IMSA released an extremely preliminary entry list Thursday (Dec. 15) for next month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. In a change from previous communication, the maximum field size has been reduced back to 60 from the 61 that was previously announced. The reasoning given is that the GTP teams require additional pit space as compared to the previous DPis.
In the DPi class, there will be nine teams on the grid, an increase of two from the seven DPis that raced last January. Eight of those teams (the Penske Porsches, the BMWs run by BMW M Team RLL, Wayne Taylor Racing, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, Action Express Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 01 Cadillac) are full-time entrants. The only part-time team in the class is Ganassi’s No. 02, which will race full-time in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
In LMP2, there are 10 cars entered. Full-time entries from Tower Motorsport, Era Motorsport and PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports are back. They are joined by a new two-car full-time effort from TDS Racing using Nos. 11 and 35, along with High Class Racing, which is expanding to full-time after running the Michelin Endurance Cup races in 2022.
Earlier this week, Crowdstrike Racing announced a partnership with Algarve Pro Racing for the Michelin Endurance Cup races. This squad will include former Formula 1 driver Esteban Gutierrez.
AF Corse is fielding a one-off entry, No. 88. This effort has not been announced as of yet, but the team did race an LMP2 effort in the WEC in 2022. That team was a regular contender in the Pro-Am subclass of LMP2 with Francois Perrodo sharing with Alessio Rovera and Nicklas Nielsen.
Proton Competition has a new entry, the No. 55 ORECA 07-Gibson. This car may be running in place of a GTP Porsche that the team will be unable to contain in time for the race.
Finally, Rick Ware Racing is returning to the LMP2 class after competing this past season in the WeatherTech Sprint Cup races with an Acura NSX GT3 Evo22. Two years ago, RWR partnered with Eurasia Motorsport to run a Ligier JS P217-Gibson in the race. NASCAR Cup Series drivers Austin Dillon and Cody Ware shared the car with Sven Mueller and Salih Yoluc. The original plan for that car was a Michelin Endurance Cup schedule, but the schedule was curtailed to only Daytona after Eurasia Motorsport secured an invite to the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the banner of Racing Team India Eurasia.
Based on the list, a previously announced lineup has ended up on the reserve list. That is TF Sport’s Racing Team Turkey entry that was supposed to be shared by Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood, Juan Manuel Correa and Phil Hanson. It is unclear what will happen with this effort.
There are nine LMP3 cars on the entry list. Returning full-time operations are Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s No. 13, Sean Creech Motorsports, Andretti Autosport, Performance Tech Motorsports and Riley Motorsports. They’ll be joined by FASTMD Racing (changing numbers from No. 40 to No. 87, a second AWA entry and JDC-Miller MotorSports (forced out of GTP due to being unable to get their Porsche 963 in time).
Finally, a new team, MRS-GT Racing, has acquired an entry for their No. 43. This team is best known for racing in Europe in Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland and ADAC GT Masters. They have planned on expanding to the United States in recent years, but their plans were delayed due to COVID-19.
There will be 32 GT3 cars on the grid. Eight of those teams will be in GTD Pro, while 24 will be in GTD.
The GTD Pro class is mainly factory-backed efforts. Corvette Racing is here with one car, along with Pfaff Motorsports, VasserSullivan’s No. 14 Lexus, The Heart of Racing’s No. 23, Risi Competizione, Iron Lynx’s previously announced No. 63 with Romain Grosjean and WeatherTech Racing. They’ll be joined by TeamTGM’s car in collaboration with TF Sport.
The GTD class has a number of returning favorites on the grid and some new and returning teams. Turner Motorsport is expanding their effort to two full-time BMW M4 GT3s. Paul Miller Racing’s No. 1 will make for a third full-time BMW. Wright Motorsports will have two Porsches on the grid with the elevated VOLT Racing No. 77 joining the 1st Phorm-sponsored No. 16.
New full-time efforts from Kelly-Moss Road & Race and AO Racing will be on the grid. Kelly-Moss’ second car, along with MDK Motorsports, are new teams destined for the Michelin Endurance Cup. Last week, Wayne Taylor Racing and Racers Edge Motorsports’ jointly announced that they will step up in 2023 from a Sebring one-off to a Michelin Endurance Cup program.
Iron Lynx is running two cars in the class, the No. 19 and the Iron Dames No. 83. Daytona will mark the Iron Dames’ first IMSA start.
A couple of full-time teams from Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS have made the cut as well. One is US RaceTronics, which previously made one start in the series back in 2021 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The other is Triarsi Competizione, which will making their series debut.
IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA PRELIMINARY ENTRY LIST
It should be noted that while a number of the teams on the list have announced their driver lineups, no drivers appear on this list. Official entries for the race are open until Jan. 10. If one of the 60 teams listed choose to withdraw between now and then, then one of the reserve teams will be promoted into the race, similar to how the 24 Hours of Le Mans’ reserve list works.
In addition to Racing Team Turkey, additional teams on the reserve include KCMG, which came up short in a battle for the GTD Pro class win last year, perennial entrant SunEnergy1 Racing with their Mercedes and Samantha Tan Racing out of SRO America and Creventic action with a BMW M4 GT3, along with additional teams.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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