HPD Daytona Qualifying Report

HPD Racing Report

Thursday, January 23, 2014

 

Rolex 24 at Daytona                                                                                        Qualifying Report

Circuit:       Daytona International Speedway (3.56-mile road course), Daytona Beach, Fla.

Weather:    Sunny, mild, 54 degrees F

 

Top 10 Qualifying Results:

Ps.	Class	Drivers	Team	Chassis/Engine	Qualifying Time
1.	1. P	Alex Gurney/Jon Fogarty/Memo Gidley	Gainsco Racing	Riley Corvette	1:38.270
2.	2. P	Richard Westbrook/Mike Rockenfeller/Michael Valiante	Spirit of Daytona	Coyote Corvette	1;38.387
3.	3. P	Scott Mayer/Brendon Hartley/Alex Popow/Sebastian Saavedra/E.J. Viso	Starworks Motorsport	Riley Dinan BMW	1:38.525
4.	4. P	Joao Barbosa/Christian Fittipaldi/Sebastien Bourdais	Action Express Racing	Coyote Corvette	1:38.658
5.	5. P	Brian Frisselle/Burt Frisselle/John Martin/Fabien Giroix	Action Express Racing	Coyote Corvette	1:38.838
6.	6. P	Scott Dixon/Marino Franchitti/Tony Kanaan/Brad Larson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley Ford	1;38.948
7.	7. P	Jordan Taylor/Max Angelelli/Ricky Taylor/Wayne Taylor	Wayne Taylor Racing	Dallara Corvette	1:39.023
8.	8. P	Katherine Legge/Gabby Chaves/Alex Rossi/Andy Meyrick	Panoz Motorsports	DeltaWing Panoz	1;39.270
9.	9 P	Scott Pruett/Sage Karam/Jamie McMurray/Memo Rojas	Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley Ford	1;39.424
10.	10. P	Oswaldo Negri/A.J. Allmendinger/John Pew/Justin Wilson	Mike Shank Racing	Riley Ford	1;39.762

Honda-powered Results:

16.	14. P	Johannes van Overbeek/Ed Brown/Anthony Lazzaro/Simon Pagenaud		Extreme Speed Motorsports	HPD ARX-03b Honda	1:41.815
19.	15. P	David Brabham/Ryan Dalziel/Scott Sharp		Extreme Speed Motorsports	HPD ARX-03b Honda	1:42.157

 

                     HPD Prepares for Rolex 24 at Daytona

 

The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, a new sports-car endurance racing series resulting from the merger of the American Le Mans Series with GRAND-AM, opened Thursday at the famed Daytona International Speedway with practice and qualifying in preparation for Saturday’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. 

 

Honda Performance Development, the two-time LMP2 defending manufacturer and engine champion in American Le Mans Series competition, is represented in the new championship by Extreme Speed Motorsports, fielding a pair of HPD ARX-03b chassis and production-based Honda V6 twin-turbocharged engines.  The Extreme Speed HPDs are two of six LMP2 entries in the new “Prototype” [P] division, which at Daytona also includes the unique Delta Wing design, and 11 Daytona Prototype cars from the former GRAND-AM series.

 

Unfortunately, separate minor mechanical issues prevented both HPDs from achieving top speed during the brief, 15-minute qualifying session that set the starting field for the 24-hour contest, leaving qualifying drivers Johannes von Overbeek and David Brabham 14^th and 15^th, respectively, on the prototype grid. 

 

Both problems were resolved in time for the cars to take part in the 90-minute night practice that closed out activities Thursday at Daytona, with Simon Pagenaud posting the 6^th fastest time in the #2 HPD and Brabham running 8^th fastest in the #1 Extreme Speed entry. 

 

The “twice around the clock” Rolex 24 at Daytona starts Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT, with live television coverage of the opening two hours on the Fox Network, and additional coverage throughout the race on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.

 

Allen Miller (Project Leader, Honda Performance Development) on Daytona qualifying:  “Certainly it was extremely disappointing for two very minor issues to have affected our qualifying runs today.  Both Extreme Speed Motorsports cars suffered minor sensor issues that kept them from reaching top speed.  The problems were quickly rectified, but in the short, 15-minute qualifying session, it wasn’t possible to show the true potential of our cars today.  Almost anything can happen in a 24-hour race, but we’re confident we have a strong package for the weekend, and we’re looking forward to the start of the TUDOR United Sports Car Championship.”