IMSA - BMW Tops First Day of Roar Testing

The 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship got underway Friday on a crisp winter day at Daytona International Speedway. Sixty-one competitors took to the 3.56-mile road course under sunny skies for the first of three days of Roar Before the Rolex 24 testing in the lead-up to the 63rd running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona next weekend.

BMW M Team RLL had plenty to celebrate at the end of the first day of the new campaign. Dries Vanthoor set the day’s benchmark time in the early stages of the two-hour afternoon session, clocking 1 minute, 35.424 seconds (134.306 mph) in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with Sheldon van der Linde running fourth in the identical No. 25 entry at 1:36.093 (132.936 mph)

“It’s a shame it’s not Sunday evening in one week’s time,” joked the younger Vanthoor brother (older brother Laurens is in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963), referring to the finish of the upcoming 24-hour race.

“This is not the most important session of the weekend or the race, but it’s good to know that it’s looking good and the steps we’ve done since last year and the evolution we have been working on since we started the project is looking better.

“The guys back at the factory have been working flat out since the finish of the last season,” he added. “We are still far from being there, but it’s thanks to them that it’s all improving. We’ve been testing a lot a trying to improve our issues, so let’s see next week if they pay off or not. That will show if all the work we did was for nothing, or for victory, maybe.”

Tom Blomqvist marked his full-time return to IMSA by setting the fastest time in the 75-minute opening session in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 with a lap of 1:35.827 (133.741 mph). The BMWs were impressive from the jump, with the No. 25 and 24 cars ranking second and fourth respectively in the morning.

“I think the first session the track was quite green, quite dirty, so grip was not the highest,” Vanthoor said. “I think we will really feel the grip building up to the race next week. It’s always cool to go back on the banking at the beginning of the year, so it was quite fun.”

A pair of GTP teams encountered issues that affected their day. The No. 63 Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse Lamborghini SC63 completed only five laps in the morning session, while the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 stopped on track less than 10 minutes into the afternoon practice with a hybrid system abnormality and was returned to the garage on a flatbed truck.

Lamborghini rebounded in the afternoon, with Romain Grosjean setting the third best time at 1:36.041 (133.433 mph).

The No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 competing in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class also caused a brief red flag late in the afternoon session when Bijoy Garg stalled on the course. Malthe Jakobsen (No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07) was fastest overall Friday in LMP2, clocking 1:38.673 (129.883 mph) in Session 1.

The new relationship between Lamborghini and Pfaff Motorsports got off to a fast start as Andrea Caldarelli topped the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class. Caldarelli’s 1:47.626 (119.079 mph) lap early in the morning session in the No. 9 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 was 0.149 second quicker than the best effort in the afternoon, set by defending GTD PRO champion Laurin Heinrich managed in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).

Pfaff fielded a Porsche to win the 2022 IMSA GTD PRO championship before campaigning a McLaren in 2024. “This was for sure a late program, to come together, but the guys honestly did a really amazing job,” said Caldarelli, a Lamborghini factory driver. “These are not just words I am saying. I know how hard it is to put together a car, and this is probably not the easiest car to work on at the beginning. We didn’t have any major issues, and I was really positively impressed. This is definitely a good start to the year.”

Rahel Frey, in the No. 83 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), was quickest among the 22 GTD class competitors, circulating Daytona in 1:48.084 in Session 1.

The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge also staged a pair of test sessions Friday. Ford Mustang GT4s set the Grand Sport (GS) class pace in each, with Marco Signoretti (No. 60 KOHR Motorsports) clocking the best lap of the day in the morning at 1:53.191 (113.224 mph) and Jenson Altzman (No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with AEROSPORT) fastest in the afternoon. The No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR led both sessions in Touring Car (TCR), with Karl Wittmer driving in the morning and LP Montour in the afternoon.

Results are HERE