The LMP2 class sees a 10 car field for the Rolex 24 Hours with a mix of IMSA regulars, 2022 additions from Europe and a couple of welcome guests!
#8 Tower Motorsport – ORECA LMP2 07
John Farano/Louis Delatraz/Rui Andrade/Ferdinand Habsburg
Tower Motorsport, winner of the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class the past two years at the Motul Petit Le Mans, is back for a third season of competition in the WeatherTech Championship.
Team principal Farano, part of both Petit Le Mans wins who finished third in the 2021 LMP2 standings, returns as a fulltime driver in the #8 ORECA LMP2 07. Delatraz, the 2021 LMP2 champion in the European Le Mans Series, will drive the entire season with Farano, beginning with the Rolex 24.
Andrade, the 2021 ELMS ProAm champion, will join them for the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races, with Habsburg the fourth driver for the Rolex 24. The #8 ORECA finished second in last year’s Rolex 24, with Farano the only returning driver from that lineup.
#11 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports – ORECA LMP2 07
Steven Thomas/Jonathan Bomarito/Josh Pierson/Harry Tincknell
The #11 ORECA will be co-driven by Thomas and Bomarito for the full season, with American teenager Pierson expected for the endurance races. Tincknell rounds out the #11’s lineup for the Rolex 24.
Thomas finished second in last year’s LMP2 championship driving for WIN Autosport, with a win at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and three other podium finishes. Bomarito was the endurance driver for Mazda Motorsports in the DPi class, helping the No. 55 post victories at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and the Motul Petit Le Mans in the final season for the Mazda program.
Pierson will make his WeatherTech Championship debut in the Rolex 24 after spending the past two years in junior open-wheel series. Tincknell, a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, finished third in the DPi standings driving the full season in the #55 Mazda.
#18 Era Motorsport – ORECA LMP2 07
Dwight Merriman/Ryan Dalziel/Kyle Tilley/Paul-Loup Chatin
Era Motorsport is back to defend its 2021 Rolex 24 win with the exact same driver lineup. The No. 18 also won at Road America last year on its way to third place in the LMP2 championship.
Merriman and Dalziel will be the full-season drivers, while team owner Tilley will serve as the endurance driver in the four IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races and Chatin returns for the 60th running of the Rolex 24 in January. Dalziel has been an IMSA driver since 2005 and boasts 12 career wins, including a Rolex 24 At Daytona overall victory in 2010.
“Our third season in IMSA promises to be one of our biggest challenges yet,” Tilley said. “With an influx of teams to IMSA LMP2 competition, the level has certainly been raised.”
#20 High Class Racing – ORECA LMP2 07
Dennis Andersen/Anders Fjordbach/Fabio Scherer/Nico Mueller
After making its WeatherTech Championship debut in only the Rolex 24 last year, the Danish team is in for the entire 2022 season in LMP2. Fjordbach and Andersen will be the full-season drivers and were part of the Rolex 24 effort that finished ninth in class last year and included ex-Formula One driver Robert Kubica.
Fjordbach was the 2019 LMP2 runner-up in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts when he drove for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. Scherer had two wins in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 last year. Mueller drove in Formula E in 2019 and ’20, and also has years of touring car and GT experience.
#22 United Autosports – ORECA LMP2 07
James McGuire/Guy Smith/Phil Hanson/Will Owen
After competing in the final three Michelin Endurance Cup races last season, United Autosports is in for all four in 2022. McGuire and Smith return to Daytona from a season ago when their best finish was third at Watkins Glen.
Hanson, who last drove in the WeatherTech Championship in 2018 in a United Autosports LMP2, is back for the full endurance slate. Owen, who drove a Juncos Racing DPi for eight races in 2019, joins for the Rolex 24.
#29 Racing Team Nederland – ORECA LMP2 07
Fritz van Eerd/Giedo van der Garde/Dylan Murry/Rinus VeeKay
After capturing the LMP2 ProAm title in the WEC last year, the Dutch team is prepared to tackle the Michelin Endurance Cup races in the WeatherTech Championship in ’22. The team made its IMSA debut in last year’s Rolex 24, finishing eighth in class.
Van Eerd and van der Garde return from that effort and are joined by IndyCar driver and fellow Dutchman Rinus VeeKay. Rising American driver Dylan Murry rounds out the roster.
#52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports – ORECA LMP2 07
Ben Keating/Mikkel Jensen/Scott Huffaker/Nicolas Lapierre
The three-time reigning LMP2 champions return their lineup intact for the Rolex 24, one of the few races that slipped away in 2021. The No. 52 ORECA retired early seventh in class at the Rolex 24 but went on to win three other races and take home both the season and Michelin Endurance Cup crowns.
Keating, Jensen and Huffaker will drive the car in this year’s endurance events, but a different lineup will be used for the two sprint races.
Last year’s championship was the first for the 50-year-old Keating, an IMSA regular since 2013 with 16 career wins. One of those victories came in the 2015 Rolex 24 in the GT Daytona (GTD) class.
#68 G-Drive Racing by APR – ORECA LMP2 07
Rene Rast/Ed Jones/Francois Heriau/Oliver Rasmussen
The successful European LMP2 team is making its Rolex 24 debut with a two-car effort. Two-time Rolex 24 winner Rene Rast (GT in 2012, GTD in 2016) heads the lineup for the #68 ORECA.
IndyCar driver Ed Jones, who made his Rolex 24 debut a year ago in GTD, will make his first prototype start alongside Rast. Heriau has driven prototypes since 2016 in the Le Mans series in both Europe and Asia, winning the Gulf 12 Hours in 2017 in a Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3). Rasmussen, 21, is making his sports car debut.
#69 G-Drive Racing by APR – ORECA LMP2 07
John Falb/James Allen/Luca Ghiotto/Tijmen van der Helm
Falb is racing in the WeatherTech Championship for the first time since 2018. He was part of the winning Prototype Challenge team at the 2017 Motul Petit Le Mans. He arrives though as the reigning LMP2 Pro-Am ELMS Champion. Allen returns to the Rolex 24 for the first time since 2019, when he finished third in LMP2 with DragonSpeed.
Ghiotto comes from a mainly open-wheel background and is making his WeatherTech Championship debut. Van der Helm, who turns 18 on Jan. 26, is also making his series debut but did drive an LMP3 in two Michelin Le Mans Series races last year.
#81 DragonSpeed USA – ORECA LMP2 07
Colton Herta/Pato O’Ward/Eric Lux/Devlin DeFrancesco
This one-off effort features a trio of young IndyCar drivers in Herta, O’Ward and DeFrancesco, as DragonSpeed will feature an entirely different driver lineup for the remainder of the season.
A six-time race winner in the IndyCar Series, Herta also was victorious in his first WeatherTech Championship race – the 2019 Rolex 24 when he was part of the BMW Team RLL entry that won the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. O’Ward was also a winner his first time out at the Rolex 24, in the Prototype Challenge class in 2017 when he won seven of eight races. The two have been teammates and rivals since their days in Indy Lights.
DeFrancesco will be Herta’s IndyCar teammate at Andretti Autosport this year for his rookie season. The Canadian also has four previous WeatherTech Championship starts, all in prototypes, including a third-place LMP2 finish in last year’s Rolex 24 with DragonSpeed. Herta, O’Ward and DeFrancesco are all 22 or younger.
Lux is the veteran of the group, at age 33, driving in his first IMSA race when his three teammates were 5 or younger. Lux has six career wins and was the 2011 Prototype Challenge season champion.
With thanks to IMSA.com and Mark Robinson
