Analysis: How the GTP manufacturers fared in the 'Roar before the 24'

The 'Roar' test for the 24 Hours of Daytona was dominated by Porsche. All three 963s secured at least one session-best time, including the private JDC-Miller Porsche running last year's spec.

The remaining session best times went to the #24 WRT BMW and the #10 WTR Cadillac.

Advertisement

GTP cars participated in six of the seven sessions, as the final one was reserved for Bronze-rated drivers. In the cumulative standings sessions all three Porsches occupy the top three spots:

Cumulative GTP Overall Results (Fastest Lap):

Penske Porsche #7 (Nasr/Andlauer/Heinrich) – 1m36.327s (Session 1) JDC-Miller Porsche #85 (Pino/Frederick/van der Helm) +0.004 sec (Session 1) Penske Porsche #6 (L. Vanthoor/Estre/Campbell) +0.108 (Session 1) WTR Cadillac #10 (R. Taylor/Albuquerque/Stevens) +0.404 (Session 4) WRT BMW #24 (S. van der Linde/D. Vanthoor/Frijns/Rast) +0.415 (Session 2) WTR Cadillac #40 (J. Taylor/Deletraz/Herta) +0.574 (Session 1) Action Express Cadillac #31 (Aitken/Bamber/Vesti/Zilisch) +0.659 (Session 4) WRT BMW #25 (Marciello/Eng/Wittmann/Magnussen) +0.820 (Session 4) Meyer Shank Acura #60 (Blomqvist/Braun/Dixon/Allmendinger) +0.968 (Session 3) HRC Acura #93 (van der Zande/Yelloly/Palou/Ohta) +1.017 (Session 4) THOR Aston Martin #23 (Gunn/de Angelis/Riberas) +1.202 (Session 3)

Advertisement

Porsche made its mark as early as the very first session on Friday. The lap times in the low 1m36s range would prove enough to secure the top three spots in the overall standings.

All laptimes were achieved in race trim, as 1m34ss or even 1m33s are expected for qualifying.

Long-run analysis: Porsche outpaces rivals

Consistency is, of course, way more important than single lap times. To keep it simple, we have factored in all laps from all sessions completed under 1m40s.

Advertisement

Since slower cars naturally recorded more laps in the 1m40s range than the fast ones, the gaps here tend to be rather underestimated - rather than overestimated. Nevertheless, a clear picture emerges:

Penske Porsche #7: 1m38.095s (113 laps under 1:40) Penske Porsche #6: +0.096 (119 laps) WTR Cadillac #10: +0.358 (125 laps) JDC Miller Porsche #85: +0.372 (99 laps) WTR Cadillac #40: +0.382 (120 laps) WRT BMW #24: +0.397 (162 laps) Meyer Shank Acura #60 (Blomqvist/Braun/Dixon/Allmendinger) +0.439 (111 laps) HRC Acura #93 (van der Zande/Yelloly/Palou/Ohta) +0.528 (128 laps) Action Express Cadillac #31 (Aitken/Bamber/Vesti/Zilisch) +0.567 (169 laps) WRT BMW #25 (Marciello/Eng/Wittmann/Magnussen) +0.627 (138 laps) THOR Aston Martin #23 (Gunn/de Angelis/Riberas) +0.835 (36 laps)

The Aston Martin missed Sessions 3 and 4 due to an engine change and therefore recorded very few representative laps.

Advertisement

Both Acura ARX-06s missed large parts of the first session due to unspecified minor issues but gained momentum afterwards.

Porsche clearly dictates the pace in the long runs. The two Penske factory cars have significantly pulled away at the front.

The strong performance of the privately entered JDC-Miller Porsche in 2025 spec comes as a surprise. It shows that Porsche clearly had the upper hand during the pre-test.

To put the times into perspective: Felipe Nasr's 1m36.327s would have only ranked seventh-fastest in the 2025 Daytona 24 Hours.

Advertisement

That means there is still room for improvement, especially since Cadillac and Acura received better power-to-weight ratios in both speed ranges and Porsche in the high-speed range compared to last year's BoP.

Furthermore, the updates to all four LMDh cars certainly haven't made them any slower.

Cadillac has established itself as the second-strongest force with both cars. The #24 WRT BMW and #60 MSR Acura are also within a tenth of a second of the third-placed Cadillac in terms of average lap times.

Advertisement

Of course, WRT had to use the test sessions to get started in IMSA competition. The new-for 2026 factory outfit should be granted a bit of a "rookie bonus" for the race weekend.

Aston Martin, on the other hand, seems to be struggling. The engine change resulted in a significant loss of track time, but the gap to the other manufacturers is substantial.

Top 20 per cent laps: Cadillac closes in

With the 24 Hours of Daytona often being decided in a sprint to the finish, we also took a look at the fastest 20 percent of all lap times under 1m40s. The result largely confirms the previous observations:

Advertisement

Penske Porsche #6 – 1m37.135s JDC Miller Porsche #85 +0.102 sec WTR Cadillac #10 +0.133 Penske Porsche #7 +0.177 WTR Cadillac #40 (J. Taylor/Deletraz/Herta) +0.341 WRT BMW #24 (S. van der Linde/D. Vanthoor/Frijns/Rast) +0.457 Meyer Shank Acura #60 (Blomqvist/Braun/Dixon/Allmendinger) +0.545 WRT BMW #25 (Marciello/Eng/Wittmann/Magnussen) +0.595 Action Express Cadillac #31 (Aitken/Bamber/Vesti/Zilisch) +0.598 HRC Acura #93 (van der Zande/Yelloly/Palou/Ohta) +0.670 THOR Aston Martin #23 (Gunn/de Angelis/Riberas) +0.936

Porsche remains at the top, but Cadillac can close the gap when it comes to the absolute fastest laps.

Advertisement

This pattern was seen repeatedly in the 2025 World Endurance Championship, where Cadillac proved to be extremely competitive in qualifying and on fast individual laps.

BMW and Acura remain at roughly in the same spot as in the long runs, the gap even tends to be slightly larger.

What the teams say

"We completed the test programme cleanly and were able to focus exclusively on our plan throughout. The Porsche 963 ran flawlessly, and the drivers delivered strong performances." said Porsche's LMDh project chief Urs Kuratle,

Advertisement

"The results from JDC-Miller MotorSports show that our customer team has also made noticeable progress over the winter. We are ideally prepared for the season opener, although we will only really be able to assess the competitive order during race week."

Filipe Albuquerque from the Cadillac #10 also expressed satisfaction: "Happy with the car balance and with how everything went. Now it’s time to analyse data from these days and get ready for the race."

Sheldon van der Linde hinted that BMW might not have shown its full potential yet: "We’ve spent the past few days working through the initial adjustments as new team members joined, setting a strong foundation moving forward.

Advertisement

"In the practice sessions before the race, the focus will now be on performance, so that we have a fast car in the race, which we can hopefully fight for victory with."

If the BoP remains unchanged, Porsche is the clear favorite for the win. With all manufacturers except Aston Martin enjoying a smooth test, IMSA should have a good understanding of where the updated cars stand.

Three more practice sessions and qualifying are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Advertisement

Photos from The Roar Before The 24 - Sunday

#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou, Kaku Ohta

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#912 Manthey 1St Phorm Porsche 911: Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz, Morris Schuring, Riccardo Pera

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

Advertisement

#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou, Kaku Ohta

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07: Pietro Fittipaldi, Manuel Espirito Santo, Chris Cumming, Enzo Fittipaldi

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#77 AO Racing Porsche 911: Nick Tandy, Harry King, Alessio Picariello

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon, AJ Allmendinger

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

Advertisement

#77 AO Racing Porsche 911: Nick Tandy, Harry King, Alessio Picariello

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963: Tijmen van der Helm, Nico Pino, Kaylen Frederick

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon, AJ Allmendinger

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#28 RS1 Porsche 911: Eric Zitza, Jan Heylen, Dillon Machavern

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

Advertisement

#4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Nico Varrone

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou, Kaku Ohta

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou, Kaku Ohta

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

Advertisement

#3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Marvin Kirchhöfer

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO: Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis, Alex Riberas, Marco Sorensen

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07: Pietro Fittipaldi, Manuel Espirito Santo, Chris Cumming, Enzo Fittipaldi

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

Advertisement

#36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Mason Filippi, Charlie Eastwood, Scott McLaughlin, Salih Yoluc

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3: Christopher Mies, Frederic Vervisch, Sebastian Priaulx

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre, Matt Campbell

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#69 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3: Anthony Bartone, Maximilian Goetz, Fabian Schiller

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

Advertisement

#69 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3: Anthony Bartone, Maximilian Goetz, Fabian Schiller

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3: Christopher Mies, Frederic Vervisch, Sebastian Priaulx

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R: Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti, Connor Zilisch

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

Advertisement

#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon, AJ Allmendinger

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Mason Filippi, Charlie Eastwood, Scott McLaughlin, Salih Yoluc

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO: Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi, Max Hesse, Dan Harper

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou, Kaku Ohta

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

Advertisement

#36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Mason Filippi, Charlie Eastwood, Scott McLaughlin, Salih Yoluc

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Marvin Kirchhöfer

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

Analyse Daytona-Vortest "Roar before the 24”: Alles Porsche, oder was?

Lumen via Getty Images

#25 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann, Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

Advertisement

#4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Nico Varrone

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#911 Manthey Porsche 911: Thomas Preining, Klaus Bachler, Ayhancan Guven, Ricardo Feller

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#21 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO: Simon Mann, Lilou Wadoux Ducellier, Antonio Fuoco, Tommaso Mosca

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer, Laurin Heinrich

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Marvin Kirchhöfer

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO: Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis, Alex Riberas, Marco Sorensen

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#13 13 Autosport Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Orey Fidani, Matthew Bell, Lars Kern, Ben Green

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO: Manny Franco, Albert Costa, Lorenzo Patrese, Thierry Vermeulen

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer, Laurin Heinrich

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, Kyle Kirkwood

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#9 PFAFF Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Andrea Caldarelli, Sandy Mitchell, Mirko Bortolotti, James Hinchcliffe

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

93\

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#343 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07: Jakub Smiechowski, George Kolovos, Nolan Siegel, Nick Cassidy

Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

#9 PFAFF Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Andrea Caldarelli, Sandy Mitchell, Mirko Bortolotti, James Hinchcliffe

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#2 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07: Phil Fayer, Ben Hanley, Hunter McElrea, Mikkel Jensen

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#21 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO: Simon Mann, Lilou Wadoux Ducellier, Antonio Fuoco, Tommaso Mosca

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre, Matt Campbell

Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

Read Also:

Full 2026 Rolex 24 at Daytona entry list

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.