Porsche has locked out the front row for this year’s 58th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the GTLM class.
The teams were given a mere 15 minutes to set a time around Daytona International Speedway to set the grid.
Nick Tandy claimed top spot with the new-look Porsche 911 RSR, which makes its North American debut this weekend in the 24-hour race. Tandy will share his car with Frederic Makoweicki and Matt Campbell.
“What a dream start with the new Porsche 911 RSR at IMSA. Starting positions one and two – perfect qualifying for the team,” Tandy said.
“But the points will be won in the race and we still have to work hard for that. We haven’t won in the GTLM class since 2014. We want to change that on Sunday.”
Earl Bamber will line-up alongside him in second after co-driver Laurens Vanthoor qualified the car that he’ll share with Mathieu Jaminet as well. He ended up just 0.049s short of pole position, Tandy on a record-setting 1:42.207 versus a 1:42.256 by Vanthoor.
“It was a close and tough fight between Nick and me,” Vanthoor said.
“I don’t like to lose, but Nick was a bit better today. However, there is no reason to complain. Both 911 RSR are in the front row and the car was fantastic to drive.”
The two Porsche entries will be followed immediately by the new-look Corvette Racing squad. This weekend the team are debuting their new car, the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.
Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg will start third with the Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler immediately alongside in fourth.
The revived BMW Team RLL duo will start fifth and sixth in BWM M8 GTE. The sole Risi Competizione run Ferrari 488 GTE was seventh.