The Roar Is All Wrapped Up - Bring on the 24!
The Roar Before the 24 is wrapped and done with, NOW BRING ON THE ROLEX!
The three days of warmup practices concluded on Sunday and has given us plenty to look over in the aftermath, whether it's looking at the timesheets for lap times or catching all of the amazing liveries that we were finally able to see in action.
Starting with the big guns in the GTP class, it was awesome to see the No. 24 BMW secure the best time of the weekend when Dries Vanthoor put up a 1:35.424 in Session 2, two-tenths faster than the No. 93 Meyer-Shank Acura driven by former BMW man Nick Yelloly and four-tenths faster than the No. 60 MSR driven by Tom Bolmqvist (more on MSR in a minute).
Now of course every team and manufacturer enters into the new season with some sort of pressure on their shoulders, but there's an added bit of attention being paid to the M Hybrid V8 program, a program that is pressing to find results in the form of race wins. They finished strong at the end of 2024 but ultimately finished P7 and P8 in the standings, and entering into the third year of operation with their LMDh machine both Team RLL and M Motorsport will be aiming to be in the title fight as the season progresses. They overhauled their lineup and synced up their drivers between the IMSA and WEC campaigns in an aim to bring more consistency and familiarity across the board, and with veteran F1 talent Kevin Magnussen jumping aboard as the biggest get of them all, BMW has high expectations for 2025.
For GTD Pro, let's give it up to Pfaff Motorsports! Running on track for the first time with their brand new Huracan GT3 EVO2, it was Andrea Caldarelli in the opening session on Friday that posted the best overall time for the class all weekend - a 1:47.626. To go one further, teammate Marco Mapelli also put up the third-best time in GTD Pro in the second session of action - a 1:47.798. After such a difficult campaign in 2024 with their one-and-done McLaren 720S, are we poised to see Pfaff make a rebound and compete at the top of the charts like we all know they can?
Turning back to Meyer Shank Racing and their pair of ARX-06s, it was an immediate announcement to the rest of the GTP paddock that they are back and ready to be reckoned with after they were shadowbanned in 2024 for their, ahem, mishandling of their tire pressures in the 2023 edition of the Rolex. MSR took their medicine and reloaded with a stacked driver lineup to go along with a car that they already know quite well. If they can keep their nose clean and avoid breaking the rules you have to believe they'll be running consistently at the top as the season goes on.
Another feel-good surprise at the top of the GTP timesheets was the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63, as Romain Grosjean put together the fourth-best time of the weekend via a 1:36.041 in the second track session. There was a massive amount of concern surrounding the future of the SC63 in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and as things ultimately turned out, Lamborghini chose to pull their single-car effort out of the WEC and focus on the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds in North America for the new campaign. For their debut in 2024, their best finish was a P7 result at Sebring while they saw unfortunate retirements at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis; in Indy they were poised to secure a podium before a late puncture/suspension damage suffered from contact ended their day. Forecasting for the new season, how can they not see victory lane with a new livery like that!?
Over in GTD, arguably the biggest move of the offseason was the Iron Dames linking back up with Porsche to pilot a 911 GT3 R (992), and in their opening session on track they managed to post the second-best time of the weekend, a 1:48.084. The Dames had a hellish season with their Huracan both in IMSA and the WEC and they are no doubt relishing the opportunity to be back with a car that they're familiar with.
(photo via IMSA.com)
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