Heading into next week’s 56th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, which features FOX network television coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 27, a highly competitive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) field has been assembled. Here’s a quick, team-by-team look at what’s on tap in the Pro-Am class, which will have the largest field of the three competing classes:
No. 11 GRT Grasser Racing Team
Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Rolf Ineichen/Mirko Bortolotti/Frank Perera/Rik Breukers
The Rolex 24 always attracts high-quality race teams from Europe and the GRT Grasser team clearly fits that bill. Bortolotti, the 2017 Blancpain GT Series champion, posted the quickest GTD time in the Roar Before The Rolex 24 At Daytona qualifying session two weeks ago, while Perera, who previously raced IndyCar, Indy Lights and Atlantic in the U.S also found his way atop the practice charts. Ineichen will be making his fifth Rolex 24 appearance this year, while Dutchman Breukers, who is part of Lamborghini’s Young Drivers Program, is competing in his first Rolex 24.
No. 14 3GT Racing
Lexus RC F GT3
Dominik Baumann/Kyle Marcelli/Philipp Frommenwiler/Bruno Junqueira
3GT Racing kicks off its second WeatherTech Championship season with its pair of Lexus RC F GT3 race cars sporting a revised driver lineup. Baumann, a 2016 Blancpain GT series champion will share the No. 14 machine for the full 2018 season with Canadian Marcelli, a frequent IMSA racer who won his class in the 2013 Motul Petit Le Mans. Swiss driver Frommenwiler raced the Lexus RC F GT3 in Europe’s International GT Open series last year, while Junqueira, an eight-time IndyCar race winner, has a lengthy history with 3GT and sports cars as well.
No. 15 3GT Racing
Lexus RC F GT3
Jack Hawksworth/David Heinemeier Hansson/Scott Pruett/Dominik Farnbacher
If there’s a sentimental favorite in the GTD class, the No. 15 Lexus may be it, as sports car legend Pruett – a five-time overall Rolex 24 winner, 10-time Rolex 24 class winner and 60-time IMSA race winner – will be calling it a career after this year’s race. Hawksworth, an IndyCar veteran who drove for the team last year, is back for another full season in the WeatherTech Championship alongside Heinemeier Hansson, who won the GTE Am class in the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans. Farnbacher is a two-time class winner in the Rolex 24.
No. 19 GRT Grasser Racing Team
Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Max van Splunteren/Ezequiel Perez Companc/Christian Engelhart/Christopher Lenz/Louis Machiels
Three of the five drivers on the No. 19 team – van Splunteren, Lenz and Machiels – are making their first appearance in the Rolex 24 this year. Companc is returning for his second race, while Lamborghini factory driver Engelhart will be making his fifth Rolex 24 start. Among drivers, van Splunteren posted the fifth-quickest time in GTD during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
No. 29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport
Audi R8 LMS
Sheldon van der Linde/Kelvin van der Linde/Jeffrey Schmidt/Christopher Mies
The No. 29 team heads into the Rolex 24 looking to extend a WeatherTech Championship winning streak to two consecutive races, as it closed out the 2017 season by winning the GTD class at Motul Petit Le Mans. The No. 29 Audi was third quickest in the GTD class at the Roar courtesy of an opening-practice flyer by South African Kelvin van der Linde, the 21-year-old elder brother of 18-year-old Sheldon van der Linde. Audi factory driver Mies and the younger van der Linde won at Motul Petit Le Mans last year alongside Connor De Phillippi, who now has joined BMW Team RLL in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. Schmidt is making his second Rolex 24 start.
No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Ben Keating/Jeroen Bleekemolen/Adam Christodoulou/Luca Stolz
Keating goes in search of his second Rolex 24 victory – he also won the GTD class in 2015 – with longtime co-driver Bleekemolen, his full-season teammate, who has yet to win a Rolex 24, but does own victories in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Christodoulou, a product of the Mazda motorsports driver development ladder, is now a Mercedes-AMG factory driver who won the prestigious Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2016. German driver Stolz, who won the 2016 Blancpain GT Series Silver Cup title, is back for his second Rolex 24.
No. 44 Magnus Racing
Audi R8 LMS
John Potter/Andy Lally/Andrew Davis/Markus Winkelhock
After a year away, the popular Magnus Racing team returns to the WeatherTech Championship in 2018 with a familiar full-time driver pairing in team owner Potter and Lally, a five-time Rolex 24 class winner. It will be the first Rolex 24 for the Magnus team since winning the GTD class in 2016 with a lineup that included both Potter and Lally. Davis will join the team for all 2018 Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup rounds, and the Daytona lineup will be further enhanced by Audi factory racer Winkelhock.
No. 48 Paul Miller Racing
Lamborghini Huracán GT3
Bryan Sellers/Madison Snow/Andrea Caldarelli/Bryce Miller
Sellers and Snow return to full-time WeatherTech Championship duty for the third consecutive season in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini looking to revert to their 2016 form when they finished inside the top three in the GTD championship. Italian racer Caldarelli is a Lamborghini factory driver, while Bryce Miller, son of the team owner, returns for his first race since last year’s Rolex 24.
No. 51 Spirit of Race
Ferrari 488 GT3
Paul Dalla Lana/Pedro Lamy/Mathias Lauda/Daniel Serra
Canadian racer Dalla Lana is the 2011 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Grand Sport (GS) champion and a 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) GTE Am champion. He will be making his ninth Rolex 24 start this year. He will be joined by ex-F1 racer Lamy and second-generation racer Lauda, with whom he co-drove to the 2017 WEC title, as well as Serra, the 2017 GTE Pro class winner in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
No. 58 Wright Motorsports
Porsche 911 GT3 R
Patrick Long/Christina Nielsen/Robert Renauer/Mathieu Jaminet
Two-time defending GTD champion Nielsen moves to the Wright Motorsports Porsche after co-driving the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari to the last two championships with Alessandro Balzan. She goes in search of her first Rolex 24 win alongside her new full-season co-driver, American Porsche factory driver Long, who won last year’s Pirelli World Challenge title and GT class winner of the 2009 Rolex 24. German racer Renauer is making his fourth Rolex 24 appearance and first since 2016, while Jaminet, a Porsche Young Professional Driver, is making his first Daytona appearance. He made a pair of WeatherTech Championship starts last year at Circuit of The America and Detroit Belle Isle.
No. 59 Manthey Racing
Porsche 911 GT3 R
Steve Smith/Randy Walls/Harald Proczyk/Sven Muller/Matteo Cairoli
Another strong European team at the Rolex 24 is longtime Porsche runners Manthey Racing. In the hands of Cairoli, another Porsche Young Professional, the car turned the second-quickest lap in GTD during the Roar. Cairoli, Smith and Proczyk each are making their second appearances at the Rolex 24, while Muller will be in the race for the third time, and Walls is racing in his first Rolex 24.
No. 63 Scuderia Corsa
Ferrari 488 GT3
Cooper MacNeil/Alessandro Balzan/Gunnar Jeannette/Jeff Segal
Two-time defending GTD champion Balzan will co-drive the WeatherTech-sponsored No. 63 Ferrari with MacNeil for the full 2018 WeatherTech Championship season. Of the driving quartet, only Segal owns a Rolex 24 victory, which came in the GTD class in 2014. This year will be Jeannette’s 11th Rolex 24 appearance, the eighth for MacNeil and the fifth for Balzan.
No. 64 Scuderia Corsa
Ferrari 488 GT3
Bill Sweedler/Townsend Bell/Frank Montecalvo/Sam Bird
Sweedler and Bell won the 2014 Rolex 24 At Daytona in a Ferrari and won the GTE Am class in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Segal in a Scuderia Corsa-prepared Ferrari. Montecalvo will be reunited with Bell and Sweedler, with whom he contested the four Patrón Endurance Cup races last season as part of Alex Job Racing’s single-car effort in 2017. Bird, a Ferrari factory driver who also competes in Formula E, won the 2015 FIA WEC LMP2 championship and is participating in his third Rolex 24.
No. 69 HART
Acura NSX GT3
Chad Gilsinger/Ryan Eversley/Sean Rayhall/John Falb
The volunteer team made up of Ohio-based Honda engineers will field a Rolex 24 entry for the first time in 2018 as part of a planned Patrón Endurance Cup program. Eversley will make his second Rolex 24 start and first since 2016. It will be Rayhall’s fourth consecutive Rolex 24 appearance and Falb’s third straight Rolex 24. Eversley, who has competed full-time in Pirelli World Challenge for the last several seasons, is a former Continental Tire Challenge champion, while Gilsinger is a multiple-time Continental Tire Challenge race winner. Rayhall, the 2013 IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda champion, co-drove to the 2017 European Le Mans Series LMP3 championship with United Autosports, which is fielding a pair of LMP2 cars – including one for two-time F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso – in the Rolex 24.
No. 71 P1 Motorsports
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Kenton Koch/Robby Foley III/Loris Spinelli/JC Perez
P1 Motorsports, which competes full-time in the IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda, is branching out to a Patrón Endurance Cup program in 2018 with a new Mercedes-AMG GT3. Koch, a former IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda champion and previous Rolex 24 At Daytona class winner, is the lone driver in the lineup with Rolex 24 experience. In addition to the Patrón Endurance Cup program, Foley will drive for P1 Motorsports in the IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda this year, as will Perez. Spinelli is part of the Lamborghini Young Drivers Program,
No. 73 Park Place Motorsports
Porsche 911 GT3 R
Patrick Lindsey/Joerg Bergmeister/Tim Pappas
Lindsey, who took third in the 2017 WeatherTech Championship GTD standings, will field a Patrón Endurance Cup program for Park Place Motorsports this season. He’ll be joined again by Bergmeister, with whom he co-drove to a GTD victory last year at Lime Rock, and Pappas, who will make his fifth Rolex 24 start this year. Bergmeister is a three-time Rolex 24 class winner and has an overall victory in 2003.
No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Kenny Habul/Thomas Jaeger/Maro Engel/Mikael Grenier
Habul and the SunEnergy1 Mercedes return in 2018 after their first full-season program in the WeatherTech Championship last year. He and then-co-driver Tristan Vautier earned a pair of podium results last season. Vautier has joined the Spirit of Daytona team in the Prototype class for 2018. Canadian driver Grenier, who has previous experience in Indy Lights, will be making his WeatherTech Championship and Rolex 24 debut. Engel, a Mercedes-AMG factory driver who owns victories in the Nurburgring 24 Hours and Bathurst 12 Hours, will be making his third Rolex 24 start, while former DTM racer Jager – also a Mercedes factory pilot – is back for his second straight Rolex 24.
No. 82 Risi Competizione
Ferrari 488 GT3
Miguel Molina/Ricardo Perez de Lara/Martin Fuentes/Santiago Creel/Matt Griffin
Longtime GTLM competitors Risi Competizione expands its efforts to the GTD class in 2018 with a Ferrari. Spaniard Molina is a Ferrari factory driver who won the Gulf 12 Hours late last year, while Fuentes, Creel and Perez de Lara hail from Mexico. Perez de Lara, who has driven for Ferrari of Houston’s Ferrari Challenge team for several years, is back for his second Rolex 24 and first since 2013. Fuentes was part of the same Racers Edge Motorsports lineup as Perez de Lara in 2013 and owns a Pirelli World Challenge GTA championship. He also is making his second career Rolex 24 start. Creel has participated in the last two Rolex 24s as part of the TRG team, and is driving his third different car in the race after running a Porsche last year and an Aston Martin two years ago. Irishman Griffin is a Ferrari racer whose résumé includes a Blancpain Endurance Series title in 2015 and an ELMS title in 2013. This will be his third Rolex 24, but his first since 2015.
No. 86 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
Acura NSX GT3
Katherine Legge/Alvaro Parente/Trent Hindman/AJ Allmendinger
Legge, who alongside then-co-driver Andy Lally gave the Acura NSX GT3 its first two victories last year at Detroit and Watkins Glen, returns to the MSR team for a Patrón Endurance Cup program this year with co-driver Parente, the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GT champion. NASCAR racer Allmendinger returns to the Shank team – with which he won the 2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona – after a year’s absence. Hindman, the 2014 Continental Tire Challenge GS champion, is back for his second straight Rolex 24 this year.
No. 93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
Acura NSX GT3
Justin Marks/Lawson Aschenbach/Mario Farnbacher/Come Ledogar
Marks, who first made a name for himself in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and earned eight career victories – including a GT-class win in the 2009 Rolex 24 – before shifting his focus to NASCAR, is back for a full season in the WeatherTech Championship alongside Aschenbach, who raced the past several years in GTD for Stevenson Motorsports. Farnbacher is a two-time Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring winner, and Ledogar, a Blancpain Endurance Series champion, will make his first Rolex 24 appearance.
No. 96 Turner Motorsport
BMW M6 GT3
Jens Klingmann/Martin Tomczyk/Mark Kvamme/Don Yount
Klingmann and Tomczyk are both BMW works drivers. Klingmann owns three career WeatherTech Championship victories, all with Turner Motorsport, while former DTM champion Tomczyk competed in the full WeatherTech Championship for the first time last year as part of BMW Team RLL’s GTLM program and will focus most of his attention on BMW’s new-for-2018 FIA WEC program after the Rolex. Kvamme and Yount both competed extensively in the WeatherTech Championship Prototype Challenge (PC) class over the past few years. This will be Kvamme’s fifth consecutive Rolex 24, but it will be just his second in a GT car. For Yount, it will be his third Rolex 24. He finished third in the PC class in last year’s race.
Source :https://www.imsa.com
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