Andy flys in Practice

Andy Meyrick put in a outstanding performance for the DeltaWing Racing Cars team by qualifying fifth on the grid for the 53rd Rolex 24-hour race in Daytona, despite the car not completing a single lap in either practice session. Meyrick's achievement was made all the more impressive because the British driver hadn't driven a lap of the track since last year's Rolex 24-hour race. 

The DeltaWing Racing Cars team were struggling to get to grips with their all-new design and worked relentlessly on the coupe all Thursday to make qualifying. Meyrick jumped in the car for the first time at Daytona and put his team fifth on the grid with a lap of 1:39:625s. “The team must have a little faith in me as I haven't driven here since last year,” Meyrick said. “For the team to make qualifying and be only a few tenths off is great. It was an amazing job by the entire crew, to get the car into the pit lane to start the session. Hopefully P5 is a little bit of a reward for their hard efforts.” 

The team had a final two-hour practice session under the lights which was vital for all the drivers to get used to the car. Meyrick is co-driving the DeltaWing coupe with Katherine Legge, Gabby Chaves and Memo Rojas. 

“We'll start the race in a strong position. We have a few things to work on but the gearbox is good, the engine is good. With a few tweaks, we'll have a really good race car,” added Meyrick. 

Team manager Tim Keene is confident of a strong performance for the race despite the lack of running time on Thursday. 

“It's unfortunate we had the problems but we never give up,” Keene said. “To come out and qualify in the top five shows this team's resilience and ability to just get the job done. We'll have a look over the car and make sure everything's okay, then do as many laps with all four drivers in night practice." (Report from Crash.net) See the United Sportcar series on Motors TV in the UK

Live raceday timing vai  http://www.imsa.com/series/united-sportscar.