Valiante turns fastest lap in final day of Daytona 24H testing
Shaking down MSR's new Ford/Riley was Valiante's focus, but setting fastest lap was a bonus. The new Park Place Porsche was the best in the GT class, while the Napleton Porsche led the new GX class.
Photo by: Eric Gilbert
DAYTONA BEACH – Michael Valiante admitted that the focus of the “Roar Before the Rolex 24” at Daytona International Speedway was shaking down the team’s brand-new No. 6 Ford/Riley and getting drivers from other forms of motorsports familiarized with the Daytona Prototype.
With that said, running the fastest lap of the three-day test was a bonus. Valiante posted a lap of 1 minute, 42.058 seconds/125.576 mph to pace the 17-car DP entry in the dress rehearsal for the 51st running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the season opener for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series on Jan. 26-27.
Dane Cameron’s lap of 1:42.101/125.523 from Saturday stood up as the second-fastest time in the No. 42 Team Sahlen’s BMW/Riley co-driven by Wayne Nonnamaker, Simon Pagenaud and Bruno Junqueira.
AJ Allmendinger was third-fastest in the 2012-Daytona-winning No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford/Riley. He was joined at the test by John Pew, Marcos Ambrose and Justin Wilson. Ozz Negri – recovering from a bicycle accident in training – hopes to return to the team for the race.
The Rolex 24 will mark the debut of the Rolex Series GX class, led at the test by Shane Lewis with a lap of 1:56.167/110.324 in the Napleton Racing No. 16 Porsche Cayman co- driven by David Donohue, Dr. Jim Norman and Nelson Canache.
Scott Maxwell was fastest in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge testing, running his fastest lap of 1:56.936/109.598 on Sunday morning in the No. 55 Aston Martin Vantage. Andrew Jordan was quickest in the Street Tuner sessions, running 2:06.642/101.199 in the No. 77 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si.
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