DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A competitive B.R.M. Chronographes Endurance Challenge race for the Historic and GT Modern (GTM) divisions set the stage Friday for the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Classic Daytona presented by IMSA this weekend at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
The classic 24-hour race for vintage and historic sports cars goes green Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT for the seventh edition of the twice-around-the-clock race on the 3.56-mile DIS road course.
The first order of business was Friday’s one-hour B.R.M. Chronographes race that featured a packed field of 35 entries, the majority of which are also set to compete in the Classic 24 Saturday and Sunday.
Friday’s overall and GTM victory went to Kody Swanson and Brad Jaeger in the Doran Racing 2008 No. 21 Ford GT Mk7. The victory was a repeat B.R.M. win for Swanson and Jaeger in the Doran Ford GT, but this time they scored overall honors to build on 2020’s GTM class win and fourth-place overall finish.
Pit stop timing was the key to success for the Ford GT team. The 2016 No. 63 Corvette C7.R of Pierce Marshall and Eric Foss turned the fastest lap of the race, but differing pit stop timing let Jaeger bring the Ford across the line for the win 8.716 seconds ahead of the Matador Motorsports-prepared Corvette.
Third place overall and in GTM went to Bill Riddell in his Racelink 2019 No. 77 Porsche 991 GT3 car. The podium showing was Riddell’s first visit to HSR victory lane at Daytona in more than five years.
The B.R.M. Historic-class victory was secured by Francesco Melandri in his Amalfi Racing 1996 No. 96 Porsche 993 GT2 Evo.
Melandri outdueled the similar Porsche of Kenneth Greenberg who finished second in the B.R.M. Historic class in his 1996 No. 836 Porsche 993 RSR prepared by Air Power Racing.
Third in B.R.M. Historic went to the familiar pairing of Hartmut Von Seelen and Kevin Wheeler in the 1973 No. 51 Porsche 911 prepared by KMW Motorsports.
A second B.R.M. Chronographes Endurance Challenge race kicks-off Saturday’s schedule at 8:20 a.m. EDT with a one-hour race for the Vintage and GT Classic (GTC) classes.