The IMSA Roar Before The Rolex 24 at Daytona brought out BMW Team RLL’s M8 GTEs and Turner Motorsport’s M6 GT3 for the WeatherTech Series test sessions, along with M4 GT4s from BimmerWorld, Classic BMW, and Turner Motorsport for the Michelin Pilot Series sessions. The lineup of cars in each class was noted here earlier.
In the WeatherTech Series, the GTLM and GTD cars each ran one session to qualify for pit road positions in the Rolex 24. In the GTLM session Jesse Krohn was fourth quickest in the #24 M8 GTE that he shared with John Edwards, Chaz Mostert, and Augusto Farfus. Philipp Eng qualified #25 sixth; his co-drivers were Connor De Phillippi, Bruno Spengler, and Colin Herta. James Calado was fastest in the #82 Ferrari 488 GTE. All of the cars in the class were quick in the session; the entire group was separated by just 0.446 seconds. In the GTD class qualifying session, Robby Foley was third in the #96 Turner Motorsport M6 GT3 that he shared with Bill Auberlen, Dillon Machevern, and Jens Klingmann. Frankie Montecalvo in the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 was first and Matt McMurray in the #86 Acura NSX GT3 was second.
Devin Jones in the #82 BimmerWorld M4 GT4 ran the fastest BMW lap across all of the six Michelin Pilot Challenge sessions. Unlike the WeatherTech Series cars, the MPS racers ran no qualifying sessions.
Drivers in the M4 GT4s included:
BimmerWorld #80, Dillon Machevern and Nick Galante
BimmerWorld #82, James Clay and Devin Jones
Classic BMW #26, Toby Grahovec, BMW Junior Beitske Visser, and Robbie Dalgliesh
Turner Motorsport #95, Aurora Straus and Nick Longhi. In the days leading up to the Roar Turner Motorsport announced that Straus and Connor Bloum would share the #95 car for the season; veteran racer Longhi, on hand for the Roar, coaches Straus.
Turner Motorsport #96, Bill Auberlen, Robby Foley, and Vin Barletta
The Rolex 24 at Daytona will run on January 25–26. The four-hour Michelin Pilot Series season opener will run on January 24, the Friday before the Rolex 24.—Brian Morgan
[Photo courtesy BMW Motorsport.]
