While the rest of the country suffers from zero degree temperatures, there were no such hardships today at the Daytona International Speedway as the newest Porsche factory driver, Nick Tandy (GB) captured the GT pole in the Konrad Motorsport/Orbit Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racer for Saturday’s 51st running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
On a beautiful day in Daytona Beach, sunny and 72 degrees F, 36 GT cars – Ferraris, BMWs, Corvettes, Camaros, Audis, Vipers, and 18 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars – took to the track for the quick 15-minute qualifying session. Tandy’s pole-sitting effort – a lap of 1:47.63 or 119.07 mph on the 3.56 combination oval-road course – was the fastest GT lap of the day. He will share the car with Porsche Junior driver Michael Christensen, Cup car specialist Christian Engelhart, and car owner Lance Willsey in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup prepared jointly by veteran Porsche team owners Rodger Hawley and Franz Konrad.
If You Want to Win at Daytona You Need to Drive a Porsche
Nick Tandy, pole position, #32 Konrad Motorsport/Orbit Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
“It was our strategy to wait a few laps and see what the pace was, and play it from there. We managed to get one clean lap in – which was all we needed. The car is really good on race pace, which is everything. But it’s nice to start the race with Porsche 1-2 at the front. Winning the pole sounds very good to me. Let’s see if we can translate that to ‘Nick Tandy, champion of the Rolex 24. Pole position for the Rolex 24 at Daytona is something not to be minimized. Although the race is 24 hours, being in front at the start is an advantage as you will miss any early traffic troubles. Our car was great today – we are all looking forward to the race.”
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