The best pictures from the Roar Before The 24 in Daytona
The 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship kicked off in Daytona with the annual Roar Before The 24.
The three-day event looked overall five practice sessions, one of them took place at nightBefore qualification on Sunday.
Deviating from the format used in recent years, There was no sprint race at the conclusion of the Roar eventthe starting order of the Rolex 24 being derived from the results of the qualifying sessions.
Acura proved somewhat dominant throughout the weekend, with the #60 Meyer Shank Racing entry being fastest in all key track sessions.
Supercars champion and IndyCar race winner Scott McLaughlin will start far down the order after his co-driver crashed during qualifying.
The LMP2 class starter will therefore drive to the green flag on Saturday from position 56 in the field of 61 vehicles.
Times in the LMP2 class are well below those of previous years, while Mercedes has proven the car to be beatable in the GT classes.
A strong contingent of Australian and New Zealand drivers took part, including Porsche Le Mans winner Earl Bamber, driving for Cadillac this year, and six-time IndyCar Series winner Scott Dixon.
Matt Campbell is in the hot seat for Penske Porshe in the top GTD class, while ex-Formula 1 driver Brendon Hartley shares the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06.
Elsewhere, Jaxon Evans, Ryan Briscoa and Kenny Habul drive in the GTD class, while James Allen joins McLaughlin in LMP2 and Cameron Shields and Josh Burdon fly the flag in LMP3.
With the roar now behind them, the teams now have a few days to realign before the Rolex 24 weekend gets underway at Daytona on Thursday.
