Yahoo Autos 24 Hours of Daytona: What to Know, See, and Watch Out For
A new year brings with it the start of another year of motorsports. As we sit bundled against the frigid temperatures offered to us by our Michigan winter, we're impatiently counting down the hours until 1:40 p.m. on Saturday, January 27, when we'll be basking under the Florida sun watching tens of thousands of horsepower, spread among 59 cars, racing past us for the rolling start of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. To make sure everyone is up to speed, here's what you need to know about the Rolex 24. The twice-around-the-clock event marks the start of the IMSA SportsCar Championship each year at Daytona International Speedway.
Like all endurance racing, Daytona demands a lot from teams, drivers, and machinery. It's a relentless 24-hour marathon with four races occurring simultaneously. The top-flight race will see Acura, Cadillac, Porsche, and BMW working their way through slower traffic and battling for the overall victory in the GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) class. Behind them, 13 LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype 2) cars will fight and claw their way toward a class victory. Next come the GT Daytona and GT Daytona Pro classes, which comprise cars that look much closer to everyday vehicles than the prototype classes. Mechanically, the GTD classes are identical. The differentiating factor is the number of Pro level drivers allowed on each team, with IMSA limiting that number to one "pro" driver on GTD teams.
Now that you're caught up with what the 24 Hours of Daytona entails, here's some info you should know going into race weekend:
62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. Saturday, January 27, 2024, 1:30 p.m. ET to Sunday, January 28, 1:30 p.m. ET.
3.56-mile racing circuit.
Broadcast coverage of the race starts from 1:30–2:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. From that point until 8 p.m., coverage will move to Peacock and USA, and then Peacock and IMSA.TV from 8–10 p.m.
Coverage returns to USA and Peacock from 10-midnight, then back to Peacock and IMSA.TV until 6 a.m.
From 6 a.m.–noon, coverage will be on USA and then will transition a final time to NBC for the last two hours of coverage.
Record-Breaking LMDh
During the "Roar Before the Rolex 24" qualifying session, the Whelen Cadillac Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) not only beat its time that earned it pole position at last year's Rolex 24 by 1.4 seconds, it also beat Daytona's road course record by a full second. Pipo Derani, who also won the 2021 IMSA Daytona Prototype International championship, averaged 138 mph around the 3.56-mile course. The shiny new record is now 1:32.656. The nine GTP-car entries from the likes of Acura, BMW, Porsche, and another Cadillac also beat the track record. It's the only GTP car on which the gas-burning portion of its hybrid powertrain is using a naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V-8 engine. Last year, the Cadillac GTP cars finished third, fourth, and fifth after 24 hours, behind the two Acuras.
Sister Act 2
Have you ever seen your former car in traffic? That's what the driver of the Acura ARX-06 GTP car, Jordan Taylor, will be experiencing during his stints. Taylor, who drove several seasons with the bright-yellow Corvette Racing C8R, joins IndyCar driver Colton Herta, F1 champ Jenson Button, and Louis Delétraz in Acura's sister car. Not to be outdone, Wayne Taylor Racing's other ARX-06 will be driven by a team of all-stars: Indy500 winner Marcus Ericsson, platinum driver Filipe Albuquerque, and multiple World Endurance Championship winner Brendon Hartley.
GTD Pro, Fo-Sho
Sadly, full factory support from Corvette Racing ended with the 2023 season, but the Pratt Miller Chevrolet Corvette does make a return this year as a quicker GT3 car competing in the 36-car GTD class category. The familiar bright yellow paint is back, at least for both GTD Pro entries from Pratt Miller, who qualified three seconds quicker than last year's car. The other two Corvette Z06 GT3.R are competing in the GTD class, set apart by green and yellow Canadian Vettes from AWA Racing.
That's a Wrap!
Lap times are important, but you when the speed demons are captured with photography at 1/200 of a second, it's the wrap design or racing livery that really set them apart. The GTD Pro class McLaren 720S GT3 Evo from the Canadian team of Pfaff Motorsports had fans worried the iconic plaid livery wouldn't make the transition from last year's Porsche 911 GT3 R. New for this year from AO Racing is the LMP2 car the team calls "Spike." The dragon's teeth and nose are on the front section and hood of the car, while giant wings sprawl across the side of the car's vertical fin. The car that started it all, "Rexy" is easily the biggest fan favorite of all the schemes at the Rolex 24. Big teeth, tiny arms, and a pole position make AO Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 R one fierce predator.
Plenty of Ass Left to Kick
Two years after the 467-hp V-8-powered RC F debuted, team Vasser Sullivan Racing brought their Lexus sports cars to the 2019 Rolex 24. The team's No. 14 car won last season's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with the No. 12 car finishing third. This year, the pair of GT3 cars qualified among the top: second in GTD Pro for the No. 14, and first in GTD with the No. 12 car.
