IMSA has issued an updated entry list for the Sanctioned Test at Daytona International Speedway, confirming a few driver additions.
Former Proton Competition driver Nico Pino is set to test the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 this weekend. The Chilean driver will share driving duties with tenured driver Tijmen van der Helm, Bryce Aron, who made his Rolex 24 debut with JDC last year, and Matt Campbell.
Campbell will test the Banana Boat as JDC hopes to use his input to help the team establish a more competitive baseline for the season to come.
Unlike the two Porsche Penske Motorsport factory 963s, the #85 JDC-Miller Porsche has the 963’s previous configuration of front splitter and rear diffuser for the test.
One might have noticed in yesterday’s preview of the Super Taikyu Fuji Final that Kakunoshin Ohta is racing with Craft-Bamboo Racing at Fuji, which means he’ll not be at the Daytona test.
HRC President David Salters has elected to let him spend the weekend in Japan to focus primarily on his upcoming Super Formula title charge, which will conclude at Suzuka next week in the triple-header JAF Suzuka Grand Prix.
AJ Allmendinger will be testing the #60 Acura MSR ARX-06 this weekend, however, as he prepares for his first GTP start and first Rolex 24 appearance since 2021.
In LMP2, Nolan Siegel returns to the Inter Europol Competition team to test the #43 car, which has been changing in and out of wrapped and unwrapped parts today. Siegel helped give Inter Europol its first-ever LMP2 win at the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Dubai.
His IndyCar Series counterpart, Louis Foster, the 2025 Rookie of the Year, has been added to the line-up of the #8 Tower Motorsports car.
Of the LMP2 teams in attendance, most have come with their previous liveries. That includes AO Racing’s ‘Spike’, which is still in its Halloween costume worn at Petit Le Mans.
TDS Racing and Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen’s cars are in bare carbon, and Inter Europol Competition has also fitted its cars with unwrapped parts.
And for this weekend’s test at least, Pratt Miller Motorsports’ #73 ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2 has a revised look, dropping the silver in favour of more black and orange.
This will be Pratt Miller’s only presence this weekend at Daytona, with no Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs entered.
Also present is Intersport Racing, a familiar team from years gone by, but new to the current IMSA LMP2 class.
Jon Field’s team is currently leasing a portion of HMD Motorsports’ shop in Indianapolis for this year’s programme. The supporting line-up of Oliver Jarvis, Seth Lucas, and Job van Uitert was reportedly formed via an analytical, data-driven approach to talent recruiting.
And the team is very confident of its prospects for success with Field as its team anchor, with one Intersport engineer proudly saying, “Some LMP2 teams usually strategise around, ‘how can we get our lap back during the race?’ We don’t have that problem. Jon is so quick, and so consistent as well.”
A bare carbon fibre McLaren GT3 Evo is in the garage of an IMSA WeatherTech event for the first time since the 2024 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, now competing as RLL Team McLaren, has brought in its #59 car for testing on Saturday and Sunday.
Its drivers for the test were a mystery until a quarter to 5 PM local time, when McLaren factory GT driver Dean MacDonald, former RLL IndyCar spot starter Juri Vips, and former Formula 2 driver Max Esterson were confirmed as the three drivers for Saturday and Sunday.
It’ll be the first GT3 outing for the latter two – Esterson only made his IMSA debut at Petit Le Mans, and Vips has never raced competitively outside of single-seaters.
Winward Racing has brought its second Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO to the sanctioned test; the car is earmarked to run at Daytona and Sebring.
For the test, Jason Hart and Scott Noble will drive with Mercedes-AMG Performance Drivers, Luca Stolz and Maxime Martin. With two Platinum drivers, this quartet would satisfy the requirements for a GTD PRO team (GTD is limited to only one Platinum driver in a four-person crew) if, indeed, it is the plan going forward.
Elsewhere in GTD PRO, Mikaël Grenier and Will Power have been confirmed as the remainder of 75 Express’ test lineup, putting Power in preparation for a long-overdue Rolex 24 debut (he withdrew from the race in 2023 due to a medical emergency for his wife, Liz).
Franck Perera has been added to the line-up of the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3, while Riccardo Pera, who just announced he’ll be returning to Manthey next year with programmes to be confirmed later, will join Ryan Hardwick and Thomas Preining in the #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R.
The last car to be unboxed today was Myers Riley Motorsports’ new #16 Ford Mustang GT3 (in the current 2025 configuration).
It appears in the throwback livery that was first unveiled in October, paying homage to the 1985 Roush/Protofab Motorcraft Ford Mustang GTO, which is currently maintained at the 3 Dog Garage museum in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.
After his confirmation as the fourth driver for Daytona, Romain Grosjean has been added as part of the testing line-up.
Other GTD driver additions include Nicki Thiim at Magnus Racing in the #44 “Virtual Energy Special”, and Callum Ilott in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, returning to the team with which he ran the 2023 Indianapolis 8 Hour.
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