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BMW’s Vanthoor and Goldburg of LMP2 Earn Rolex 24 MOTUL Poles

2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona

Dries Vanthoor celebrates winning pole for the 2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway (Photo: Jared Bokanoski | The Podium Finish)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — BMW has continued to feel as though they are the black sheep of the family when it comes to the four manufactures that established IMSA’s GTP class at the 2023 Rolex 24, not seeing the share of success that their contemporaries saw in the first two years of the class.

However, if their performance in last weekend’s Roar Before the 24 and Thursday’s qualifying session for the 63rd running of the Rolex 24 serve as any important indicators, this may be the year BMW takes the leap out of the shadows. 11 of the 12 teams in IMSA’s premier prototype category would take to the track with Proton Competition’s Porsche 963 not taking to the high banks due to an incident in Thursday’s opening practice session.

The session would see an early red flag that would create a heightened sense of drama throughout the session. The pole winner’s sister car, the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8, did not complete a lap and stalled in the early running of the 15-minute session, leading to was a mad scramble post red flag for the remaining 10 teams to retrn to the circuit and fend off the cold conditions while getting tires up to optimal temperature in the closing stages of the session.

Teams pushed the boundaries of what could be considered “hard racing.” With no time left on the clock, the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 of Mirko Bortolotti and the No. 60 Meyer-Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blomqvist raced like there was 15 minutes to go in the actual event with Bortolotti running Blomqvist all the way to the apron in Turn 7 on the high speed oval portion of the circuit before the pair dueled wheel to wheel into the bus stop, effectively sabotaging both teams’ final lap time efforts.

Joining the BMW outfit on the front row for the 63rd annual Rolex 24 will be the No. 93 Meyer-Shank Racing Acura after a blistering time set by Nick Yelloly with a 1:34.186, down the rest of the grid would be the Porsche Penske Motorsports No. 7 in third joined on the second row by the defending polesitters Action Express Racing. In the third row, the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 and the aforementioned No. 60 Acura ARX-06 are lined up alongside each other.

The fourth row sees the pair of Wayne Taylor Cadillacs with the No. 10 outrunning the No. 40 entry by two thousandths of a second. The final two GTP teams to turn times would be the No. 63 Lamborghini and No. 6 Porsche Penske entry who will roll off the grid in ninth and 10th when the Rolex 24 goes green on Saturday.

Dan Goldburg celebrates winning the LMP2 class pole for the Rolex 24 at Daytona (Photo: Jared Bokanoski | The Podium Finish)

In IMSA’s secondary prototype category qualifying is a game of bronze rated driver ability, with all 11 outfits being mandated by IMSA to have their bronze driver qualify the car in the 15 minute session. The fastest of the bunch being United Autosports’ No. 22 Oreca piloted by Dan Goldburg who set the pace amongst the field with a lap time of 1:38.676 being joined by a consistent heavy favorite when it comes to qualifying at Daytona in Ben Keating for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports.

Throughout the rest of the field would be the sister car to Goldburg’s number 22 in the number two of Nick Boulle, joined on the second row by the new for 2025 Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 73  entry of Chris Cumming.

The rest of the grid is comprised of the No. 11 for TDS Racing, the Nol. 99 fan favorite “Spike” entry for AO Racing who went on an expedition off the circuit in the middle stages of the session, the No. 88 Af Corse machine, the No. 74 of Gar Robinson for Riley Motorsports, Crowdstrike Racing’s No. 04 entry, the No. 43 for Inter Europol, and defending race winners Era Motorsports take up position the 11th position with the field culminating with Tower Motorsports’ No. 8 Oreca.

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