Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R flies through the Roar Before the Rolex 24

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No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R full-time co-drivers Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande, joined by third and fourth drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso, closed the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 Test Days Sunday by clocking the sixth-best lap among the 47-car field in a mock qualifying session used to determine race-weekend pit-road and garage locations. They will return to Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway for real less than three weeks hence for the 57th Rolex 24 At Daytona IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening endurance marathon set for Jan. 26 to 27.

 

Taylor, van der Zande and the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team, who followed up their dominating Rolex 24 win in 2017 by qualifying on the pole for last year’s event, had a relatively easy time acclimating Kobayashi, the former Formula One and current FIA World Endurance Championship star from Japan, and Alonso, the popular two-time Formula One champion from Spain, to their new surroundings and the iconic racetrack. The four drivers took turns clocking the team’s fastest laps over the first four practice sessions of the weekend Friday and Saturday.

 

Taylor’s lap of 1 minute, 36.407 seconds at 132.390 mph over the 3.56-mile, 12-turn superspeedway road course, was second-fastest overall in Friday’s opening session of the weekend. Kobayashi’s lap of 1:36.596 at 132.670 mph Friday afternoon was fastest overall. Alonso’s Saturday-morning lap of 1:35.052 at 134.825 mph was second-fastest overall, and van der Zande’s lap of 1:34.534 mph at 135.563 mph Saturday afternoon was fastest overall.

 

The team focused solely on driver changes rather than overall speed during Saturday’s traditional night session, when Kobayashi’s team-best lap of 1:35.398 at 134.336 mph was sixth-fastest overall. Taylor opened Sunday practice with a lap of 1:34.894 at 135.049 mph that was fifth-best overall before driving the 15-minute mock qualifying session. His best lap of the session was marred by an impact with the car’s floorboard as he negotiated the track’s backstretch chicane known as the Bus Stop, temporarily knocking out the car’s power steering system. He was able to continue and log the sixth-best overall lap of the session and the team’s best of the weekend – 1:34.431 at 135.711. The team opted not to run the weekend’s final practice session Sunday afternoon.

 

Mazda Team Joest’s Nos. 77 and 55 DPis dominated Sunday’s mock qualifying session, led by the the lap of 1:33.398 at 137.212 mph by Oliver Jarvis in the No. 77 Mazda DPi that was better than the existing track record. Teammate Harry Tincknell was close behind with a lap of 1:33.423 at 137.176 mph. Almost a full second behind was a pack of five DPi entries separated by 17 hundredths of a second, led by Ricky Taylor in the No. 7 Team Penske Dpi, whose best lap was 1:34.261 at 135.956 mph.

 

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R logged 165 total laps during the three-day test, covering 587.4 miles.

 
Rolex 24 race weekend begins with practice and qualifying Thursday, Jan. 24, with the twice-around-the-clock event set to begin at 2:35 p.m. EST Saturday, Jan. 26, with live television coverage beginning on NBCSN at 2 p.m.
Adam Sinclair
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