DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Two of the three IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Problem winners to kick off the season dominated at Daytona Int’l Speedway. The third, nonetheless, captured a stunning victory on the final lap of the 45-minute race.
Valentino Catalano gained general with an authoritative drive within the Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) class after a race-long battle with teammate Markus Pommer.
Adam Adelson, within the first of his three races at Daytona this month – he’ll additionally compete within the Rolex 24 At Daytona with Wright Motorsports – began issues off strongly with a flag-to-flag victory within the debut of the brand new Grand Touring Daytona X (GTDX) class, GT3-specification automobiles now entered in VP Racing Problem.
Kiko Porto, in the meantime, dominated the weekend pace-wise in Grand Sport X however solely captured the race win on the final lap when his closest rival, Steven Clemons, slowed unexpectedly from the lead.
Catalano Emerges on High from Gebhardt Battle
Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports made its podium debut to cap off the 2024 season at Michelin Raceway Street Atlanta with drivers Catalano, within the No. 30 Duqueine D08, and Pommer, within the No. 31 Duqueine D08. They backed up that stable debut outing final yr in Daytona this weekend.
From pole, Catalano led a majority of the race – solely briefly dropping the result in his teammate on an change for one of many 26 laps – and resumed out entrance to safe the win by 1.071 seconds over Pommer.
Pommer, nonetheless, completed second on the highway however third within the race outcomes after he was given a 10-second penalty for a false begin on the inexperienced flag for altering columns.
“I believed it was fairly clean, I might say,” Catalano stated. “I knew it was a protracted race, so I didn’t push that a lot. I created a little bit of a niche and will maintain it fairly good. Sooner or later, I heard that Markus bought a penalty after which I used to be simply managing my tires and I didn’t take any dangers. I used to be simply driving clean and gradual to get it house. and it labored out, so I’m actually joyful about that.”
That promoted Brady Golan to second in his No. 80 Toney Driver Improvement Ligier JS P320. Golan, too, had a penalty – however his was pre-race after lacking the pre-grid time which pressured him to start out from the rear of the P3 class subject. Undeterred, {the teenager} gained 4 positions on the primary lap to an eventual third place, which turned second, 5.503 seconds in arrears, as soon as Pommer’s penalty was utilized.
Fourth on the highway and the top-rated Bronze driver at school was Mirco Schultis, within the No. 70 Mishumotors Ligier JS P320. IMSA launched a Bronze Cup podium this race to award trophies to all the top-three Bronze-rated finishers in every of the three courses.
The debut of the GTDX class inside VP Racing Problem was largely uneventful. After ranging from pole, Adelson led all 26 laps within the No. 24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) with a 30.236-second margin of victory.
“I knew the place we had been going to get our tire temperature up far more rapidly than the LMP3 automobiles on the beginning, so for me it was about ensuring if I used to be quicker than any of them to get by,” Adelson stated. “Fortunately I efficiently did so and that basically helped me construct a niche.
“It’s completely unbelievable,” he added about profitable the GTDX class debut. “Imagine it or not, even simply the addition of the torque sensors on the WeatherTech automobile, makes it so you must drive it fairly otherwise. Regardless, any observe time is nice observe time. It’s the primary time GTDX is working with VP Problem, so it’s an honor to be right here and win that inaugural race.”
Whereas Adelson loved a easy drive, the battle behind him was intense amongst three Ferrari 296 GT3 automobiles and a single BMW M4 GT3.
Like Golan in P3, AJ Muss in GTDX had a mission to finish from a pre-race penalty. The driving force of the No. 66 Af Corse Ferrari certified quickest however had all his occasions disallowed for exiting the automobile throughout qualifying, which dropped him to the rear of the eight-car GTDX grid.
From there, the snowboarder-turned-driver was on a cost and rose to second forward of teammate Matias Perez Companc within the No. 50 Af Corse Ferrari.
These two ended simply forward of the top-rated Bronze driver in GTDX, Dave Musial (the daddy of the father-son Musial pairing) within the No. 99 Conquest Racing Ferrari. His margin over fellow sequence debutante Samantha Tan, within the No. 38 ST Racing BMW, was simply 0.241 of a second.
A race-long battle between a pair of Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 automobiles, Porto within the No. 8 RAFA Racing entry and Steven Clemons within the No. 76 BSI Racing entry, ended when Clemons’ automobile slowed coming into NASCAR Turns 3 and 4 of the Daytona Worldwide Speedway oval, and Porto flew previous.
“We began sturdy at first however then began dropping a lot tempo,” Porto defined. “The opposite Toyota was quicker; he was going to move me anyway and I used to be simply attempting to outlive.
Then after I noticed it, they had been simply slowing down within the final nook and I used to be like, I don’t know what occurred. I don’t know if that they had a mechanical or in the event that they threat an excessive amount of within the subject, I don’t know. However I used to be like, okay, I’m not lifting anymore and issues gotta occur.”
Gregory Liefooghe was second within the No. 43 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4, 11.015 seconds behind Porto however solely 0.059 of a second forward of Patrick Wilmot, within the No. 12 Swish Motorsports BMW M4 GT4. Wilmot concluded a late deal to drive with Swish proprietor Michael Dayton’s group for Daytona after a small fundraising effort and stated he hopes to proceed into the second occasion of the yr at Circuit of The Americas.
Bronze Cup additionally had a late change on this class. Ian Porter (No. 68 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO1) was out entrance for many earlier than stopping off target. Rob Walker (No. 53 Kingpin Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2) emerged as high Bronze in GSX, fifth at school.
