While Florida attracts millions every year with its warm beaches and sunny skies, fans at Daytona International Speedway got a little taste of the orange-growing Florida weather as Visit Florida Racing began its first day of the famed Rolex 24 At Daytona with two soggy practice sessions and an outright downpour during qualifying on Thursday.

Despite the deluge, Visit Florida Racing’s Ryan Dalziel secured an eighth place starting position with the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP he shares with Marc Goossens and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Although the rain remained constant all day, track conditions varied from session to session, making the short sessions all the more challenging for both drivers and crew.

“The conditions were so bad during qualifying that it was just kind of go around and don’t crash the car,” said Team Owner, Troy Flis. “But it is what it is. One thing is we have good drivers and a good racecar so we’ll see what happens in the race. We’d love to get some more drive time if there was any way possible but we’ve prepared for this, and we’re ready to go, so we’ll see what happens.”

While track time proved limited and challenging, the Visit Florida Racing team remains optimistic at their home track in the World Center of Racing, confident in their experience not only with the tricky weather, but also around the 3.56-mile road course of Daytona International Speedway.

“Well, it was wet,” joked Dalziel after the quick 15-minute qualifying session. “The conditions to me were as bad as Petit (where the race was shortened due to weather). But I think the positives are that we’ve made some good gains in the Visit Florida car since when we were here at the Roar. Unfortunately, all the gains we’ve made are in the wet and likely for the rest of the weekend it’s going to be dry. We’re pretty confident. We’ll regroup tonight and hopefully we’ll get some sunny Florida weather tomorrow.”