DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship got underway Friday on a crisp winter day at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
Sixty-one competitors took to the 3.56-mile road course under sunny skies for the first of three days of Roar Before the Rolex 24 testing in the lead-up to the 63rd running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona next weekend.
BMW M Team RLL had plenty to celebrate at the end of the first day of the new campaign. Dries Vanthoor set the day’s benchmark time in the early stages of the two-hour afternoon session, clocking 1 minute, 35.424 seconds (134.306 mph) in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with Sheldon van der Linde running fourth in the identical No. 25 entry at 1:36.093 (132.936 mph)…