With less than four weeks to go until the 62nd annual Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, and a week closer than that until the Roar Before The 24! A roster of over 200 drivers taking part in the race is nearing its completion.
GTP
There’s been no change since we last put together a notebook before Christmas.
BMW M Team RLL has yet to declare full-season drivers for either of its two BMW M Hybrid V8 prototypes. Both cars also have an open driver slot.
Proton Competition is also yet to officially announce which driver will join Gianmaria Bruni and Neel Jani in the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds.
LMP2
DragonSpeed’s new entry into the LMP2 field comes as the expected replacement for MDK Motorsports’ second GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R, the #53, which has been scratched from the field.
Eric Lux, James Allen, and Kyffin Simpson have already been nominated to drive the #81 Oreca LMP2 07 with one more driver to be announced in the coming days.
High Class Racing’s #20 car, run in conjunction with the aforementioned MDK Motorsports, has completed its lineup with former TDS Racing driver Scott Huffaker joining for Daytona, reinforcing Dennis Andersen, Seth Lucas, and MEC driver Laurents Hörr.
Era Motorsports, likewise, has announced 17-year-old Connor Zilisch as its MEC driver to accompany Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel.
What’s left? The new Inter Europol with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports hasn’t confirmed its drivers for the full 2024 season – Jakub “Kuba” Śmiechowski is the only man officially announced. Sean Creech Motorsport hasn’t announced which two drivers will join Lance Willsey and João Barbosa. And AF Corse has one open roster spot in its own Oreca next to Luis Perez Companc, Nicklas Nielsen, and Lilou Wadoux.
It is worth noting that at last month’s December test, former Red Bull Junior Team prospect Jonny Edgar tested with Sean Creech Motorsport. The duo of Tom Dillmann and Clément Novalak tested for Inter Europol/PR1, having already been confirmed in drives for Inter Europol’s European Le Mans side.
GTD Pro
The confirmation of new Ford Performance signings Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch to MEC roles with Ford Multimatic Motorsports means that there’s only one remaining name on the 11-car GTD Pro entry list to be revealed: AO Racing’s MEC driver in the #77 Porsche.
GTD
We’ve had confirmation that another Ferrari AF Corse Hypercar driver, Antonio Fuoco, will return to Cetilar Racing’s Michelin Endurance Cup effort alongside Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto.
Ahead of the Lamborghini SC63’s debut at Sebring, two of its drivers, Matteo Cairoli and Romain Grosjean, will drive Iron Lynx’s #60 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 at Daytona with Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni.
Another Lamborghini works driver, Sandy Mitchell, has completed Forte Racing’s lineup for Daytona.
MDK Motorsports’ sole #86 Porsche now has Klaus Bachler and Larry ten Voorde joining full-season pair Li Kerong and Anders Fjørdbach.
To be announced at this time are the entire driver line-ups in the #55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3, #80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, and #91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche.
Partial driver lineups to be confirmed are two in the #92 Kellymoss/Riley Porsche, and one each in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari, #43 Andretti Motorsports Porsche, #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, and #83 Iron Dames Lamborghini.
PROVISIONAL ENTRY LIST (as of 2 January 2024) >>>
Feature image © Richard Dole/IMSA
