Rolex 24: Van der Zande on Pole, Alonso 13th

Paul Jeffrey · Jan 25, 2018

A thrilling qualifying session at Daytona ends with last gasp pole position for defending race champions Wayne Taylor Racing.

An incredible 50 car field of some of the top international endurance racing talent took to the legendary Daytona Road Course earlier today to take part in the all important qualification session ahead of this weekend's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, with the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPI of Dutchman Renger Van der Zande snatching a last minute Pole Position from IndyCar hero Helio Castroneves in the Penske run Acura prototype.

Van de Zande would end the day fastest of all after a tense qualification session, eventually topping out the times by a scant 0.007s, one of the closest qualifying sessions in the history of the iconic race event.

With practice favourite Castroneves again cementing his star credentials at the top of the times from an earlier run in the session, it would be down to a typically last minute full commitment lap from Van de Zande to snatch away Pole in the dying moments of the track running, putting pay to a fairy tale start to the full time endurance career of one of the most popular IndyCar drivers of the modern era.

Further down the field it would be a very satisfying start to the official running of the Daytona weekend for McLaren Renault Formula One driver Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard proving his undoubted ability in the United Autosports Ligier as he stopped the clocks with a very solid 1:37,088, just under a second away from the pacesetting WTR car and perhaps more tellingly 1.3 ahead of United Autosports teammate Bruno Senna.

Daytona 24 Hour Qualifying - Corvette.jpg

In the fight for GTLM bragging rights it would be the rejuvenated Corvette squad, led by the ever green Jan Magnussen who stole the show, the former McLaren and Stewart Formula One driver taking some of the shine off Ford's recent performances as he put the #3 C7.R just 0.19 ahead of the pre race favourite Ford GT of American home grown hero Joey Hand in the #66 machine.

The GTLM class would also prove interesting for the debut of the brand new BMW M8 GTE machines of BMW Motorsport, marking the German outfits first on track performance for this striking new car. Although not really in the fight for the very fastest times of the session, BMW nevertheless performed admirably to secure eight and ninth positions in class, some 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 tenths behind the pace setting Corvette squad respectively.

Full Rolex Daytona 24 Hour Qualification Results: HERE

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Looking forward to Daytona? Who do you think will win the big event? Let us know in the comments section below!

RustyDriver00 · Jan 25, 2018

Such a good qualifying session, really enjoyed it. Hopefully it continues into the race itself.

Durge Driven · Jan 25, 2018

Spoiler alert

KODIAK · Jan 25, 2018

why can't I get those damn headlights on my car!

Bernd Graf · Jan 26, 2018

Finally off work...can rewatch!

dud · Jan 26, 2018

As a suggestion, would it be possible to choose thread titles that do not spoil results? I will probably not be able to watch any of this live.

Enpassant · Jan 26, 2018

Huh! In addition to Alonso I can see on the time table, another F1 driver Lance Stroll - in the Jackie Chan’s Oreca LMP2. I’m curious how he can handle the 24h race.

T_rac3 · Jan 26, 2018

And Paul di Resta on 15 with Ligier LMP2, also his first 24h race

Good luck to all !!!!

Andrew Harper · Jan 26, 2018

It was a great qualifying session and further proof that IMSA have it just about right at the moment with their series.

Quality field with some great looking race cars, I wish I was there!

All three classes were very tight on time, and I know BoP is something not everyone likes (I'm not so sure about it myself sometimes) it certainly worked well in that session though.

Unfortunately I'm working so I'll miss about half of it, but I think this is going to be one of the best Rolex 24's in years

Hoping for a Mazda on the podium

@Enpassant this will be Lance's 2nd Rolex 24. He drove for Chip Ganassi in the old style Daytona Prototypes a few years back. He was 17 at the time I think....which makes me feel very old!

@Paul Jeffrey after the video preview last night...Rolex 24 course for Raceroom?

robt100 · Jan 26, 2018

Anyone got any detail of where I can watch this? My friend had tickets to go this weekend until he sadly passed away, I feel I MUST see it, for his sake!

WPxNJ · Jan 26, 2018

robt100 said:
Anyone got any detail of where I can watch this? My friend had tickets to go this weekend until he sadly passed away, I feel I MUST see it, for his sake!

USA viewers-Fox Sports.
Got VPN? https://imsatv.imsa.com/

Sorry for your loss.

Rodent · Jan 26, 2018

Andrew Harper said:
Hoping for a Mazda on the podium

Hope is the last to die I guess.

I kid, they've already had a better showing than last years Daytona.

Andrew Harper · Jan 26, 2018

Good call @WPxNJ

I usually watch all the races via IMSA.TV as well.

There is some coverage on satellite in the UK but it's so mixed (you only get to see the start for example) that I just opt for the official stream instead. At least with the official channel you can enjoy some more build up.

I then usually plug the laptop via HDMI into the TV for the "full screen" experience. Works fine, although the last few years they seem to sometimes suffer at the start as finish as more and more people sign into the site to view it. I think last year it was fine though.

I guess the VPN option is for US viewers? Do they block your viewing to get you to watch via Fox?

Andrew Harper · Jan 26, 2018

Rodent said:
Hope is the last to die I guess.

I kid, they've already had a better showing than last years Daytona.

Haha, yeah I know. I was a bit worried during The Roar as they didn't seem to have much pace at all.

Last night though (and during the last practise session) they came on really strong. Shame about the 77, hoping it's just a silly problem and they didn't want to take the risk.

For sure last year was really tough for Speedsource and although they are a great team, they were probably out of their depth with a DPi project.

If they run reliable and they get both cars home that will be a great start in my view, anything else is a bonus

WPxNJ · Jan 26, 2018

Andrew Harper said:
Good call @WPxNJ

I guess the VPN option is for US viewers? Do they block your viewing to get you to watch via Fox?

If one signs into the IMSA site from the US, they'll not be able to launch the site's video stream, just a message to watch on Fox Sports.

For the record my cable bill with Comcast/Xfinity last month was $241. I'm fully authorized to watch on Fox, Fox Go, and the Fox Sports app here. I just stumbled onto the VPN method for the IMSA site and it works really well.