Scott Pruett took the pole for the 51st running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, turning a 1:40.553, 127.455 mph lap in his #01 Ganassi Riley-BMW. It was Pruett’s third Daytona pole.
Pruett’s teammate Scott Dixon qualified the #02 Ganassi Riley-BMW second on the grid, running a 1:40.646. Team Sahlen’s Dane Cameron made it a BMW sweep of the top three qualifying positions, turning a 1:41.213 on the team’s first race in a DP car.
Ian James qualified the Highway to Help Riley-BMW tenth, and Bruno Junqueria qualified the second Sahlen Riley-BMW sixteenth.
Nick Tandy qualified the Konrad Motorsport Porsche GT3 on the GT class pole; Porsche took the top four qualifying positions. Turner Motorsport’s M3s qualified 18th and 22nd in GT.
The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge cars also qualified on Thursday for the BMW Performance 200, their 2 ½ hour season opener on Friday afternoon. Grand Sport qualifying, scheduled for fifteen minutes, was cut short after a Porsche crashed just four minutes into the session. Jade Buford took the pole in an Aston Martin Vantage. Three Fall-Line M3s qualified in the top ten; Al Carter qualified fourth, Brett Sandberg qualified fifth, and Mark Boden qualified seventh. Paul Dalla Lana qualified the Turner Motorsport M3 ninth.
BimmerWorld’s Tyler Cooke qualified his 328i second in the Street Tuner class in his first race for the team. The ST pole went to Ryan Ellis in his I-Moto Mazda Speed 3. Jesse Combs qualified Race Epic/Murillo’s 328i fifth.
The BMW Performance 200 starts at 1:45 PM on Friday, and the Rolex 24 starts at 3:30 PM on Saturday.—Brian S. Morgan
