On January 27th, rain clouds covered the northern part of the Florida peninsula, with rain falling from the morning. Practice was scheduled for 9:00am and 11:00am, but nearly all the RX-8 GT teams passed on participating in the session because the weather forecast predicted dry conditions for the race.
The #70 SpeedSource RX-8 GT practiced while the rain was lightest during the morning session, but quit running as soon as conditions deteriorated. Team owner and driver, Sylvain Tremblay: ”We've finished our running for today, and are starting to prepare for the race.“ The SpeedSource team conducted checks on the gearbox and refreshed the RX-8 before the afternoon practice session began. Dempsey Racing decided not to practice from the morning. Instead, they focused on preparing for the race.
On this day, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race took place. A brace of no fewer than 11 Mazda entries took part amongst an ST class field totaling some 40 cars. All of the machines fought a close battle on the same track as is used for the 24-hour race. Therefore, drivers' skill is the key factor in chasing down the win. In the end, it was the #31 i-Moto MazdaSpeed 3 that won the ST class race with a last-lap front stretch pass on the #10 Kia Forte. The margin of victory was a scant 10cm - just 0.021 seconds in a side-by-side finish. In the final phase of the race, rays of sunshine flooded back across Daytona Beach. It will be sunny this Sunday, according to the weather forecast.