Derani holds off Tincknell to win pole for Rolex 24

Whelen Engineering Cadillac drivers Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani won today’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Motul Pole Award 100 qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway. Their victory puts them on pole for next weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.

The start of race had the 50-car field on Michelin rain tires. Nasr had the wheel of the red Whelen Cadillac for the start from sixth. He was put to the back after driving to pole in yesterday’s qualifying session, but in post-race inspection the car was classified as being 2.2-pounds underweight. Therefore, Nasr started sixth on the DPi grid.

With Mazda inheriting pole, new-comer Kevin Magnussen was not willing to wait on the Japanese DPi. The ex-Formula 1 driver made a pass into the Bust Stop and took over the lead. The Dane led the first third of the race with the team electing to keep him out while the rest of the DPi field pitted for slick tires. On fast rubber Nasr was able to move up from sixth and take the lead 30-minutes into the race. Giving the car over to Derani he was able to keep the lead to the checker and take the Motul Pole Award and the top starting spot for the Rolex 24 next weekend.

“I had a lot of fun out there I pushed our car to maximum,” Nasr said. “Very happy have the 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R on pole for next weekend. All of the Cadillac cars have been within a tenth of each other. We are racing hard for points. So, it is a good result for us and the team.”

“Very happy to put the Whelen Cadillac on pole for the Rolex 24,” Derani said. “We race hard every time we are on the track. We go for the race win and the maximum. We have a saying in our team ‘expect to win’ and that is how we drive each session and race. We were pushing. It is a great start to the season. We’re leading the championship!”

The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R came in third on the day with Tristan Vautier and Loic Duval driving. Vautier was able to lead some early laps and show the pace of the JDC-Miller prepared car.

“It was very interesting in mixed conditions, very tricky especially with slippery painted lines made it hard to find the right level of attack,” Vautier said. “I managed to have a good start to the race. To start the Rolex 24 from third is a good place to begin. A good day for Cadillac and the JDC-Miller team. Head down for the race. We know what we have to do to get better and will be right on for the 24 next weekend.”

Jimmie Johnson and Kamui Kobayashi were elected to drive the No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R in the 100-minute qualifier. Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Johnson had his hands full starting in the rain. He was able to keep the car competitive with the DPi field before handing it over to Kobayashi. The Japanese driver was able to bring it home in sixth.

“I’m very thankful that the team put me in this position to start the race and qualify the Ally Cadillac,” Johnson said. “It put me in some positions I hadn’t been in before. It allowed me to understand the prerace procedures like fuel mapping pages, warming the tires up under caution, keep the carbon brakes hot, and things you mess with in the car. All of that while it is raining. To be running in the rain and to understand the tires, the spray from the other cars and then transition to dry with slicks and getting them up to temperature. I wasn’t as fast as I wanted to be, but I stayed on the road and had a lot of valuable first-time experiences, which was really helpful.”

Newcomers to Dpi competition Chip Ganassi Racing with drivers Kevin Magnussen and Renger Van Der Zande showed good speed today in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. Magnussen led laps early and the team showed they will contend for wins this season.

“We got a good start. It was wet and tricky conditions,” Magnussen said. “It was not the best race result. But considering all of the work done these last three weeks by the team to get ready for Daytona with such little time is incredible. We have hit the ground running. We had a good test day in Sebring that went as if the team had been running the Cadillac for years. We came here and ran the car virtually without problems. We were able to straight away start working on getting the maximum out of the car. I can’t wait until next week.”

Sandbagging was rampant throughout the field, so how they finished in this race means very little.  IMSA is the true definition of socialism.

If you finished too high IMSA will slow you down similar to how a socialist government works – if you are ambitious and make more money, or in this case make your car faster by working harder, the leaders will take it away and give the advantage to the slackers. This ensures that no one will excel – why try hard when it will be handed to you for free?

LMP2 and LMP3

LMP2 was won by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ Mikkel Jensen in the #52 Oreca ahead of the #20 Oreca of Ferdinand Habsburg.

Jensen made a late race pass on the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Dallara P217 Gibson of Antonio Fuoco, who led much of the second half of the race. By the finish the #47 had faded to 6th in class.

LMP3 class honors went to the No. 6 Muehlner Motorsports Duqueine D08 Nissan of Laurents Hoerr and Moritz Kranz in what was a small LMP3 field.

GTLM

GT Le Mans (GTLM) category of Sunday’s 100-minute qualifying race for next weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona as Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims won in their debut with the team.

The victory for Tandy and Sims in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R means they and Tommy Milner will start from the GTLM pole position for Saturday’s Rolex 24 – the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Roar Before the 24 test weekend also ended with Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg coming home second in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette. They will drive with Antonio Garcia in the Rolex 24.

Tandy won by 12 seconds over Catsburg as the two Corvette teams played the strategy perfectly during a race that started damp but ended under sunshine. Sims began third but took the race lead on the opening lap with the GTLM field on wet-weather tires, and Taylor ran fifth during a hectic opening . Two full-course caution periods interrupted the early going, and the two Corvettes pitted during the second yellow and went to slick Michelin tires.

Tandy emerged first out of pitlane but third on the track as two other GTLM cars elected not to stop during the yellow, with Catsburg in fifth. He made quick work of the fourth-place car, and the two Corvettes moved to first and second shortly thereafter when the two leaders stopped for the first time.

The No. 3 Corvette team elected to be the first car to make their second and final fuel-only stop with 50 minutes to go while Tandy came in with 43 minutes left. That allowed both cars to bide their time and wait for the then-leading Porsche to stop for its final time with 17 minutes remaining. Both Corvettes comfortably went back through to first and second to the end.

Now IMSA will slap them with a Balance of Power weight or HP penalty and likely ruin their chances in the Rolex 24.

Kevin Estre was third in the #79 Porsche 911.

Kevin Estre led into the final 20 minutes of the race before having to pit his No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19, which finished third in class.

GTD

GTD was won by Bill Auberlien in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 4.424s ahead of the #9 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor.

Mirko Bortolotti brought the Lamborghini home in third in class, ahead of Oliver Gavin in the Lexus.

Motul 100 Qualifying Results