3 Takeaways As Preseason Testing Wraps Up At Daytona

Preseason testing went down over the weekend down at Daytona, with all four IMSA classes represented as teams and drivers lay the initial groundwork for the upcoming 2025 campaign. 

Multiple teams logged thousands of laps collectively as they prepare for the new season, which kicks off both unofficially and officially at the Roar Before the 24 and then the Rolex 24 in late January.

There were plenty of notes and bits to pull from up and down the paddock, and at the risk of listing every single one of them out, we'll instead highlight just a few of the noteworthy happenings from the three days of action. 

Let's begin -

LMDh Valkyrie On Track For the First Time 

The Heart of Racing are putting in the work when it comes to the development of their new LMDh Hypercar. Save for very basic preliminary testings in England and at Road Atlanta, the Valkyrie laid down its first real laps of its very early racing life at Daytona by logging over 270 laps in the few days of testing. All of the time on track gives even more valuable data and feedback as Aston Martin and the HoR work to get the machine ready for the 2025 season, and there are two things to note - on camera, the car seems a BIT quieter than we originally heard at Donnington, nevermind certainly feeling quieter than what you'd expect for the first V-12 prototype to return to racing in years. Did AM and HoR put a muffler on the exhaust? And maybe is a sleight of hand before the real, true-natured beast is unleashed come competitive action? Let's hope so.

Speaking of that competitive action - when will we see the debut of the car? In what should make IMSA fans small-C Concerned is the fact that both the Heart of Racing and Aston Martin have still yet to commit to a debut at the Rolex 24 in late January. From most of the big media reports coming out of the weekend, there's a underlying speculation/belief/fear that both parties may - MAY - hold back on debuting the car at the Rolex and rather opt to settle for the Qatar 1812km a month later in the WEC, which in doing so will squeeze out the last crucial days and weeks for the development and prep work. For someone that is going to the 24 and is currently counting down the days until January 25 I barely want to think about that scenario playing out. 

Will we see the Valkyrie debut at the Rolex?

Another Newcomer to Daytona - Lamborghini SC63 Logs Best Session Timing

Another program that has dealt with the ups and downs of developing a brand new prototype machine, it was great to see the SC63 finish atop the timing charts in the GTPs final practice session Saturday night - a 1:35:611 posted by Romain Grosjean. For comparisons sake every single GTP entry from last season's Rolex 24 starting grid posted a better qualifying time than that BUT HEY, we know at the end of the day all of this is just practice - valuable, crucial, program-building practice for the teams that desperately need it. As you remember, the Iron Lynx did not debut the SC63 at Daytona last season, instead making their North American debut at Sebring two months afterwards. Overall, it's great to see that Lamborghini are seemingly committed to continuing the SC63 program in North America after the scuttlebutt has persisted that they're pulling out of the WEC due to budget constrictions. If so, they're going to need to find results in the IMSA enduro rounds to justify that budget and we'll take absolutely anything when it comes to finding positive results on track.

The (Rebound) Year of the Mustang? 

Similar to how the SC63 turned heads with their session-best timing, the Multimatic Fords did the same in the GTD Pro ranks. The No. 65 posted a class-leading 1:47.882, while the sister car No. 65 finished right behind just 0.269 ticks back on the timing sheet. Rolling with an almost entirely new stable of drivers, there will be a ton of pressure on the Mustang GT3 to rebound after a mostly-down debut season in both the IMSA ranks and overseas in the WEC. The car faced performance and reliability issues as Multimatic and Proton worked through the kinks and troubles of running a new sportscar in it's debut season, and the de facto-factory program will not wait around to ensure that they're fighting for wins consistently once the 2025 season gets underway. Whether it'll be from the new grouping of drivers or better preparation and understanding of the GT3 machine, the need to compete at the top of the pack will be a major priority for the team. My recommendation to secure better results would be to ditch the stock red/white/blue racing Pony livery and cook up something unique for Year 2. 

What can we expect out of the Mustang GT3 in 2025?