Tandy: Porsche ‘wants to win race, not qualifying’ at Daytona

Cadillac will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday in America’s biggest sportscar classic of the season, which kicks off the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani beat Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais to pole by smashing the track record for prototypes around the 3.56-mile road course in cool track conditions.

But Porsche’s Felipe Nasr was best of the rest, despite a quick spin in his 963, and his Penske team-mate Tandy will start from seventh.

“Cadillac was incredibly strong, which surprised me a little,” said Tandy. “Still, we want to win the race – not the qualifying.

“In Daytona, it’s all about being the fastest in the final and decisive phase next Sunday. We’re contesting an endurance race here, and the focus is always on reaching the finish.

“Our cars are running flawlessly. We’ve worked hard over the winter and we’re seeing the results. I’m heading into the upcoming race week feeling good.”

Nasr added: “Third place is okay. I got everything I could out of our car today. I’m totally convinced that we’re contesting the race with a strong package.

“We’ll continue to focus on working on consistency over long distances in the upcoming practice sessions starting on Thursday. We need to be perfectly prepared to be in the fight for victory.”

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden

Porsche’s director of factory racing LMDh, Urs Kuratle, applauded Cadillac’s efforts with its V-Series.R but claims his pair of works-entered 963s are well prepared for warmer weather conditions that are expected for the coming race weekend.

“We would’ve loved to have secured pole position, but unfortunately that didn’t quite work out,” he said. “Congratulations to Cadillac. Their crew simply did it better.

“We didn’t make any mistakes. All teams were very close together. I think we have a decent grid position for the race. After all, the event runs over 24 hours, so anything is possible.

“The forecast for the race weekend is for warmer temperatures. We’re ready for this and so we’re feeling optimistic for the season opener.”

PPM’s managing director Jonathan Diuguid added: “Even though the sister car [to Nasr] is only seventh on the grid, I’m confident that we managed to achieve a good starting position. The drivers are very happy with the car’s handling in race trim.

“So I’m feeling positive about the 24-hour event.”