 24 through either traditional qualifying or the Motul Pole Award 100 qualifying race, which ran for two years.

Bronze-rated drivers qualify in LMP2 and while Goldburg came close to pole several times in 2024, he came up short with four second-place efforts and seven top-five efforts in as many races.

“This is our moment to stack up against each other in the Bronze category,” Goldburg said after a pole-winning lap timed at 1 minute, 38.676 seconds (129.879 mph). “I’m super excited. I’ve been chasing this pole for all of the last year, and been a couple tenths off a bunch of times. That pole was elusive for me. So, this feels really good. I’ve been putting in a ton of work.

“It’s a long race ahead, but this is a great first notch,” continued Goldburg, who shares the No. 22 ORECA LMP2 07 this week with Paul di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and 2023 LMP2 Rolex 24 winner James Allen. “I’ve got great teammates and have been able to compare a lot of great data. I’m just inching closer and closer to what they do. After every session, I watch the video and chase the data and just trying to keep inching closer.”

Two-time IMSA LMP2 class champion Keating split his former team, United Autosports, in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 and will start on the outside of the front row.

Nick Boulle, who co-drove with Tom Dillmann to the IMSA LMP2 championship last year, will make his first start for United Autosports in the No. 2 ORECA from third place as he contests all Michelin Endurance Cup rounds of the WeatherTech Championship.

The field will take the green flag for the 63rd running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Saturday at 1:40 p.m. The first hour of the race will be broadcast on NBC, shifting to USA Network for four hours, before returning to NBC for the finish. Flag-to-flag coverage is available on Peacock.

Rolex 24 at Daytona Starting Lineup

By Holly Cain
IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (January 23, 2025) – Sports car ace Mike Rockenfeller paced a Ford front row shut-out claiming his first pole position in almost two decades, posting the fastest time Thursday in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) qualifying for Saturday’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, which kicks off the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Under blustery, cool conditions, temperatures in the low-50s and a slight rain mist at Daytona International Speedway, the German Rockenfeller turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 45.523 seconds (121.452 mph) in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3.

It was Rockenfeller’s second Motul Pole Award of his IMSA career, and first since 2006 in a Daytona Prototype at Homestead-Miami Speedway. His time Thursday around the iconic 3.56-mile Daytona road course was 0.332 of a second faster than his Ford Multimatic teammate Frederic Vervisch giving Ford a front row sweep for the 15-car GTD PRO class.

“This is the biggest race of the year and we want to make sure Ford is proud,” said Rockenfeller, who will share the cockpit with British driver Sebastian Priaulx and 2022 Daytona 500 winner, NASCAR’s Austin Cindric. “It’s a super talented field with many, many good drivers in this category so you really need to push hard.”

He said the Ford team – in the make’s second year fielding the Mustang GT3 – focused on earning pole position so the front row sweep was very important. He acknowledged, however, winning pole is very different from racing 24 hours in the perpetually super talented GT field.

“It’s crazy competitive and I would say more competitive from last year for sure, so it’s going to be tough and we saw throughout the sessions, we are clearly good for one lap but we struggle a bit more over a stint with our tire (degradation), so that’s something I’m a bit worried about,” Rockenfeller acknowledged.

“But keep the wheels turning, that’s the key – at the end to be there,” he added with a smile.

Speaking to the high competition in these production-based GT categories, Thursday afternoon’s qualifying session marked the first time this week the Fords had topped the speed charts in the GTD PRO class.

Dan Harper in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R were third and fourth quickest followed by Andrea Caldarelli in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 – which paced the class in the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test last weekend.

Connor Zilisch, the 18-year-old NASCAR phenom and defending Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) Rolex 24 winner, was eighth fastest – less than a second off the GTD PRO class polesitter – in the No. 91 Trackhouse by TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R featuring an all-star driver lineup of NASCAR Cup Series driver Shane van Gisbergen, IndyCar’s Scott McLaughlin and former Rolex 24 class winner Ben Keating.

By John Oreovicz – IMSA WIRE SERVICE

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (January 17, 2025) – The 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship got underway Friday on a crisp winter day at Daytona International Speedway. Sixty-one competitors took to the 3.56-mile road course under sunny skies for the first of three days of Roar Before the Rolex 24 testing in the lead-up to the 63rd running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona next weekend.

BMW M Team RLL had plenty to celebrate at the end of the first day of the new campaign. Dries Vanthoor set the day’s benchmark time in the early stages of the two-hour afternoon session, clocking 1 minute, 35.424 seconds (134.306 mph) in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with Sheldon van der Linde running fourth in the identical No. 25 entry at 1:36.093 (132.936 mph).

“It’s a shame it’s not Sunday evening in one week’s time,” joked the younger Vanthoor brother (older brother Laurens is in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963), referring to the finish of the upcoming 24-hour race.

“This is not the most important session of the weekend or the race, but it’s good to know that it’s looking good and the steps we’ve done since last year and the evolution we have been working on since we started the project is looking better.

“The guys back at the factory have been working flat out since the finish of the last season,” he added. “We are still far from being there, but it’s thanks to them that it’s all improving. We’ve been testing a lot a trying to improve our issues, so let’s see next week if they pay off or not. That will show if all the work we did was for nothing, or for victory, maybe.”

Tom Blomqvist marked his full-time return to IMSA by setting the fastest time in the 75-minute opening session in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 with a lap of 1:35.827 (133.741 mph). The BMWs were impressive from the jump, with the No. 25 and 24 cars ranking second and fourth respectively in the morning.

“I think the first session the track was quite green, quite dirty, so grip was not the highest,” Vanthoor said. “I think we will really feel the grip building up to the race next week. It’s always cool to go back on the banking at the beginning of the year, so it was quite fun.”

A pair of GTP teams encountered issues that affected their day. The No. 63 Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse Lamborghini SC63 completed only five laps in the morning session, while the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 stopped on track less than 10 minutes into the afternoon practice with a hybrid system abnormality and was returned to the garage on a flatbed truck.

Lamborghini rebounded in the afternoon, with Romain Grosjean setting the third best time at 1:36.041 (133.433 mph).

The No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 competing in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class also caused a brief red flag late in the afternoon session when Bijoy Garg stalled on the course. Malthe Jakobsen (No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07) was fastest overall Friday in LMP2, clocking 1:38.673 (129.883 mph) in Session 1.

The new relationship between Lamborghini and Pfaff Motorsports got off to a fast start as Andrea Caldarelli topped the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class. Caldarelli’s 1:47.626 (119.079 mph) lap early in the morning session in the No. 9 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 was 0.149 second quicker than the best effort in the afternoon, set by defending GTD PRO champion Laurin Heinrich managed in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).

Pfaff fielded a Porsche to win the 2022 IMSA GTD PRO championship before campaigning a McLaren in 2024.

“This was for sure a late program, to come together, but the guys honestly did a really amazing job,” said Caldarelli, a Lamborghini factory driver. “These are not just words I am saying. I know how hard it is to put together a car, and this is probably not the easiest car to work on at the beginning. We didn’t have any major issues, and I was really positively impressed. This is definitely a good start to the year.”

Rahel Frey, in the No. 83 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), was quickest among the 22 GTD class competitors, circulating Daytona in 1:48.084 in Session 1.

The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge also staged a pair of test sessions Friday. Ford Mustang GT4s set the Grand Sport (GS) class pace in each, with Marco Signoretti (No. 60 KOHR Motorsports) clocking the best lap of the day in the morning at 1:53.191 (113.224 mph) and Jenson Altzman (No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with AEROSPORT) fastest in the afternoon. The No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR led both sessions in Touring Car (TCR), with Karl Wittmer driving in the morning and LP Montour in the afternoon.

The Roar Before the Rolex 24 continues into the night at DIS Saturday and wraps up Sunday, with qualifying for the Rolex 24 set for Thursday, January 23. Television coverage for the Rolex 24 At Daytona starts Saturday, January 25 at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC.