The 62nd annual Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona headlines this weekend of motor racing, but preceding it are two IMSA-sanctioned series holding three races across the Thursday and Friday before the 24.
The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series begins on Friday with the four-hour BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona, featuring a mixture of 28 GT4 cars in the Grand Sport (GS) class and 17 TCR touring cars.
Nine drivers are expected to pull “double duty” across this race and the Rolex 24, including reigning GS class champion Robby Foley and Turner Motorsport. Foley will return to drive the title-winning #96 BMW M4 GT4 alongside a new co-driver, Francis Selldorff.
Also in that group are reigning IMSA GTD Pro Champion Jack Hawksworth in the #50 Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo entered by Hattori Motorsports, and Aaron Telitz, who’s been the fastest man across three days of testing driving the #88 Todd Coleman Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Daniel Morad, Corey Lewis, Kenton Koch, Spencer Pumpelly, Stevan McAleer, and Trent Hindman are also on the provisional entry list.
Two new GT4 models will participate: The new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo, entered by last year’s GS Championship runner-up Rebel Rock Racing; and two new Ford Mustang GT4s – one each from KOHR Motorsports and McCumbee McAleer Racing.
Rebel Rock aimed to put the new Vantage GT4 Evo through its paces in those events but mechanical troubles mean the car’s world debut will come Friday, driven by Frank DePew, Robin Liddell, and Andrew Davis. On the other hand, the Mustang GT4 has already collected two victories with Luca Mars and KOHR Motorsports sweeping the VP Racing Challenge Series double-header this past week.
There’s also considerable star power from the world of NASCAR turning up the intensity, as Smooge Racing has recruited Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, and Corey Heim to drive one of its Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evos. NASCAR drivers Harrison Burton and Zane Smith won last year’s Daytona Endurance Challenge.
TCR’s field features offerings from Hyundai, Honda, Alfa Romeo, and Audi. Defending champions Robert Wickens and Harry Gottsacker are aiming for back-to-back titles aboard the #33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR, one of four cars entered by the superteam.
In testing, the leader was Turismo Carretera championship runner-up Julian Santero in the #80 Hyundai for Victor Gonzalez Racing Team (VGRT). Road Shagger Racing’s Gavin Ernstone and Jon Morley are the defending TCR class winners at Daytona, in their #61 Audi RS 3 LMS.
Qualifying for the race starts Thursday at 1:15 PM EST, with the four-hour race scheduled to start Friday at 1:45 PM EST.
Along with that, the most entertaining 45 minutes in motorsport is back too! The newly-rechristened Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Powered by Michelin returns to Daytona for the fourth time, with two races – one on Thursday at 4:15 PM EST, the other on Friday at 10:15 AM EST.
There are 29 drivers entered including two-time and defending series champion Jared Thomas, and 2021 champion Gresham Wagner, who’ve each won around the high banks of Daytona – as has Tyler Gonzalez, the inaugural Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup North America champion.
Connor Zilisch, always a strong contender in MX-5 Cup, comes back and will pull double duty in these races and the Rolex 24.
The MX-5 Cup field is also bolstered by an array of scholarship winners: Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout winner Westin Workman has a $110,000 scholarship to run the full season as one of seven rookies. Sally Mott, this year’s winner of the Mazda Women In Motorsport Initiative Scholarship, also makes her series debut, while last year’s recipient, Heather Hadley, returns for a second season.
Mazda will pay out cash prizes to the top ten finishers in every race plus $2,000 for the highest finishing woman in the field; the series champion will receive $250,000 while the Rookie of the Year will receive $80,000.
Images © Jake Galstad / IMSA, Andersen Promotions
