Kristof Gergely Bakos and Kyle Harkema in the #621 Dallara LMP2 of FRS SimSports earned the win but also benefited from a post-race penalty against the #777 Dallara of Fusion Simsport, who entered a closed pit lane under the only Full-Course Yellow of the race.
For the Fusion Simsport group of Garren Batten, Brian Boomsma and Tom Guest it was a brutal blow, as the team had hoped to start off the 2024 season with a win, but ultimately the team still had plenty to hang their hat on, taking second place.
Rising Panda Racing from Austria, another new team name on the grid, with British drivers Piers Stockton and Ryan Ware, led eight laps in their #46 Dallara and finished third, to complete the LMP2 class podium.
Dominating the race for the most part and racking up a total of 38 laps led, SCOWRS Esses Racing and their #048 Dallara P217 ended up fourth, 38 seconds back.
Rounding out the top-five were last year’s third-place season championship finishers, #14 Fischer Motorsport and drivers Rico Kollmeier and Michael Adamczyk.
Nick Dawson-Lathan and Spencer Torrance gave Rookie Esports a successful series debut in the #100 Dallara P217 by finishing sixth, ahead of the #123 Tri-State Racing car of Chris Cadiz, Sam Vaughan and Christian Sherrard.
Series veterans Gowin Racing and their #18 machine had a disappointing day, finishing two laps down in P8.
GSE Racing eSports’ #86 Dallara of Thomas Beuchel and Luca Harmening and the #66 VRG Sport car of Jeff Yeager and Nick Nelson rounded out the top ten.
The results of The Roar Before The 24 set the starting grid for Saturday’s third annual 24 Hours of Daytona.
The biggest race of the year will kick off the 2024 VSCA SportsCar Championship season this Saturday, with the green flag scheduled for 15:00 GMT.
The race will be televised live on YouTube by GreenFlag TV, from start to finish.
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