There were plenty of bleary-eyed spectators and the distinct aroma of campfire smoke early on Sunday at Daytona, but on-track it was high-speed business as usual. Some evening aspirations had been shattered, many of them originating in Detroit, as had some bodywork. As the morning moved on, the Ford EcoBoost–powered cars weren't in contention for a win for various reasons and the GT cars from Chevrolet and SRT weren't faring much better. And when the checkered flag finally dropped, all that separated the Corvette Daytona Prototypes of Joao Barbosa and Max Angelelli for overall victory was 1.46 seconds.
The Vipers and Corvettes were capable of lapping near the pace of the Porsche 911 RSR and BMW Z4 GTE that finished one-two—and sixth and seventh overall, illustrating just how quick this GTLM class is—but the Detroit iron lacked the consistency of the Teutonic teams. SRT's lead entrant finished third in GTLM, although four laps off the Porsche outfit. The first Corvette C7.R to cross the line came home fifth in class.
Markus Winkelhock's Audi R8 LMS cinched the win in the GTD class after the checkered flag. The German was literally fender to fender with Alessandro Pier Guidi's Ferrari 458 Italia as the last lap began, and while Guidi led over the finish line, was penalized post-race for being a little too enthusiastic on Winkelhock.
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It only took 24 hours at the Daytona International Speedway to answer one big question, but it was decisive. Could the P2 prototypes from the American Le Mans Series be competitive against the former Grand-Am Daytona Prototypes when combined as one class in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship? Nope. Corvette DPs finished first through fourth, heading the fastest of the one-time ALMS machines, the Oreca Nissan of the Muscle Milk team. Not only was that car three laps down at the finish, but the team's quickest driver, Lucas Luhr, could manage a fastest lap 1.71 seconds slower than the fastest lap set by a Corvette DP.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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