Wayne Taylor Racing takes pole for 60th Rolex 24

In Sunday’s (Jan. 23) Roar Before the 24 Qualifying Race at Daytona International Speedway, Wayne Taylor Racing nabbed the prestigious pole award for this upcoming weekend’s main attraction — the 60th Running of the Rolex 24.

The race has a full field of 61 cars, in which the starting lineup was determined in a 100-minute race on Sunday. 26 prototypes and 35 GTs took on the 3.56-mile circuit over the weekend, kickstarting the 2021 season with several practice sessions, a traditional qualifying session and then the sprint race to conclude the opening weekend of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Sunday’s race was also the first time new all-GT3 spec GT classes raced in WSCC competition, with GT Pro and GT Daytona (both using GTD cars).

ROAR Before the 24 Qualifying Race Results

Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque piloted the Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 No. 10 to the overall and DPi victory in the sprint race. They beat out the JDC Miller MotorSports No. 5 of Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook after Westbrook attempted a dive-bomb pass on Taylor entering the first turn of the final lap.

Kamui Kobayashi and Jimmie Johnson drove the No. 48 Ally Racing Cadillac tp a third-place result. Tom Blomqvist made his Rolex 24 and DPi debut in Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 with Olly Jarvis to a fourth-place result. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Cadillac duo both received pit violation penalties early in the race and never recovered.

Reigning class champions, the Whelen Engineering Racing No. 31, finished last in the qualifying event. Co-driver Tristan Nunez made his return to the top class of IMSA action in the race.

In LMP2, Ben Keating and Mikkel Jensen took the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports No. 52 to victory lane in Daytona Beach. Jarett Andretti and Josh Burdon took the Andretti Autosport No. 36 Ligier to the LMP3 victory.

GTP was won by the TR3 Racing No. 63 team with Andrea Caldarelli and Mirko Bortolotti driving the Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The 13 car-class will be joined by two Porsche 911 GT3Rs and two Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the top five GT starting positions.

The reigning GTD Rolex 24 champions look to defend their watches with a pole position after a victory last weekend. Winward Racing’s No. 57 Mercedes took the win in the largest class in the field.

DPi Results

1: (10 / Acura) Ricky Taylor / Filipe Albuquerque
2: (5 / Cadillac) Tristan Vautier / Richard Westbrook
3: (48 / Cadillac) Kamui Kobayashi / Jimmie Johnson
4: (60 / Acura) Oliver Jarvis / Tom Blomqvist
5: (01 / Cadillac) Renger van der Zande / Sebastien Bourdais
6: (02 / Cadillac) Earl Bamber / Alex Lynn
7: (31 / Cadillac) Pipo Derani / Tristan Nunez

LMP2 Results

1: (52) Ben Keating / Mikkel Jensen
2: (11) Steven Thomas / Jonathan Bomarito
3: (68) Francis Heriau / Rene Rast
4: (20) Dennis Anderson / Fabio Scherer
5: (81) Eric Lux / Devlin DeFrancesco
6: (29) Fritis Van Eerd / Dylan Murry
7: (69) John Falb / James Allen
8: (8) John Farano / Louis Deletraz
9: (22) James McGuire / Will Owen
10: (18) Dwight Merriman / Paul-Loup Chatin

LMP3 Results

1: (36 / Ligier) Jarett Andretti / Josh Burdon
2: (6 / Duqueiene) Moritz Kranz / Aryton Ori
3: (13 / Duqueiene) Orey Fidani / Kuno Wittmer
4: (7 / Duqueiene) Mark Kvamme / Antonie Doquin
5: (33 / Ligier) Joao Barbosa / Lance Willsey
6: (26 / Duqueiene) Cameron Shields / Ugo de Wilde
7: (38 / Ligier) Hikaru Abe / Nico Pino
8: (74 / Ligier) Gar Robinson / Felipe Fraga
DNS: (54 / Ligier) Jon Bennett / Colin Braun

GT Pro Results

1: (63 / Lamborghini) Andrea Caldarelli / Mirko Bortolotti
2: (79 / Porsche) Alessio Picariello / Julien Andlauer
3: (9 / Porsche) Mathieu Jaminet / Felipe Nasr
4: (97 / Mercedes) Jules Gounon / Maro Engel
5: (15 / Mercedes) Dirk Mueller / Austin Cindric
6: (23 / Aston Martin) Ross Gunn / Andreas Riberas
7: (14 / Lexus) Brian Barnicoat / Kyle Kirkwood
8: (3 / Corvette) Antonio Garcia / Jordan Taylor
9: (4 / Corvette) Tommy Milner / Marco Sorensen
10: (2 / Porsche) Patrick Pilet / Alexandre Imperatori
11: (62 / Ferrari) Daniel Serra / Davide Rigon
12: (25 / BMW) Connor De Phillippi / John Edwards
13: (24 / BMW) Nick Yelloly / Sheldon van der Linde

GTD Results

1: (57 / Mercedes) Russell Ward / Lucas Auer
2: (59 / McLaren) Jon Miller / Paul Holton
3: (16 / Porsche) Ryan Hardwick / Jan Heylen
4: (12 / Lexus) Frankie Montecalvo / Townsend Bell
5: (75 / Mercedes) Kenny Habul / Klaus Bachler
6: (32 / Mercedes) Mike Skeen / Guy Cosmo
7: (28 / Mercedes) Michael de Quesada / Luis Lundqvist
8: (70 / McLaren) Brendan Iribe / Ollie Millroy
9: (39 / Lamborghini) Robert Megennis / Sandy Mitchell
10: (44 / Aston Martin) John Potter / Andy Lally
11: (98 / Aston Martin) Paul Dalla Lana / David Pittard
12: (47 / Ferrari) Roberto Lacorte / Alessio Rovera
13: (19 / Lamborghini) John Megrue / Jeff Segal
14: (99 / Porsche) Stefan Wilson / Nick Boulle
15: (34 / Porsche) Kyle Washington / Klaus Bachler
16: (66 / Acura) Kyffin Simpson / Till Bechtolsheimer
17: (21 / Ferrari) Luis Perez Companc / Toni Vilander
18: (42 / Lamborghini) Don Yount / Benja Hites
19: (64 / Porsche) Ted Giovanis / Owen Trinkler
20: (96 / BMW) Robby Foley / Bill Auberlen
21: (27 / Aston Martin) Romain De Angelis / Tom Gamble
22: (71 / Lamborghini) Frank Perera / Misha Goikhberg

Full Results on IMSA Results Website.