The IMSA SportsCar Championship has published the final entry list for the 24h of Daytona which will open the 2024 season on the weekend of January 25-28, preceded as always by the Roar Before the 24 tests the previous week.
Compared to what was shown in the lists issued in mid-November, the number of cars present for the 62nd edition of the race taking place in Florida drops to 59, with 10 present in the GTP Class, 13 in LMP2, 12 in the GTD PRO and 24 in the numerous GTD.
Great expectations for the Grand Touring Prototype category, which after the debut of the LMDh in 2023 will have a larger number of prototypes thanks to the addition of the private Porsches of Proton Competition and JDC-Miller MotorSports, in addition to the two official 963s of Team Penske.
Cadillac presents itself with the #01 of Chip Ganassi Racing and the #31 of Action Express Racing, for now the only three-driver lineup waiting to understand if a fourth will arrive like all the others in the lot.
In Acura we rely on Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti to defend the success obtained in the last edition, doubling the ARX-06 LMDh of the team in black and blue livery after the farewell to Meyer Shank Racing-Curb Agajanian.
BMW is banking on the experience gained with Team RLL by fielding the M Hybrid V8s for which the names of the drivers officially arrived just yesterday.
Photo by: AO Racing
AO Racing, Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2
In LMP2, among the 13 cars, those of Tower Motorsports and Era Motorsport are still missing the fourth and last driver on the grid.
All the other lineups have already been defined between those who have an Oreca or those who have a Ligier, with United Autosports the only one to field two 07-Gibsons against the aforementioned rivals, plus Crowdstrike-APR, TDS, High Class, Sean Creech, Inter Europol/PR1 Mathiasen, Riley, Dragon Speed, AO Racing and AF Corse, the latter bringing the official Ferrari drivers – Nicklas Nielsen/Lilou Wadoux – with Luis Pérez Companc and Matthieu Vaxivière in addition.
In GTD PRO there is great anticipation for the debut of the two brand new Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs in the hands of Pratt Miller Motorsports and the Ford Mustangs of Multimatic Motorsports.
For Porsche there is the 911 'Rexy' of AO Racing, Lamborghini has an Iron Lynx Huracan with the #19 waiting for the #63 to appear on the SC63 LMDh which will debut later in the season in the GTP Class.
BMW relies on Paul Miller Racing, Pfaff Motorsports will debut with its new McLaren, Lexus has confirmed an RC F from Vasser Sullivan and Aston Martin the Vantage from Heart Of Racing.
Ferrari could not be missing with the 296 GT3 #62 of Risi Competizione driven by Rigon/Serra/Pier Guidi/Calado, while Mercedes waits to understand who to place as the fourth crew member on the AMG GT3 #75 of SunEnergy 1.
Photo by: AF Corse
#21 AF Corse, Ferrari 296 GT3: Simon Mann, Miguel Molina, François Heriau, Kei Cozzolino
Finally, as per tradition, a large line-up of GT3 cars for the GTD category where many gentlemen drivers appear.
Also to be defined here are the drivers of the Mercedes #80 of Lone Star Racing and the last one for the Porsche #120 of Wright Motorsport. The Weissach manufacturer instead lost the 911 of Kellymoss with Riley Motorsport which was forced to abandon the event at the last minute.
All the other quartets already in place with Aston Martin will defend the 2023 triumph again with the Vantage #27 of Heart of Racing, to which is added the #44 of Magnus Racing.
Here too, first appearance for the new Corvettes and Fords prepared respectively by AWA (two examples) and Proton Competition (Mustang #55).
Lamborghini presents the two Huracans of Iron Lynx and Iron Dames, plus the #78 of Forte Racing where we will see the new official Loris Spinelli at work and the #45 of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti.
Ferrari will still have the #21 of AF Corse, the #023 of Triarsi Competizioni and the #47 of Cetilar Racing, with the debut of the #34 of Conquest Racing.
Vasser Sullivan confirms his Lexus #12, Porsche will race with the Andretti Motorsports, MDK (two 911) and Wright teams, while Mercedes is with Lone Star Racing, Winward and Korthoff/Preston.
Gradint Racing brings the only Acura of the lot, finally BMW is always with Turner Motorsport, while Inception Racing's McLaren completes the list.
As mentioned above, we begin next week with the six practice sessions of the Roar Before the 24 tests preceding Qualifying on Sunday, while the race will be held the following weekend.
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