Welcome to America, LMP3 Gen3!
The first batch of third-generation LMP3s are making their North American race debuts this weekend in the opening double-header round of the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. All three are Ligier JS P325s, the dominant choice for most LMP3 teams across Europe and Asia.
TWOth Autosport co-owner and driver Travis Hill will drive this car with title sponsorship from Shopify. Hill will share the car in the upcoming Airbnb Endurance Challenge rounds with F1 Academy graduate, Nicole Havdra.
Toney Driver Development, run by current Inter Europol Competition race engineer Nathan Toney, runs the other two – the purple and white #95 for Lincoln Day, and the yellow and black #30 for Brady Golan.
This will be an opportunity to see and hear the contrast between the current-gen cars’ Toyota V6 twin-turbo engines, and the six previous-gen Nissan V8s – three Ligiers, and three Duqueines.
Oliver Gavin joins NBC/Peacock commentary team
Ten years after his GTLM class win at the 2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona, Corvette Racing driver Oliver Gavin will join the NBC commentary team for the United States broadcaster’s domestic TV/streaming coverage.
Gavin will rejoin the NBC/Peacock crew after serving as a guest commentator for last year’s Rolex 24, and it’s understood that this will be the first in a multi-race agreement for the long-serving Asian Le Mans Series colour commentator.
KOHR Motorsports’ Biffle Tribute Livery
For the Michelin Pilot Challenge BMW M Endurance Challenge next Friday, the #60 KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 will be a fan-favourite, sporting this brilliant tribute to NASCAR legend Greg Biffle, his family, and his friends who perished in the 18 December Cessna crash in Statesville, North Carolina.
The livery was designed by Andy Blackmore, as a replica of the car that Biffle drove to the 2002 Busch Grand National Series (now O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) championship. As an added touch, the hashtag #BeLikeBiff, a nod to Greg and his family’s humanitarian efforts in recent years, occupies the rear quarter-panels in the same typeface as original sponsor Grainger.
The names of everyone on board the plane are proudly displayed as “riding with” drivers Ray Mason and Evan Slater (KOHR owner Dean Martin will join them after the Roar Before The 24 to drive in the race itself).
Greg Biffle, named as one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers of its first 75 years, won the 2000 Truck Series and 2002 Busch Series championships, and finished runner-up in the 2005 Cup Series standings. He made only one appearance at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2005, driving a Multimatic Motorsports MDP1-Ford with Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, and Scott Maxwell.
In addition, Myers Riley Motorsports has added Biffle’s stylised #16 decal from his entire full-time Cup Series career to the rear of its #16 Ford Mustang GT3 Evo.
Ford Racing’s drivers return from Detroit launch
Logan Sargeant had his seat fit at Era Motorsport this morning before testing, not usually noteworthy if not for the overnight trip he’d taken.
Last night, Sargeant was present in Detroit for his reveal as a Ford Racing factory driver – along with Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx. Once Ford’s star-studded 2026 reveal show was over, they were on a return flight to Daytona Beach for the first day of the Roar Before The 24.
Eight drivers added to Ford Racing Driver Development Team
But there is some news for the former Ford Performance Junior Team, now known as the Ford Racing Driver Development Team – it has doubled in size since its launch last year.
The FRDDT has added Americans Nate Cicero, Devin Anderson, Will Lucas, and Clayton Williams to its roster, plus four international drivers: Cameron McLeod (Australia), Finn Wiebelhaus (Germany), Michiel Haverans (Belgium), and Kiano Blum (Austria).
We are excited to announce that the Ford Racing Driver Development Team is expanding to 14 members! All these drivers have shown incredible potential on and off the track, and they will further develop their skills as part of the Driver Development Team.#FRSeasonLaunch26 pic.twitter.com/8hw5SXC0Yi
— Ford Racing (@FordRacing) January 16, 2026
The “original six” of Jenson Altzman, Erik Evans, Robert Noaker, Sam Paley, Marco Signoretti, and Nathan Vanspringel have all been retained as junior drivers by Ford.
Altzman will make his Rolex 24 debut for Myers Riley Motorsports in the Ford Mustang GT3 Evo. Noaker and Cicero will drive for McCumbee McAleer Racing in next weekend’s Michelin Pilot Challenge opener, while Williams will run for LAP Motorsports in that event, all in Mustang GT4s.
At Acura MSR, why don’t the numbers add up?
This is the second year in which Acura Meyer Shank Racing will have a car that is engineered by Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US), the #93 Acura ARX-06.
It led DSC Editor-in-Chief Graham Goodwin to an epiphany: Why would a car sponsored by ConocoPhillips’ Phillips 66 brand not carry a number plate to match?
“The number 93 is much more important to HRC,” as Shank explains – because it represents the year of HRC US (formerly Honda Performance Development/HPD)’s establishment.
And it’s not the first time that MSR has worn the number 93 during its current collaboration with Honda/Acura – the #93 Acura NSX GT3 raced in GTD from 2017–2018.
The number 66 is currently worn by Gradient Racing (a former Acura GT3 customer) but as Shank explains, “We’ve never even considered asking them to change numbers.”
Gunn calls for patience as the Valkyrie begins its sophomore campaign
It’s easy to forget that the Aston Martin Valkyrie hasn’t yet taken on the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Last year, the Heart of Racing team (THOR) sat out the IMSA opener and gave the V12 LMH prototype its North American debut at Sebring in March.
From then on, the car quickly became a fan favourite due to its striking aero package and ear-piercing engine notes. Results started to come in the second half of the season, too, when Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn finished sixth at Road America and then second at Petit Le Mans with Alex Riberas in the third chair.
The high banks at Daytona, though, pose a unique challenge in the IMSA season and a new one for the Valkyrie. It’s a circuit unlike any other on the calendar, and while it may not be the most physical or challenging from a driver’s perspective, it’s a big test of reliability and each team’s operational capabilities.
So where should we place our expectations for the Valkyrie in its first crack at IMSA’s ‘Super Bowl’? Gunn acknowledges that the team carries confidence into year two, but believes everyone within the camp should remain realistic.
“It’s still important to be patient,” he explained to DSC when asked whether or not he feels the car’s first win is right around the corner. “As drivers, naturally, we’re very impatient; we want everything now. Being realistic, we don’t know where to start the year.
“Of course, I would do anything to be on the top step next Sunday, but realistically, if we can be fighting for podiums again, we can hopefully unlock the victory naturally.
“We’ve picked up a lot of information about the car, the class last year,” Gunn continued.”The (Sanctioned) test (in November) didn’t go completely to plan for us, but we did a lot of analysis over the winter that should put us in a good position for the next two weeks.
“We’re looking forward to understanding a bit more about tyre degradation this weekend because there will be a lot of double stints early on in the race. To understand the degradation of the new tyre will be critical for us here.
“There’s just a lot of unknowns right now in terms of the competitive order. Where we’re going to stack up, we don’t have a clue, and we see that as a good thing. The key for us is to make the finish, as we only have one car. We’re going into it with that in mind.”
Mustang GT4s lock out top 7 to close first day of Pilot Challenge testing
The 51-car Michelin Pilot Challenge field also had its first tests of the weekend. Session 1 was led by the #2 CSM Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport of Morgan Burkhard, who set a 1:52.800 to lead the GS (Grand Sport) class.
He finished ahead of three Ford Mustang GT4s, who would lock out the top seven spots in the leaderboard in Session 2.
Leading the way in the afternoon was Team TGM’s two new Mustangs – with Hugh Plumb in the #64 in first with a 1:53.296, less than a tenth ahead of the sister #46 of Paul Holton in second.
Honda Civic FL5 TCRs took turns leading in the TCR category. Session 1 was led by Cameron Lawrence in the #89 HART Honda (1:58.477), and leading Session 2 was Rocco Pasquarella in the #5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Civic (1:57.565), the top TCR time of the day.
Gebhardt’s 2nd-Gen Duqueines lead VPRC practices
Practices for the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season-opening double-header did not go the way of the latest and newest Ligier JS P325s as one might have expected. Instead, it was Gebhardt Motorsports’ trio of Duqueine D08s that took turns pacing today’s two practices.
The #11 Pinaxis – Zone 4 Racing Duqueine of Danny Soufi was quickest in Practice 1 with a 1:43.384, going quicker than second-place Brady Golan in the #30 Toney Driver Development Ligier P325. Golan’s 1:43.456 was the quickest time of all three of the new Ligiers across both practice sessions.
Oscar Tunjo then took his turn at the top in Practice 2, setting a 1:43.012 in the red #1 Gebhart Duqueine.
Westin Workman’s first weekend of GT4 racing started excellently, leading both practices in the #8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra EVO2. The reigning Toyota GR Cup North America champion set a 1:53.492 in Practice 2, his best time of the day. Not bad, for a young driver who’d never tested this car before today!
VP Challenge Qualifying starts at 10:25 AM ET (local time), then Race 1 starts at 2:00 PM ET, with live streaming coverage on the IMSA YouTube channel, IMSA.TV, and Peacock.
Images © IMSA, dailysportscar.com
