Alex Job Racing drivers Bill Sweedler (Westport, Conn.), Townsend Bell (San Luis Obispo, Calif.), Frankie Montecalvo (Highlands, N.J.), and Pierre Kaffer (Germany) will start 16th in GTD at this weekend’s 55th running of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona International Speedway.
Kaffer, an Audi factory driver, had the controls of the No. 23 Audi R8 LMS for this afternoon’s 15 minute GTD qualifying session. His fastest lap was 1:48.798 on his fifth circuit around the World Center of Racing. Late in the session, Kaffer set out on his last flying lap to put the car in the top 10, but just didn’t have the speed. The team had to settle for an eighth row starting position.
“Compared to the Roar, we’re struggling a little bit with the set-up,” Kaffer said. “We’re still trying to fine tune the car. The cars are really close together [in terms of lap times]. I don’t think we’re that far off. My result was P16. I know the Audi will be competitive in the race. I can count on my team Alex Job Racing and my teammates. I know the car is reliable. I’m happy to be in the Audi R8 LMS. I think if we can figure out the little issue we’re having, we’ll have a good race.”
“It was a disappointing qualifying,” Team Owner Alex Job said. “It’s a 24 hour race so it’s not that important where you start. Obviously you want to qualify up front. It’s a good confidence booster for the team. But, it’s a long race. The conditions are going to be so different. Right now, it’s humid and hot. Come the race, it’s going to get very dry and very cold. The conditions are going to change a lot. They’re going to be more like they were at the Roar on the last day on Sunday. I think the car will improve as the race starts. But right now, it’s not the best car. The BOP [balance of performance] change after the Roar definitely hurt the Audi. And, it definitely benefitted the Ferrari a lot. I don’t know what IMSA is going to do about that. I don’t see that anybody has anything for the Ferrari at this point.”
In 2013, Alex Job Racing won the GT class in an Audi with drivers Filipe Albuquerque, Oliver Jarvis, Edoardo Mortara, and Dion von Moltke. Albuquerque qualified that Audi sixth in GT.
The green flag drops on the Rolex 24 At Daytona at 2:30 p.m. (ET) Saturday, Jan. 28, with pre-race coverage on FOX starting at 2 p.m. (ET). FOX will carrying the first two and a half hours of the race before switching over to FOX Sports 2 from 5 to 10 p.m. (ET) and then again from 11 p.m. (ET) to 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29. Race coverage will continue on FOX Sports 1 at 1 p.m. through the end of the race.
