Dane Cameron ran a 1 minute 42.101 second, 125.523 mph lap at Daytona in one of Team Sahlen’s new Riley-BMW Daytona Prototypes. Cameron, who has moved up to DP from the Rolex Series GT class along with the Sahlen team, was second fastest in the three days of testing that made up this year’s Roar Before the Rolex 24.
Michael Shank Racing’s Riley-Fords, one of which won the Rolex 24 last year, were first and third, while both Ganassi Riley-BMWs were fourth and fifth, just .4 seconds off the fastest time of Shank’s Michael Valiante.
The Rolex Series GT class was dominated by Porsche GT3s, followed by Audi R8s. Turner Motorsport’s M3s, with Belgian BMW racer Maxime Martin on board along with Turner regulars Michael Marsal, Bill Auberlen, and Boris Said, finished fifteenth and nineteenth.
Of course the Roar is about testing, sorting, and maybe even sandbagging, so lap times may or may not be predictive of what will happen in the Rolex 24 on January 26-27.
The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series cars were on hand for the test days along with the Rolex Series cars. The Grand-Sport class was dominated by a trio of Aston Martins, with the Turner Motorsport M3 of Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana sixth fastest. Fall-Line was also on hand with three M3s, and Automatic Racing ran an M3 along with its Aston Martin.
In Street Tuner Terry Borcheller and Mike LaMarra were third quickest in their Burton Racing 128i behind a pair of Compass 360 Honda Civics. BimmerWorld was at Daytona with three 328s, Race Epic/Murillo was there with two 328s, and Mitchum Motorsports was there with a pair of 128s. Complete test days results for both the Rolex Series and the CTSCC series are posted on the Grand-Am web site.
The CTSCC season opens on Friday, January 25 at Daytona on the day before the start of the Rolex 24.—Brian S. Morgan
