Rolex 24 at Daytona approaching; here are updated team and driver lineups
The Rolex 24 at Daytona, North America's premier endurance race, is approaching the starting gate.
The 61 competing teams will take over Daytona International Speedway beginning Jan. 21 for a three-day test session dubbed "The Roar Before the Rolex 24."
Those three days of shakedowns are followed by a few off-days before the four-day Rolex 24 weekend begins on Thursday, Jan. 26, and is headlined by the Jan. 28-29 24-hour endurance classic.
IMSA, the sanctioning body governing the premier American sports-car series, has released the latest update to team and driver lineups for this year's race.
OVERFLOW FIELDRolex 24 at Daytona: 60 entries make cut from over 70 requests for January 28-29 race
More:NEW RIDE: Josef Newgarden gets acquainted with sportscar, Daytona during Rolex 24 testing
Grand Touring Prototype (GTP)
The 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona will mark the debut of this collaborative effort – a prototype meeting the specs necessary to compete in both IMSA (North America) and Europe’s World Endurance Championship. Yes, it’s now possible for a one team, and one make, to win both Daytona and Le Mans in the same year.
The new prototypes bring even more high-tech to sports-car racing’s highest-tech class. Atop the list is the hybrid power element, which is integrated into the overall performance of the cars but used specifically after pit stops, when the cars return to the track under electric power alone, triggering a return to internal combustion power at the end of pit lane.
Here are the nine entries and their drivers, per IMSA:
No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh: Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande for the full season, with Scott Dixon for the Rolex 24.No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh: A Rolex 24-only entry with Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook.
No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy for the full season, Dane Cameron for the Rolex 24.
No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr for the full season, Michael Christensen for the Rolex 24.
No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06: Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor for the full season, Louis Deletraz for the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (IMEC) rounds and Brendon Hartley for the Rolex 24.
Nos. 24 and 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8s: Specific assignments are to be set but full-season drivers are Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly piloting one car and Philipp Eng and Augusto Farfus paired in the other. They will be joined at the Rolex 24 by Colton Herta, with Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann on board for Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-LMDh: Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims for the full season, with Jack Aitken for the Rolex 24.
No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun for the full season, Helio Castroneves for the IMEC rounds and Simon Pagenaud for the Rolex 24.
Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2)
The two classes of Le Mans Prototypes feature cars that, at a quick passing glance, look similar to the new GTP cars, but an ounce of further inspection shows the differences. Still, they’re fast and attractive.
Here’s the LMP2 lineup:
No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07: Entered for the IMEC rounds only with Ben Hanley, George Kurtz and Matt McMurry, along with Esteban Gutierrez for the Rolex 24.No. 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07: Entered for the Rolex 24 only with John Farano, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden and Kyffin Simpson.
No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07: Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas for the full season, Scott Huffaker for the IMEC rounds and Rinus VeeKay for the Rolex 24.
No. 20 High Class Racing ORECA LMP2 07: Dennis Anderson and Ed Jones for the full season, Anders Fjordbach for the IMEC rounds and Raffaele Marciello for the Rolex 24.
No. 35 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07: Francois Heriau and Giedo van der Garde for the full season, Josh Pierson for the IMEC rounds and Job van Uitert for the Rolex 24.
No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07: Entered for the IMEC races with Ben Keating, Paul-Loup Chatin and Alex Quinn, with Nicolas Lapierre for the Rolex 24.
Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3):
No. 13 AWA Duqueine D08: Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Moritz Kranz for the Rolex 24.
No. 17 AWA Duqueine D08: Wayne Boyd, Anthony Mantella, Thomas Merrill and Nicolas Varrone for the Rolex 24.
No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier JS P320: Joao Barbosa and Lance Willsey for the full season.
No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P320: Christopher Allen, Connor Bloum, John DeAngelis and Cameron Shields for the Rolex 24.
GT Daytona Pro (GTD Pro)
Here’s where you can make the argument that these are the closest things to “stock” cars you’ll see at Daytona over the winter.
Check out these cars’ profiles, and there’s no mistaking they’re Porsches, Lamborghinis, Corvettes, etc.
GTD Pro is different from GTD in that the driver lineups are made up of professionals only. Here is the seven-team lineup for this highly competitive and enjoyable class of automobiles:
No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD: Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor for the full season with Tommy Milner for the IMEC rounds.
No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet for the full season with Laurens Vanthoor for the IMEC rounds.
No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth for the full season.
No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3: Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas for the full season with David Pittard for the Rolex 24.
No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2: Entering the IMEC rounds with Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Romain Grosjean, with Jordan Pepper joining for the Rolex 24.
No. 64 TGM/TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3: Ted Giovanis, Hugh Plumb, Matt Plumb and Owen Trinkler for the Rolex 24.
No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella for the full season, Maro Engel for the IMEC rounds and Cooper MacNeil for the Rolex 24.
GT Daytona (GTD):
No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz for the full season, with Parker Thompson for the IMEC rounds and Kyle Kirkwood for the Rolex 24.
No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): Ryan Hardwick, Jan Heylen and Zacharie Robichon for the IMEC rounds, with Dennis Olsen joining for the Rolex 24.
No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2: Raffaele Giammaria, Rolf Ineichen, Franck Perera and Claudio Schiavoni for the Rolex 24 only.
No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Andrea Bertolini, Alessio Rovera, Charlie Scardina and Onofrio Triarsi for the IMEC rounds.
No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3: Roman De Angelis and Marco Sorensen for the full season with Ian James and Darren Turner joining for the Rolex 24.
No. 44 Magnus Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3: Andy Lally, John Potter and Spencer Pumpelly for the IMEC rounds.
No. 53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 992): Mark Kvamme and Jan Magnussen for the IMEC rounds, with Kevin Magnussen joining for the Rolex 24.
No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: Philip Ellis and Russell Ward for the full season, with Indy Dontje for the IMEC rounds and Lucas Auer for the Rolex 24.
No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3: Katherine Legge and Sheena Monk for the full season, with Mario Farnbacher and Marc Miller joining for the Rolex 24.
No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3: Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff for the full season, Ollie Millroy for the IMEC rounds and Marvin Kirchhofer for the Rolex 24.
No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG: Driver lineup TBA. Expected to race the four IMEC rounds.
No. 77 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 992): Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman for the full season, Max Root for the IMEC rounds and Kevin Estre for the Rolex 24.
No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 992): PJ Hyett and Seb Priaulx for the full season, Gunnar Jeannette for the IMEC rounds and Harry Tincknell for the Rolex 24.
No. 83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2: The car will compete in the IMEC rounds, with the all-female lineup of Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Dorian Pin confirmed for the Rolex 24.
91 Kelly-Moss with Riley Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 992): A full-season entry with drivers to be announced.
92 Kelly-Moss with Riley Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 992): Competing in the IMEC rounds only with Jeroen Bleekemolen, David Brule, Andrew Davis and Alec Udell.
93 Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR Acura NSX GT3: Danny Formal, Ashton Harrison and Kyle Marcelli for the IMEC rounds, joined by Ryan Briscoe for the Rolex 24.
Rolex 24 at Daytona Tickets
The Speedway offers several ticket packages for the Thursday-through-Sunday (Jan. 26-29) Rolex 24 weekend:
From $125: Four-day admission with garage access.
From $90: Saturday-Sunday admission with garage access.
From $45: Saturday-Sunday general admission seating.
From $40: Sunday admission and garage access.
From $20: Thursday admission and garage access.
RV or tent? Too late
All infield RV and campsites are again sold out. The Speedway says a limited number of sites just outside the track remain available.
Rolex 24 Parking
Infield parking is also sold out, though outside-track parking is available.
$75: Frontstretch parking outside the main Speedway grandstands, between Speedway Boulevard and the Speedway entrances.
$35: Lot 4, outside the Turn 4 tunnel.
Free: Lot 3, north of Speedway Boulevard at One Daytona.
These lots are for cars only; no RVs or other oversized vehicles.
More information: DaytonaInternationalSpeedway.com, or 1-800-748-7467
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Rolex 24 at Daytona: Updated driver, team lineups for 2023 classic
