The 2017 Daytona 24 Hours takes place this weekend, qualifying for various classes kicked off today where Ford dominated the GTLM class while Ferrari claimed the top two spots in GTD class. This year marks a special milestone for select manufacturers like Mercedes-AMG and McLaren Automotive.
The new McLaren 570S GT4 will make its racing debut in North America this weekend at Daytona 24 Hours, a total of six cars will be taking part in this momentous event. VOLT Racing, C360R and Motorsports in Action will have two 570S GT4s each. Mercedes will debut its AMG GT3 racecar in North America with three cars fielded by AMG-Team Riley Motorsports, WeatherTech Racing and SunEnergy1 Racing.
Quite a number of other new cars are taking part in this year’s edition of the Daytona 24 Hours including the new Acura NSX GT3, racing in the GTD class as well. The #93 Acura NSX GT3 qualified 7th in class today, best place among the Acura teams.
Elsewhere in the top tier Prototype class, Cadillac qualified 1st and 2nd with two DPis, the #5 of Joao Barbosa followed by the #31 of Dane Cameron. WEC Porsche champion Neel Jani is racing in Rebellion’s Oreca and he managed to grab third place today in the Prototype class after splitting the Cadillacs. James French won pole in the Prototype Challenge class in another Oreca.
Ford grabbed 1-2-3 in the GTLM class with Joey Hand taking first in the #66 Ford GT, followed by Richard Westbrook and Olivier Pla in the #67 and #68 cars. Ferrari man Alessandro Pier Guidi topped the GTD class in the #51 Ferrari 488 GT3 leading Alessandro Balzan in the #61 Ferrari 488 GT3. Marco Sorensen rounded off the top 3 in GTD in the #98 Aston Martin Vantage.
To help you understand more about the Daytona 24 Hours, Mobil 1 The Grid prepared two videos, one with Corvette Racing’s Olly Gavin and the other with Dario Franchitti. Have a look here.
