The 2024 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, the opening round of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, is set to run with a field of 60 cars following today’s entry list reveal.
Today’s entry being published follows last month’s full-season entry list reveal, which confirmed a record-breaking 48 cars.
The Rolex 24 list meanwhile, features 60 cars across the four categories, headlined by a 10-car GTP category which includes entries from Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche teams. Eight of those are factory cars, joined by a pair of private Porsche 963s from JDC-Miller Motorsports and Proton Competition.
The GTP entry for Rolex features a number of significant driver additions, though many have been slowly revealed in recent days.
This includes WTRAndretti’s star pair of Formula One World Champion Jenson Button and Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, who will join the team for this year’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
Porsche Penske Motorsports has retained much of its core line-ups from last season, featuring Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche 963, and in the #7, Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, defending Indy 500 champ Josef Newgarden, and Frédéric Makowecki.
BMW M Team RLL also confirms that Jesse Krohn, Augusto Farfus, and Dries Vanthoor will drive the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with Connor de Phillippi, Nick Yelloly, and Maxime Martin in the #25. Both cars will reveal a fourth driver at a later date.
There are three GTP omissions from the season opener, none of which are surprising.
A potential second Proton Competition Porsche 963 is not listed. Christian Ried told DSC in September: “We still are in discussion with Porsche about when we can have number three and four. But it looks difficult to get them for the beginning of the season.
“So it looks like we will be running one car in the FIA WEC and one in IMSA.”
Proton’s #59 Porsche will feature Gianmaria Bruni and Neel Jani with two more drivers to be announced later.
Iron Lynx’s Michelin Endurance Cup-bound Lamborghini SC63 is also not listed. Its global race debut is set for the 2024 WEC season opener at Qatar, ahead of its IMSA debut at Sebring in March.
A third Cadillac V-Series.R has also not come to fruition. Ganassi’s full-season FIA WEC car, which made a one-off appearance last January for the inaugural LMDh race to bolster Cadillac’s effort, will not race stateside until the WEC visits CoTA later in the year.
LMP2 features 12 cars, with 11 Oreca 07s and a single Ligier JS P217 from Sean Creech Motorsport which will be driven by Lance Willsey, João Barbosa, and two other drivers to be named later.
Final LMP3 champion team Riley has confirmed Josh Burdon will remain with the team alongside Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga, with a fourth driver to be named later.
Era Motorsports has already announced Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel for the full season; while not listed by IMSA, Era Motorsports did confirm that Indy NXT champion Christian Rasmussen will rejoin the team for the Daytona 24 Hours. AF Corse’s #88 Oreca will feature Luis Perez Companc, Niklas Nielsen, and Lilou Wadoux as part of its driver lineup.
Some teams have had to change plans very late due to FIA Driver Categorisation changes ahead of the 2024 racing season, particularly as it pertains to drivers for the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.
Of note, Ben Keating will be pulling double duty at Daytona: In addition to his full-season ride in the #2 United Autosports USA Oreca, he’ll be driving the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 in GTP alongside Richard Westbrook, Tijmen van der Helm, and Phil Hanson.
The GTD Pro and GTD classes are jam-packed with entries, with 11 manufacturers represented across the two categories.
In Pro, the entry confirms the formation of the Ford Multimatic driver roster, which sees Mike Rockenfeller and Harry Tincknell in the #64 Mustang GT3, Joey Hand and Dirk Müller in the sister #65 car.
Ferrari customer Risi Competizione meanwhile, has signed up Davide Rigon, Daniel Serra, and defending Le Mans 24 Hours overall winner Alessandro Pier Guidi for the first outing of its planned Michelin Endurance Cup campaign.
The Pratt Miller Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs are also listed with the confirmed set of factory drivers. Antonio García, Alexander Sims, and Daniel Juncadella will drive the #3 while Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, and Earl Bamber will steer the #4.
SunEnergy1 Racing will maintain Mercedes-AMG’s presence on the GTD Pro grid but has yet to announce its three drivers.
GTD’s entry, with 25 cars, confirms a number of interesting names, including the addition of factory driver Tom Gamble to Inception Racing’s McLaren squad, he will drive with Brendan Iribe, Ollie Millroy and Frederik Schandorff.
Magnus Racing also notably brings John Potter, Andy Lally, and Spencer Pumpelly to the field with a fourth driver of the #44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to be named later.
Of the four Ferraris on the grid, AF Corse’s drivers in the #21 296 GT3 are now public, with François Heriau expected to be back from injury, joining Simon Mann and Kei Francesco Cozzolino and a fourth driver to be named later.
Triarsi Competizione’s four drivers will be Onofrio Triarsi Jnr, joined by Alessio Rovera, Ricky Agostini, and Charlie Scardina. Cetilar Racing confirmed its partial lineup featuring Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto, and Eddie Cheever III.
Iron Lynx’s three-car Lamborghini effort for the Rolex 24 is confirmed too, with its #19 in Pro with Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper, Andrea Caldarelli and Franck Perera.
The GTD Huracan GT3 EVO 2s feature, though the line-ups are not yet complete. The Rolex-only #60 has just Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni named, leaving two seats to fill. Iron Dames’ Endurance Cup Huracan also has a single blank next to Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey. Forte Racing only has Misha Goikhberg and Loris Spinelli named thus far in the #78.
Acura maintains a presence in GTD as Gradient Racing confirmed it will keep the #66 NSX GT3 for Sheena Monk and Katherine Legge; while Andretti Motorsports, led by Jarett Andretti, changes from Aston Martin to Porsche. Winward Racing will keep hold of Russell Ward and promote Daniel Morad into the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3.
At Turner Motorsport, a single #96 BMW is entered this year for Robby Foley, Patrick Gallagher, Michael Dinan, and Jens Klingmann.
Also listed are three “at large” entries: A second MDK Motorsports Porsche (#53) to join the previously-announced #86 of Anders Fjørdbach and Li Kerong, the #80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with its drivers to be announced later, and Proton Competition entering a third Ford Mustang GT3 (#55) with its drivers to be named later.
The 2024 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship season kicks off with the annual three days of Roar Before the 24 testing between January 19/21, followed by the endurance classic, the Rolex 24 At Daytona from January 25/28.
