With Meyer Shank Racing’s top-class effort parked for 2024, there will be a new winner in GTP at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona this year.
It will come from a field of 10 cars, one up from last year’s nine for the global debut of the new GTP class. These 10 include the addition of two privately-entered Porsche 963s which joined the 2023 season after Daytona.
However, Cadillac Racing has opted not to field its full-season FIA WEC V-Series.R at Daytona as they did last year. The other noteworthy absence is the new Lamborghini SC63, whose American racing debut will need to wait until the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Beyond that, the only other major change comes within Acura – in the first event for the HRC USA operation. This year, Acura is represented by a two-car Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti outfit, after splitting its entry last year between WTR and MSR. Meyer Shank Racing’s tyre pressure manipulation scandal that broke after Daytona proved a major factor in the final decision after all.
Cadillac Racing
#01 – Sébastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon, Álex Palou – Cadillac V-Series.R
With just one win last year at Laguna Seca, the Chip Ganassi Racing side of the Cadillac Racing effort for 2024 will be hoping for an uptick in form.
The V-Series.R, which won the GTP title with Action Express last season, is both fast and reliable but heads into the 2024 campaign without any major revisions. Instead, GM hopes that the data gathered and lessons learned from its debut year will net stronger results.
The full-season driver crew for the #01 hasn’t changed either, with stability the chosen route for year two of the programme. Sébastien Bourdais and Renger van Der Zande both return and will be joined by Scott Dixon once again for Daytona and the other Michelin Endurance Cup races later in the year. This trio has combined for six overall victories at Daytona in their careers.
Álex Palou, the current IndyCar Series Champion, rejoins the effort for Daytona after starring in the final year of DPi with the squad in 2022 – where he set the race’s fastest lap that year.
The duo of Bourdais and Van der Zande alone is capable of winning races on any given weekend and with Dixon and Palou in the mix, this team should be considered a real contender for the Rolex 24, given the experience and ability that all four drivers possess.
Chip Ganassi Racing will be keen to score its first Rolex 24 overall win since 2015, at the tail end of the Daytona Prototype era. If it can pull it off, it would be Chip’s seventh Daytona win as a team owner.
Proton Competition
#5 – Gianmaria Bruni, Neel Jani, Romain Dumas, Alessio Piccariello – Porsche 963
Proton Competition returns to GTP in 2024, with plenty of experience to draw from after its partial season campaigns with the 963 in the WEC and IMSA in 2023.
With a new year comes a new look too, as Mustang Sampling has partnered up with the team to bring the black and gold colour scheme back to IMSA.
As a team, Proton quickly got to grips with the 963 last year and navigated the challenges that came with late chassis deliveries well. The high point came at the very end of the IMSA season when it finished on the podium at Petit Le Mans, proving just how competitive a private team can be with an LMDh chassis.
Proton brings with it an intriguing line-up to Daytona, with three Porsche veterans in Bruni, Jani and Dumas, partnered up with up-and-comer Picariello. Picariello is certainly one to watch during race week – the Belgian, who has made a name for himself in Porsche GT3 and GTE machinery, has all the tools to thrive in this new prototype era.
Porsche Penske Motorsport
#6 – Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet, Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor – Porsche 963
#7 – Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden – Porsche 963
Porsche Penske’s 2023 season saw mixed fortunes for its IMSA and WEC programmes with the new 963. The high points all came in IMSA competition, with wins at Long Beach, Road America and Indianapolis that kept it in the title fight right up until the end of the season.
The Penske programme as a whole improved steadily as the season went on. The 963 as a package looked a different animal by the end of the season too, when the Penske team got to grips with tyre wear and found performance gains. It’s a programme that has refused to stand still, as behind the scenes it’s been working flat out to develop and homologate key reliability-focused upgrades which will be ready for the Rolex 24 and the season ahead. There is plenty of optimism heading into the campaign for Porsche Penske as a result.
On the driver front, there has been one notable change, with Dane Cameron moving from the WEC team to the IMSA team for this year, and Matt Campbell headed in the other direction. Both will take part in the Rolex 24 though, sharing the #7 with the returning Felipe Nasr and Indianapolis 500 winner Newgarden.
Estre and Vanthoor, who will remain at the WEC outfit this year, join the #6 crew to partner up with full-time duo Tandy and Jaminet.
It’s a big season coming up for Porsche and its customers on both sides of the Atlantic in 2024. And there is a clear opportunity at Daytona for the programme to show how far it’s come over the past year.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti
#10 – Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Brendon Hartley, Marcus Ericsson – Acura ARX-06
#40 – Jordan Taylor, Louis Delétraz, Colton Herta, Jenson Button – Acura ARX-06
With Meyer Shank Racing out of the picture for 2024, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTRAndretti) steps up to a two-car GTP programme in 2024 with Acura. It’s a new dawn for both the team and manufacturer and with an all-star cast of drivers, right up to the change from HPD to HRC USA in time for the season opener, this effort has a fresh feel to it.
Let’s start with the car. The ARX-06 is a proven package which finished 1-2 on its debut – meaning if Meyer Shank Racing had its controversial victory stripped from them, WTRAndretti would still have given Acura a Daytona 24 win in the car’s first race.
Regardless, Acura will be going for its fourth consecutive overall win at Daytona. The big question for WTRAndretti this season is whether or not it can rediscover its race-winning form. In 2023, MSR won three races, and WTR won zero – though Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor finished second in the title race, in part because of their six top-five finishes, which included three podiums.
A second car means new drivers join the team for the campaign. At Daytona, the eight drivers assembled, top to bottom, are all world-class.
The blue #10 of two-time Daytona champions Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque re-unite for a full-season campaign, joined by Toyota Hypercar stalwart Brendon Hartley and 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson.
The red #40 sees Louis Delétraz promoted to a full-season role with the team alongside the returning Jordan Taylor, another two-time overall Daytona winner. The pair will be assisted by IndyCar star Colton Herta and 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button, who is returning to full-time sportscar racing later on in the WEC with JOTA.
Both line-ups are capable of winning this race, and WTRAndretti, which has won the Rolex 24 five times – as recently as 2021 – is too.
BMW M Team RLL
#24 – Jesse Krohn, Philipp Eng, Augusto Farfus, Dries Vanthoor – BMW M Hybrid V8
#25 – Connor de Phillippi, Nick Yelloly, Maxime Martin, René Rast – BMW M Hybrid V8
BMW M Team RLL is certainly one to keep an eye on at the Rolex 24 this weekend. This time last year it headed to Daytona as the GTP brand with the shortest test and development programme for its new M Hybrid V8. BMW spent race week focused more on reliability rather than outright speed; getting both cars to the finish was the number one priority.
During the season, RLL’s form improved as the car matured, and the team’s hard work was rewarded with five podiums and an Endurance Cup race win when the #25 was named the winner of the Six Hours at The Glen following Porsche’s post-race disqualification. As such, the team has high hopes for its second season with the car, which – lest we forget – will be fighting on two fronts in 2024, now that WRT will be taking the car to the WEC and Le Mans.
On the driver front, RLL has tweaked its line-up. Like last season, Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly will share the #25 for the full season and will be joined by Maxime Martin for three of the endurance races, with WRT’s René Rast set to support the team at Daytona.
Meanwhile, Jesse Krohn has been promoted to a full-time role in the #24 alongside Philipp Eng. Augusto Farfus, who was part of the full-time roster in 2023, does return though only for Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta. Dries Vanthoor, another WEC full-timer, also joins in for Daytona. The #24 crew in particular will be hoping for an uptick in form this time out, after failing to finish on the podium at any point in 2023.
Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing
#31 – Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, Tom Blomqvist – Cadillac V-Series.R
Last year’s GTP Drivers’ and Teams’ title winner Action Express Racing has returned for another title challenge in 2024, and if the evidence of Pipo Derani’s record-breaking pole lap at Daytona was any indication, the red #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac is poised for another strong season.
There’s been some change in the ARX driver line-up for this year. Alex Sims has gone back to the GT ranks to drive for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. Promoted is Jack Aitken, who goes from Endurance Cup driver to full-timer alongside the reigning champion Derani, who won Daytona in 2016.
Meanwhile, two-time Daytona winner Tom Blomqvist moves over from Meyer Shank Racing for the Endurance Cup races, to ensure he keeps a finger in the IMSA pie while taking on his new full-season IndyCar drive with MSR.
Aitken’s new role is certainly a storyline to follow throughout the season. The 28-year-old is rapid, versatile (an IMSA GTP, DTM and F2 race winner), and highly thought of within GM. How will he fare with a full-time prototype programme?
In 2023, it was consistency early in that won AXR its titles. By the end of the season, just a single win, at Sebring and a further two podiums were enough to secure a clean sweep of GTP championships, aided by MSR’s post-Daytona points reduction. But that coronation wasn’t without its controversies – namely Derani and Filipe Albuquerque’s title-deciding crash at Petit Le Mans.
It will be a tough feat to repeat, but AXR has proven time and time again that it can go head-to-head with the best in the business and come out on top.
JDC-Miller MotorSports
#85 – Richard Westbrook, Phil Hanson, Ben Keating, Tijmen van der Helm – Porsche 963
JDC-Miller’s bright yellow 963 – the “banana boat” – returns in 2024, but this time as a full-season effort. The plucky privateer team, which routinely punches well above its weight, will look to be a dark horse throughout the season as it continues to get to grips with the complexity of its still relatively new car and the competition which will continue to get stronger when Lamborghini joins the field at Sebring.
Last season, in its partial-season campaign that began at Laguna Seca after it took delivery of its car, it’s fair to say that JDC turned heads. Despite the gap in resources between it and its factory opposition, the team managed to claim four top-five finishes in six races.
For this year’s attack, young Dutchman Tijmen van der Helm is back, though Mike Rockenfeller has stepped away. In his place is former Cadillac factory driver Richard Westbrook, who brings a wealth of DP, DPi and GTP experience to the programme with this move.
Phil Hanson, meanwhile, is new to the top class and is using this Endurance Cup campaign with JDC to complement his full-season Hertz Team JOTA effort in the WEC. The Daytona line-up is completed by Ben Keating, the reining IMSA LMP2 and WEC GTE Am champion, who will be pulling double duty with United Autosports in the race. While still very much a Bronze, Keating is a steady hand who rarely makes mistakes.
If the team plays its strategy right, there’s no reason it can’t be in the mix for a strong result late in the race.
Images © Richard Dole, Jake Galstad, Michael L. Levitt / IMSA
