Porsche’s pulled out all the stops for the new TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and the season opener at the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Saturday. With 14 cars and 54 drivers Porsche should stand a better than average chance at a class win if not an overall win. To kick things off we have the qualifying results for you and pictures below.
Tandy, who turned his fastest time on his last qualifying lap today for round one of the TUDOR Championship, was only .076 of a second off the pole position in the 2014 Porsche 911 RSR which he will share in Saturday’s race with Richard Lietz (Austria) and Patrick Pilet (France). Patrick Long (Playa del Rey, Calif.), who qualified the No. 912 team car, also placed in the top five, putting his Porsche in fifth position, only .240 of a second off the pole.
“We start the race on the Michelin tires that we run in qualifying so we need to limit the miles but, at the same time, because of the cold track conditions, it takes many laps to get heat into the tires,” said Tandy, a former Porsche Carrera Cup champion and a winning co-driver at last October’s Petit Le Mans.
It is about trying to do the least possible work on the race tires but still have a good pace when we needed to set the time in the quali,” Tandy continued. “The car is obviously competitive in qualifying trim. In the race it may be a little different. It’s a good way to start the season. I am happy.”
Porsche’s Qualifying Results In The GTLM Class At The Rolex 24 At Daytona
1. Goossens/Farnbacher/Hunter-Reay (B/D/USA), Viper GTS-R, 1:44.506 minutes
2. Tandy/Lietz/Pilet (GB/A/F), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.076 seconds
3. Bomarito/Bell/Wittmer (USA/GB/CAN), Viper GTS-R, + 0.111
4. Gavin/Milner/Liddell (GB/USA/GB), Chevrolet Corvette, + 0.223
5. Long/Christensen/Bergmeister (USA/DK/D), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.240
6. Turner/Mücke/Lamy/Stanaway/Della Lana (GB/D/NZ/CAN), Aston Martin, + 0.933
7. Edwards/Müller/Rahal/Werner (USA/D/USA/D), BMW Z4 GTE, + 1.161
8. Priaulx/Auberlen/Hand/Martin (GB/USA/USA/B), BMW Z4 GTE, + 1.166
Porsche’s GT Daytona Qualifying – 20 Cars Within One Second
In the intense battle between the new Porsche 911 GT America, the Ferrari 458, the Audi R8, the BMW Z4 and Aston Martin Vantage, the top 20 cars in the GT Daytona class qualified within one second – an amazing stat. For Porsche, the 911 GT America competitors were ninth, and then 13th – 21st place in class. The fastest Porsche was German Supercup veteran Norbert Siedler, who will share the No. 71 Park Place Motorsports Porsche with Craig Stanton, Dr. Jim Norman and Timo Bernhard, with the ninth fastest qualifying time. Porsche factory driver Marc Lieb (Germany) qualified 13th – the second fastest Porsche – in the car he will drive with Patrick Dempsey (Malibu, Calif.), Joe Foster (Suwanee, Ga.) and Andrew Davis (Athens, Ga.). Both Siedler and Lieb were within a half a second of the pole-setting time.
1. Haase/Miller/Rast/Bell (D/USA/D/GB), Audi R8 LMS, 1:46.973 minutes
2. Vilander/Balzan/Case/Westphal (SF/I/I/USA), Ferrari F 458 Italia,
+ 0.055 seconds
3. Jarvis/Walter/Putman/Espenlaub (GB/USA/USA/USA) Audi R8 LMS + 0.077
9. Siedler/Bernhard/Stanton/Norman (A/D/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT America, + 0.381
13. Lieb/Dempsey/Foster/Davis (D/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT America, + 0.516
14. Bamber/Blum/Zitza/Imperatori (NZ/USA/USA/CH), Porsche 911 GT America, + 0.588
15. Lally/Henzler/Potter/Dumolin /USA/D/USA/CAN), Porsche 911 GT America, + 0.599
Watch Porsche In The Rolex 24 At Daytona
The green flag drops on the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Saturday, January 25, at 2:10pm Eastern time. Live television coverage for this initial round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship starts on the FOX television network at 2:00pm, and then moves to Fox Sports 2 at 4:00pm for the next five hours. From 9:00pm until 7:00am Sunday morning, the race moves to www.imsa.com for live streaming video coverage, and then to Fox Sports 1 through the checkered flag and post-race coverage, ending at 3:00pm (all times are Eastern).
Other Porsche Blog Posts About The Rolex 24 At Daytona You Should Check Out
A Porsche Fan’s Guide To The Rolex 24 At Daytona
The Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona On Twitter For Porsche Fans