Yahoo Autos IMSA releases preliminary 60-car entry for 2024 Rolex 24 At Daytona
A little over a month ago, IMSA released the full-season team entry for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Now, two months prior to the 62nd Rolex 24 At Daytona, the series has released a preliminary entry list for the race. While the flurry of team announcements last week and the first part of this one have left little to surprise, there are a few items of note.
A total of 60 cars are entered for the 2024 Rolex 24, a capacity entry — 10 GTP, 12 LMP2, 13 GTD PRO and 25 GTD cars. The preliminary lineup of drivers includes 56 Rolex 24 winners and a plethora of champions from the WeatherTech Championship to the FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans. The field also includes several Indianapolis 500 winners and IndyCar Series champions as well as one Formula 1 world champion.
“We could not be prouder to release this preliminary list of participants for the Rolex 24 At Daytona significantly earlier than we ever have before,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “Looking up and down the lineup, we will have a tremendous field of teams, cars and drivers and no shortage of compelling storylines to develop and follow in the next two months as we lead up to the race. With such a stacked field, it would be impossible to identify a favorite in any of the four classes.”
There are a couple of surprises of note, mostly in the GTD class, which has increased by three entries from the list released last month. Chief among them is a Mustang GT3 entry from Proton Competition. Proton will be racing the Mustang GT3 in the FIA WEC, and it looks like Christian Ried’s team is looking to get a head start at Daytona. Lone Star Racing has been added to the list with its Mercedes AMG GT3, and MDK Motorsports has two Porsche 911 GT3 R entries listed. Speaking of Porsche, Andretti Motorsports is switching from the Aston Martin that the team raced in some events last year to a 911 GT3 R for Jarett Andretti, Gabby Chaves and Scott Hargrove.
Of note among the GTP entries is Jesse Krohn in the place of Philipp Eng in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8, although there is still a TBD on the driver roster of both BMWs.In LMP2, the list revealed that Sean Creech Motorsports will retain its core driver lineup of Lance Willsey and Joao Barbosa as it moves into the class with the lone Ligier in the field.
The Rolex 24 At Daytona, preceded by the Roar Before the 24 on Jan. 19-21, takes place Jan. 25-28.
Preliminary entry list, by class:
