This weekendโs IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway provides competitors in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship their first chance to work with new equipment or personnel as they begin preparations for the 2025 season.
Major changes in the GTP class include Wayne Taylor Racingโs move to Cadillac; the return of Acura Meyer Shank Racing to the WeatherTech Championship after a yearโs break; modified driver line-ups at Porsche Penske Motorsport and Cadillac Whelen; and the first IMSA appearance for the Aston Martin THOR Team Aston Martin Valkyrie built to FIA Le Mans Hypercar specifications.
DAY 1 RESULTS
MSR is back, and back on top
Meyer Shank Racing regrouped and reorganized their IMSA racing team in 2024. Now, back in partnership with Acura and Honda Racing Corporation USA, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian is re-energized for a two-car attack on the GTP class.
โBeing here makes the world come right again,โ co-owner Michael Shank said Friday during a break at Daytona. โThe earth is on the right axis. I was convinced at the end of 2022 we had the right group to do this. I know we still do, and theyโre all here with us.โ
Shankโs team was extremely successful with its 2023 driver duo of Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist, but lost out on the GTP championship due to circumstances both within and outside the organizationโs control. Shank saw enough promise in that pairing to call the decision to bring them back to drive Acura MSRโs No. 60 Acura ARX-06 for 2025 โa no brainer.โ Renger van der Zande moves from Cadillac Racing to the new Acura MSR No. 93 car, joined by former BMW factory driver Nick Yelloly.
Blomqvist paced Fridayโs action at Daytona in the No. 60 Acura, lapping the 3.56-mile road course in 1m35.90s in the afternoon session.
This marks the first time MSR has fielded two full-time entries in IMSAโs top prototype class. As part of a new arrangement, HRC US is supplying staff to race engineer the No. 93 car, while the engineering of the No. 60 car remains in-house.
โCertainly, Tom and Colin deserve a real run at the championship,โ Shank said. โDavid Salters (HRC US president) and I talked and we really liked Nick, and Renger is plug-and-play.
โItโs tricky,โ he said. โOne car seems like a vacation right now. Running two cars ramps things up exponentially. Youโre continually trying to keep the two groups talking and communicating,โ said Shank. โItโs a unique way of doing things and different than anyone else in the paddock, but I love it.โ
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Cadillac is now a full factory effort for Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Will Stevens. Michael Levitt/Lumen
Changes at Cadillac
Wayne Taylor Racing was one happy family when Wayneโs sons Ricky and Jordan drove a Cadillac to IMSAโs DPi class championship in 2017. Much has changed since then.
Both of the junior Taylors joined factory programs and won additional IMSA titles (Ricky shared the 2020 DPi crown with Helio Castroneves and Acura Team Penske, while Jordan won consecutive GTD PRO crowns in 2020 and โ21 with Antonio Garcia and Corvette). Ricky returned to the home team in 2021 and when WTR expanded its technical capability and fielded a pair of GTP-class Acuras in 2023, Jordan followed.
Now thanks to its renewed association with Cadillac and an increased emphasis on sports car racing at General Motors, Wayne Taylor Racing is a full-fledged factory team, with a driver line-up of IMSA champions that includes Filipe Albuquerque (teamed with Ricky in the No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R) and Louis Deletraz (co-driver with Jordan in the No. 40).
Thereโs also change at Cadillac Whelen as Earl Bamber, who drove for Cadillac in the FIA World Endurance Championship the last two years, joins Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R run by Action Express Racing in the WeatherTech Championship.
โIโm really excited, and itโs great to be back in the IMSA paddock,โ Bamber said. โAction Express is an understated team, but you just have to look at the back of the hauler to see how many IMSA championships they have won. That shows the pedigree. They won the (GTP) championship in 2023 and itโs almost forgotten, but theyโre a world-class organization.
โI love the series, and itโs great to see what the top prototype class has grown into,โ he added. โThe numbers and the level of competition between the manufacturers is phenomenal. I think itโs a golden era of motorsport and sports car racing in America, and Iโm eager to sink my teeth into it.โ
Aston Martin’s Valkyrie made its debut at Daytona in the hands of Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis. Brandon Badraoui/Lumen
Aston Martin arrives with Heart of Racing
One car attracting plenty of attention at the Daytona test is the No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie prepared by Aston Martin Heart of Racing Team.
If the car looks a bit different than the other eleven GTP class prototypes present at the test, thatโs because itโs built to FIA Le Mans Hypercar specifications, rather than the customary-in-IMSA LMDh platform. The Valkyrie is the first LMH-spec vehicle to participate in IMSA-sanctioned activity. Through Balance of Performance adjustments, both LMDh and LMH platforms are eligible to compete in the WeatherTech Championship and the WEC.
The Heart of Racing is no stranger to IMSA, as the team has competed for several years in the GTD and GTD PRO classes, claiming the 2022 GTD championship with driver Roman De Angelis and coming up coming up just four points shy of this yearโs GTD PRO title with driver Ross Gunn.
โItโs an incredibly proud moment for everybody at The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin to see the car out here in the first official capacity for the IMSA series,โ said team principal (and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup driver) Ian James. โJust seeing it coming by on the high Daytona banking put a big smile on my face. Itโs been a lot of hard work, I wonโt deny that. But this has been the realization of a dream. Thanks to Gabe Newellโs vision, weโre here today. We couldnโt be more excited to go into 2025, not only continuing to be a part of IMSA, but also in the top class.โ
Aston Martin and Heart of Racing have not announced when the Valkyrie will make its IMSA and worldwide race debut during the 2025 season.
โWeโve done some durability testing and a little bit of development testing into the performance testing,โ James said. โBut now weโre also trying to integrate all the IMSA-specific requirements onto the car and running systems checks. Weโll start to look for a bit more speed as these two days go on and as the season progresses.โ
The Aston Martin completed 96 laps on Friday, including 65 in the afternoon session. The carโs lap times generally improved by a tenth or two with every run in the afternoon, ending with a cumulative 1.1-second gain over the morning.
โItโs pretty hard to get track time at Daytona,โ said James. โItโs important to be out here with everybody else for the first time in the car with any traffic โ weโll be with the GT classes tomorrow โ just to get a better read on what we need out of the car.โ
Notes:
Andrea Calderelli set the fastest time in the morning session at 1m35.930s in the No. 63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63.
BMW M Team RLL was on the pace all day, running second and third fastest in each session.
Porsche Penske Motorsport is rotating six drivers over the weekend as its Nos. 6 and 7 cars pursue different test programs. The teamโs full-time 2025 WeatherTech Championship drivers Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet (No. 6) and Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy (No. 7) are joined at Daytona by IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup pilots Julien Andlauer and Kevin Estre.
Fridayโs fastest LMP2 class entries were Paul Di Resta (No. 22 United Autosports ORECA LMP2 07) in Session 1 and Malthe Jakobsen (No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07) in Session 2.
Testing at Daytona continues for the GTP and LMP2 contestants Saturday, including a two-hour night session. A dozen GTD and GTD PRO entries join the prototypes on Saturday before having the track for their exclusive use on Sunday.
