Safety car shunt
One of the safety cars that’s been in use this week at Daytona suffered a major off during the hotlap sessions this morning, severely damaging the front-end of the car, putting it out of commission. Thankfully the driver is “ok” after the off, which delayed some of the batches of hotlaps getting underway ahead of the gridwalk.
Luckily, the BMW was not due to be used during the Rolex 24 Hours this weekend, instead the Cadillac Blackwing will lead the field, as planned, to get the race underway after lunch.
Spotted in the paddock
Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has been touring the Daytona paddock this weekend, and was pictured with members of the United Autosports LMP2 team.
Thanks for stopping by Guenther – have a great day(tona) 👋 @HaasF1TeamBoss #BeUnited #Daytona24 #F1 #Daytona pic.twitter.com/qDle12Yv30
— United Autosports (@UnitedAutosport) January 27, 2024
Record crowd expected this weekend
IMSA President John Doonan revealed this morning during his pre-race media conference that this year’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona is set to break the attendence record set last year.
This news follows the announcement earlier in the week that the Roar Before The 24 test weekend attracted its largest-ever crowd.
Beyond Daytona, Doonan, who is clearly pushing hard to keep the momentum for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship rolling, also revealed that ticket sales for most of the races later in the season “are trending upward on 2023”.
It’s a good time to be a sportscar fan in the USA! It is clear that the product being put forward by IMSA is growing day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year.
Alpine welcome to join GTP
During the slate of questions asked to Doonan by the media ahead of the Rolex 24 Hours today, he was keen to make it clear that IMSA would welcome the top-class manufacturers in Hypercar that don’t currently race in GTP (Toyota, Ferrari, Peugeot and Alpine), with open arms.
As part of his discussion on the topic, he specifically name-checked Alpine as a future candidate for a GTP programme. Alpine, which is on the cusp of its first FIA WEC campaign as an LMDh manufacturer with the A424, and has been rumoured over the past 12 months to be putting together a parallel IMSA GTP programme as part of a drive to begin selling road cars in North America
“To homolgate a car in GT3 and GTP, you have to sell so many road cars by regulation. That’s part of the sporting and technical regulations. And in our case the manufacturer marketing agreement with IMSA is critically important. Racing is one thing, telling the story is another. So if a brand has those boxes checked, they’re eligible,” Doonan explained.
“In automotive news Alpine has said it would like to come to North America to sell road cars. For me that would be almost nirvana for someone in my role or my IMSA teammates. If an automotive brand wants to come and establish a retail presence in the North American market, what is the most authentic way to tell a story? Through motorsport.
“There’s one LMDh manufacturer that hasn’t run in IMSA and that’s Alpine. But we’ve got four now and we will welcome Lamborghini with the SC63 at Sebring, and we will see who else comes from there.”
You can expect more analysis from the conference on these pages early next week…
Doonan presented with AHF Impact Award
At the aformentioned conference, IMSA President Doonan was also presented with the Austin Hatcher Foundation’s Impact Award (featured) for his work in promoting the charity organisation.
The AHF, set up by Jim and Amy Jo Osborn following the passing of their son Austin Hatcher Osborn, has raised an impressive $3,600,000 since 2009, using the platform IMSA provides as a key part of its drive to assist families dealing with the effects of peadeartric cancer.
“We could not be more grateful for our partnership with IMSA,” said AHF President and CEO, Amy Jo Osborn. “Not only does this relationship allow us to work with phenomenal companies and individuals, but our partnership with IMSA directly impacts the foundation’s families battling peadeartric cancer.”
For more information on the Austin Hatcher Foundation, and its work, visit its website HERE.
Starting drivers
The starting drivers for today’s race have been revealed in the build up to the 62nd edition of the Rolex 24.
You can take a look at the list HERE.
How to follow
DSC has a full-resource guide up on its home page HERE. Use that, as well as DSC’s race reporting over the next two days, to follow what promises to be an unforgettable Rolex 24 Hours this weekend.
Grab a chair, reach for your beverage of choice and enjoy folks. Soak it up, drink it in, the Rolex 24 is about to begin…
