Michael Shank Racing team dominates Daytona 24 Hours testing

Last year’s 24 Hours of Daytona winner Michael Shank Racing completed testing for 2013′s endurance race on top.

The team dominated both test sessions on Sunday, with Michael Valiante setting the fastest lap of the three-day test on Sunday morning. Valiante was again quickest in the second practice of the day.

Michael Shank Racing’s Riley-Fords thus won five of the eight sessions that were held during the past weekend. In the morning the team had a one-two, with the best laptime being set by Valiante, with 1m42.058s. He was nearly 0.6 seconds quicker than the rest of the field in a session in which the next four cars were separated by only 0.024s.

The third-best laptime went to Starworks’ #2 Riley-Ford, with Sahlen Racing taking fourth in the quickest BMW-powered car. The highest-ranked Corvette was the Spirit of Daytona on fifth.

In the final session, Ganassi’s #1 car, shared by Memo Rojas, Scott Pruett, Charlie Kimball and Juan Pablo Montoya, was second behind Michael Shank’s #6 car. Starworks’ car shared by Sebastien Bourdais, Ryan Dalziel, Allan McNish and Alex Popow was third-quickest, followed by 8 Star team’s Corvette, a car in which Anthony Davidson is making his comeback after his injury last year at Le Mans.