IMSA moves Rolex 24 qualifying back to race weekend

For the first time in several years, qualifying for the Rolex 24 At Daytona will take place on race weekend, with the qualifying session for the 2025 event taking place Thursday, Jan. 28, two days before the race. With the provisional schedules for …

For the first time in several years, qualifying for the Rolex 24 At Daytona will take place on race weekend, with the qualifying session for the 2025 event taking place Thursday, Jan. 28, two days before the race.

With the provisional schedules for the Roar Before the 24 and the Rolex 24 having been released to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors, it’s now known that the Roar weekend on Jan. 17-19 will consist of testing sessions only in addition to two races for the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. Qualifying will take place on the following Thursday.

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Qualifying, and in some years qualifying races, had been held on the Sunday of the Roar weekend for the past four years.

The schedule change is a knock-on effect from IMSA moving up the pre-season test to November instead of December. That change, along with the implementation of torque sensors in the GT classes, moved Targeted Performance Testing of the GT3 cars in GTD PRO and GTD to the Roar weekend, and thus the shift of qualifying. Targeted Performance Testing was implemented last year, where each manufacturer nominates a team and driver to carry out prescribed tests in order to better set Balance of Performance for the unique Daytona International Speedway circuit.

The Roar will feature seven sessions for a total of 10h15m of track time, including a special 90-minute session for Bronze-rated drivers in LMP2 and GTD only, the last scheduled test of the weekend.

A further change to the qualifying schedule revealed a big alteration to the way GTD PRO and GTD will interact. First, each class will have its own 15m qualifying session, whereas for the past two years they have been combined.

That change prompted a look at the sporting regulations, revealing that the classes will be split, with GTD PRO cars starting ahead of all GTD cars, regardless of qualifying time. Since the inception of the GTD PRO category, the two GTD classes have started based on qualifying time with the classes intermixed. Further, GTD PRO and GTD will be split for restarts after a full-course caution.

The Roar weekend will also feature sessions for Michelin Pilot Challenge, which will have its traditional four-hour BMW M Endurance race on Friday before the Rolex 24. Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup will also have a pair of races on Thursday and Friday of race weekend. The 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona is scheduled to begin at 1:40 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25.