Maro engel

Listen to this article Braun lapped the 3.56-mile road course, which hosts the 61 st Rolex 24 Hours next weekend, in 1m35.635s to top the timesheet in the opening session of the three-day ‘Roar Before The 24’ event in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06. Three of the four GTP manufacturers headed the times at some point in the thrice-interrupted 90-minute session, and Acura, Porsche and BMW were separated by only 0.173s. Braun set the early pace at 1m37.694s, quickly topped by Philipp Eng ’s #24 BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8 on 1m37.460s and then 1m36.336s. Nick Yelloly then made it a BMW 1-2 in the sister #25 car, 0.12s down. Felipe Nasr put the #7 Penske Porsche 963 on top with 1m35.776s, with Ricky Taylor lapping the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 within 0.027s of that for P2. Yelloly improved to 1m35.808s for third, 0.032s off the pace. Braun reset the P1 bar with 1m35.635s with just over half an hour remaining, 0.141s ahead of Nasr, which stood as the … [Read more...] about Rolex 24: Acura beats Porsche in opening Daytona Roar practice

Listen to this article Braun lapped the 3.56-mile road course, which hosts the 61 st Rolex 24 Hours next weekend, in the fastest GTP time of the weekend so far at 1m35.038s to top the timesheet in the quickfire hour-long fourth session of the three-day ‘Roar Before The 24’ event. With rain threatening as a cold weather front sweeps across Florida, the action came thick and fast from the start of the session. Michael Christensen (#7 Penske Porsche 963) set the first representative time of 1m36.460s, before Alexander Sims pipped him by 0.023s in Action Express Racing ’s Cadillac V-LMDh. Philipp Eng briefly topped that with 1m35.811s in his BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8, then Colin Braun reset the bar with 1m35.594s in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 – to ensure that all four GTP manufacturers had taken a turn at the head of the times. Not to be outdone, Brendon Hartley then grabbed P1 with 1m35.156s in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06. Nick Yelloly … [Read more...] about Rolex 24: Braun leads Acura 1-2 in FP4 at Daytona Roar

Listen to this article GTP Mathieu Jaminet was the first driver to set a representative time in damp conditions, getting down to a 1min46.370sec in the #6 Porsche 963 with just 40mins remaining. He then pitted to hand off the Penske-run car to Nick Tandy . The Briton worked down into the 1min47s, and reset the session benchmark to 1min46.206sec before the return of rain with half an hour to go. The only other GTP class car to set a time in the damp was the Action Express Racing Cadillac V-LMDh, in which Pipo Derani drove for nine laps but was six seconds off the lead Porsche. He then handed off to Jack Aitken, who cut the time down to 1min48.804sec, but that was 2.6sec off Tandy. LMP2 Two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden bravely headed out on track as the green flag waved around 20mins after the first red, and his Tower Motorsports entry cut down into the 1min56s although once he pitted and track conditions continued to improve, he was quickly displaced … [Read more...] about Rolex 24: Tandy puts Porsche 963 on top in wet FP5 at Daytona Roar

Listen to this article GTP Chip Ganassi Racing’s Cadillacs were the first cars to show their hand, with Sebastien Bourdais #01 and Alex Lynn (2) ducking into the 1min35s with their third laps, but then Tom Blomqvist sent the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 to the top with a 1min35.363sec lap of the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course. Then the #6 Porsche 963, which had sat idle for most of Friday’s second session, sprung into second with Nick Tandy at the wheel before pitting. Then moving up to split the Ganassi cars was Pipo Derani in the Action Express Racing Cadillac. Just before the half-hour completed mark, Tandy re-emerged and halved his deficit to Blomqvist to 0.135sec. The Acura of Wayne Taylor Racing didn’t hit the track until halfway through the session, Louis Deletraz turning the car’s first laps of the day, albeit 2sec off Blomqvist’s pace. Felipe Nasr made it a Porsche 2-3, getting the #7 Penske-run machine into third, one-tenth behind … [Read more...] about Acura on top again in Roar, but Porsche is closing in

Listen to this article GTP Due to poor weather and only two of the new GTP cars taking to the track in Saturday’s two-hour evening session, the class was granted an extra 15mins’ prep before qualifying. Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Lynn were installed in the #01 and #02 Chip Ganassi Racing -run Cadillac V-LMDh entries, Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr took charge of the Team Penske-run Porsche 963s, Philipp Eng was wheeling one of the BMW M Hybrid V8s run by Rahal Letterman Lanigan, Pipo Derani was driving the Action Express Racing Cadillac, Ricky Taylor pedaled the Acura ARX-06 of Wayne Taylor Racing , while the similar car of Meyer Shank Racing was driven by Tom Blomqvist . The #25 BMW missed the session because the car was still in the IMSA tech line. Tandy was the first to get into the 95sec range, with a 1min35.530sec, then lowered the mark to 1:35.349sec, then 1:35.228. Then Blomqvist and Nasr set identical times to each other to draw within 0.08sec, … [Read more...] about Rolex 24: Blomqvist’s Acura beats Nasr’s Porsche to Daytona pole

Listen to this article In fact, Benz’s handsome coupes will occupy the first four positions on the grid, since Fabian Schiller of SunEnergy1 Racing and Mikael Grenier of Team Korthoff Motorsports were second and third fastest. Ellis, who took pole by 0.219sec, told NBC Sports: “We just hope to keep the momentum we had from the end of last year. The first half of last season was a bit of a struggle, but everybody kept their heads up and we knew what the team could do. “It’s good to be back and start off strong, we won the quali race here last year and [won the Rolex 24] in 2021, so it’s not unfamiliar territory.” Ellis played down the fact that his GTD car was almost seven-tenths of a second faster than Engel’s GTD Pro machine. “It’s the same car, so it’s nice to be in front,” he said, “but it doesn’t mean much for a 24-hour race. We only have to be the leading car for the last minute. It’s nice for the team especially.” Engel, who beat the next GTD Pro car – … [Read more...] about Mercedes drivers elated by GTD pole sweep for Rolex 24 at Daytona

Listen to this article The 61st Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona International Speedway starts at 13:40 ET on Saturday, January 28. Sixty-one cars will take the green flag in America’s biggest sportscar race of the year, which kicks off the IMSA season. New for 2023 is the GTP class – prototype sportscars from Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche – that feature electrical hybrid systems, as IMSA embraces a new era. Subsidiary classes are for LMP2 and LMP3 prototypes, featuring an array of professional and amateur drivers. The GTD ranks are for production-based cars, and these are divided into two separate classes – one for all-pro driver lineups and one for pro-am. Click here for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona entry list Qualifying was held on Sunday, and here is what happened. How can I watch the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona? From Saturday afternoon, live TV coverage is available on NBC’s Peacock streaming service for the full 24-hour cycle, while … [Read more...] about Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona: Schedule, how to watch on TV, and more

The punishing Mount Panorama circuit witnessed a dramatic conclusion to the Bathurst 12 Hours which left the Mercedes team mates at loggerheads and the Ferrari trio victorious. Bathurst 12 Hours Mount Panorama The #88 looked in control after an impressive stint three hours from the end from Vilander, who then handed over to Whincup to take it to the end. However the #22 crew had a trick up their sleeves, and opted not to change van Gisbergen’s tyres at his final stop to give him track position. The joy was short lived however, as within the final hour Whincup pulled a breathtaking move down Conrod Straight, bashing door mirrors with his rival. Van Gisbergen’s day meanwhile was about to go from bad to worse to atrocious, as he first shunted a back marker Porsche out of the way and earned a penalty. Before he could serve it – or even be told about it however – he’d put the car in the wall and was out of the race. Maro Engel fumed at his team mate’s performance, telling … [Read more...] about Mercedes team mates fume as crash leaves Ferrari to win at Bathurst · RaceFans

Listen to this article GTP After a GTD car choking on pitlane entrance caused the first red flag, the running was interrupted again by a red with 16mins run due to debris on Turn 2. At that point, only Philipp Eng in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 had set a vaguely representative time, but even so, it was only 1min39.586sec. When action resumed Tom Blomqvist drove the polesitting Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 to the top of the times with a 1min35.688sec run, a few hundredths ahead of Renger van der Zande’s #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh, and Albuquerque’s Wayne Taylor Racing Acura. With 41mins to go, Earl Bamber moved to the top of the times in the #02 Caddy, 0.033sec faster than Blomqvist. The #7 Porsche 963 and the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 missed much of the session with technical issues, IMSA Radio reporting a suspected steering issue for the 963 and a misfire for the M Hybrid V8. The #25 hit the track with 30mins to go, while Albuquerque in the WTR Andretti Acura … [Read more...] about Rolex 24: WTR Acura tops much-interrupted FP1 at Daytona