The No. 10 Cadillac DPi for Wayne Taylor Racing with drivers Jeff Gordon, Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli takes laps during Wednesday’s testing at Daytona International Speedway. Photo by Richard Dole LAT Photo USA
The Cadillac DPi-V.R made its highly anticipated IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut during two days of testing at Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Wayne Taylor Racing fielded the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi for Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor, Max Angelelli and retired NASCAR star Jeff Gordon, while Action Express Racing had two of the striking new race cars at the test.
Co-driving the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac were Filipe Albuquerque, two-time WeatherTech Championship Prototype champions Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, while Mike Conway, Sunoco Whelen Challenge winner Seb Morris and 2016 Prototype champions Dane Cameron and Eric Curran shared the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Cadillac.
The test got off to a bit of a sluggish start for the Cadillac teams due to some teething issues related to software, but all three teams managed to turn productive laps on Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday. The No. 31 Cadillac ended the two-day test with the quickest time, posting a best lap of 1 minute, 37.797 seconds.
“This afternoon, we’ve had a good run,” Curran said. “We’ve had a solid car and it’s fun. I was quickest this afternoon and that feels really good to be in a new car and to feel so comfortable. We’re good. We’ll keep plugging away, but I really love the whole new program. I love the look of the car, the red and white Whelen colors, and it’s just fun to be part of this Cadillac program. It’s going to be a great season.
“We’re not the only ones in the new-car boat. Everybody’s here with us. It seems like the whole paddock is full of new cars. It’s kind of like whoever can get their new car together the quickest and be ready for the 24 coming up in January. We’ve got a good crew, we’ve got a good team and Dane and I are prepared to pick up where we left off in 2016 with the championship.”
Reigning Champ Nielsen Elated For Return To Cockpit
Outside of a quick exhibition lap during the Ferrari Finali Mondiali, defending GT Daytona (GTD) champion Christina Nielsen hasn’t driven the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 since she won the title with it at the beginning of October. The IMSA December test provided her with the opportunity to return to the cockpit of the special car, and she couldn’t be happier.
“The key to making what we do worth it is to just have so much fun,” Nielsen said. “This is a great group of guys to be with and I’m so happy to be back in the car. The 488 is absolutely amazing to drive. I haven’t really driven it since Petit Le Mans and we’re fortunate that the car was already out here for the Ferrari World Finals.”
Weather conditions at the two-day test were nearly perfect, but there are still questions about how it will be in late January when it comes time for the actual race. Nielsen is confident in her crew’s ability to set the car up properly, though.
“The team has done a good job this week,” she said. “Yes, we do have a few things to work on, but I’m confident that when it comes time for the race, we’ll have a great car.”
The young Dane has been so busy with racing duties and preparing for the coming season that she hasn’t had much time to relax. She’ll even be on the big screen back home fairly soon, as a Danish film crew followed her exploits for much of the 2016 season and will be releasing a documentary about her on Dec. 19. The holiday season will finally provide her with an opportunity to claim her earned stint of rest and relaxation.
“I’m looking forward to going back home and spending a bit of time with my family,” Nielsen said. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen them, probably not in at least many months.”
Visit Florida Racing Getting Acquainted With New Multimatic Riley
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The two-day test was very much a “getting to know you” session for the Daytona Beach-based team and its new race car, as the team recently took delivery of the car and shook it down over the weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina just prior to the test.
“For us, it’s huge,” said Visit Florida Racing Owner Troy Flis of the Daytona test. “Realistically, our car leaves here, goes to a wind-tunnel test it has to go through, so at that point, it’s out of pocket. We won’t have our car back until Christmas, so now we have Christmas, New Years, then the Roar, a week and you’re here.
“It’s going to be a challenge. We’ve got some time and some days to go, but right now, it’s just new-car blues and putting your head down and working through them. The hurdles are getting smaller and they’re getting fewer and that’s a good thing.”
Time Flies When You’re A Le Mans Winner
It’s been a whirlwind year for factory Ford driver Joey Hand. There have been ups and downs, but no matter what the case now, he is always able to sit back and say, “Oh well, but I won Le Mans.”
Now returning to Daytona for the first time since the 54th Rolex 24 At Daytona in January, Hand is ready to get back to work.
“When we came here back then, while we had done a lot of testing, we had just recently done endurance testing,” Hand said. “We were just trying to run the thing, with nothing being done about setup. From then to now, there’s just such a big difference in how the car feels. I’m so much more at home in the car my first day back here for this test than I was for the race.”
The Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team recently announced a four-car effort for the 2017 race, but for the two full-season WeatherTech Championship cars, not much has changed on the crews, or as far as Hand is aware, the driver lineups. With that stability set, he’ll be able to focus on his true passion.
“The battle of racing – the war. The mental strategy, that’s my thing. I love it.”
Corvette Racing Ready To Get Right Back To Business
The opening race of the 2016 season ended in spectacular fashion, highlighted by the 1-2 finish in GTLM by Corvette Racing that saw Oliver Gavin beat teammate Antonio Garcia to the line by just .034 seconds. With the No. 4 Corvette as reigning champion, the No. 3 car’s Jan Magnussen is ready to pick up right where the team left off.
“It’s great to be here testing and getting ready for the 24,” Magnussen said. “Right now we are just trying stuff that we learned from last year, there’s not a lot of anything new for the car. We’re just really trying to put together everything that we learned last year, just trying to improve a bit.
Both Corvettes return to Daytona with no changes to the cars, crew or driver lineups, and Magnussen is hopeful that will give he and his teammates an advantage come January 28.
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