DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It wasn’t as much about driving fast as it was about familiar territory.
Two-time defending Rolex 24 At Daytona winner Kamui Kobayashi opened the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with the fastest lap Friday during the first day of testing at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
His lap of 1 minute, 35.312 seconds (134.463 mph) around the 12-turn, 3.56-mile DIS road course in the No. 48 Action Express Racing Ally Cadillac DPi V.R was 0.385 seconds faster than the closest competitor.
But the thrill for Kobayashi wasn’t being atop the speed chart. It was being in a familiar car on a familiar track again. The former Formula 1 driver returned to a Cadillac DPi, in which he won the Rolex 24 the past two seasons with Wayne Taylor Racing.
“I’m very happy to be returning to the Daytona 24 again,” Kobayashi said. “Being back in the same car and same engine but a different team, I still feel the car is great. I fit quite well with this package. When I got in the car, I felt really comfortable.”
Kobayashi will share the car with Jimmie Johnson, Simon Pagenaud and Mike Rockenfeller for the 59th Rolex 24 on Jan. 30-31. The team will attempt to put the car on the pole position in Sunday’s Motul Pole Award 100, a 100-minute race that will determine the starting lineup for the Rolex 24.
Ricky Taylor was second fastest in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, recording a lap of 1:35.697 (133.922 mph) in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05. Felipe Nasr was third in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Whelen Engineering Cadillac.
Nicolas Lapierre recorded the fastest lap in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class at 1:37.741 in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07. James Calado was quickest in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class with a lap of 1:43.680 in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.
Moritz Kranz had the fastest lap of the day in the new Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class at 1:43.500 in the No. 6 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine M30-D08. Christina Nielsen was fastest in GT Daytona (GTD) at 1:46.194 in the No. 88 Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche 911 GT3R.
WeatherTech Championship testing continues Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET. Qualifying for the Motul Pole Award 100 begins at 3 p.m., with a night practice session scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
The Motul Pole Award 100 qualifying race is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Sunday and can be viewed live on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass. A race broadcast can be seen on NBCSN at 4:30 p.m.
Live coverage of the Rolex 24 begins January 30 at 3:30 p.m. on NBC.
