With the 2023 season over I guess it is time to start looking forward to next year. Full season and Endurance Cup entry lists are already available. Sounds like there will the ability to add a few additional cars for select events like Daytona that can handle over 60. https://www.imsa.com/news/2023/10/12/imsa-reveals-full-season-weathertech-championship-and-michelin-endurance-cup-2024-entries/ A couple things I found interesting. AO Racing has car #99 in LMP2 next year. They were asked recently about if the fun Rexy and Roxy liveries would continue and they wouldn't really confirm or comment. 99 used to be the Gaisnco red dragon. Recently that sponsorship and livery has been running in LMP3 in the VP Racing series. I would be thrilled if it made a return to WeatherTech. No WeatherTech Racing. The Proton GTP Porsche is on there so maybe that car will continue with the WeatherTech colors. But nothing under the WeatherTech Racing team name in the GT classes. Wright Motorsports this year ran the 77 Volt Racing car and the 16 1st Phorm car. It was already announced that the 77 won't be there next year, but nothing about the 16 which was originally a full season car, and then changed to endurance only. On next year's entry list is #120 for Wright. They have run that number in other series so I wonder if this will be Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer.
Entry list for the Daytona 24 was released. 60 cars for next year which I think is down from 62 this year. I am guessing that has to do with the fact the GTP and LMP2 cars are physically larger than the LMP3 cars that went away. There are some super star lineups in there. A few that stand out: #40 WTR Acura GTP with Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jenson Button #9 Pfaff Motorsports GTD Pro with Oliver Jarvis, Marvin Kirchoefer, James Hinchcliff and Alexander Rossi One other interesting thing is Bill Auberlin's name isn't listed against the #96 Turner car. https://www.imsa.com/news/2023/11/14/preliminary-team-and-driver-lineup-revealed-for-62nd-rolex-24-at-daytona/
He has been a Ford driver for a while. He was a part of the Ford GT program. Has run a few races in a GT4 Mustang in Michelin Pilot Challenge. I was actually at VIR last year when he won. Image Unavailable, Please Login _DSC9480 by Alex Eichmiller, on Flickr Image Unavailable, Please Login _7501265 by Alex Eichmiller, on Flickr
They can fit a lot more cars than the WEC. LMP2 cars are still eligible for LeMans and it seems there is a lot of interest still in running them. I think that will continue till GTP/Hypercars are easier to get for customer programs.
in hindsight they probably could have done away with that class too, don't need them for field fillers
There will be more cars eligible to run in GT3 than there was in GTE, and the number of Hypercars is increasing too. LMP2 cars are homologated until 2025.
Entry list for the Roar is here. So its basically the entry list for the Rolex as well. Can't believe the race is only like 2 weeks away. https://www.imsa.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2023/08/11/2024_IWSC_Roar_PreEvent_EntryList_v2.pdf
Palou added as 4th driver on the 01 (not on that sheet) interesting that Whelen is the only GTP team sticking with a 3 driver lineup.
Yeah a few of the ? in that table have been announced by the teams so not sure why that is blank. It is an interesting change where in the past most of the pro teams have just gone with 3 drivers. A few of the GTD Pro teams are still 3 drivers.
a few years ago it was about 50/50 3 or 4 driver lineups, so interesting to see the change GTD Pro is still a bunch of hardasses, I guess
Daytona 24 (do we need a thread?) GTP field covered by .85 sec... cars painted like dinosaurs and dragons are cool. sjd
So after freezing my hind end off at the Roar, weather forecast for this weekend is looking good. 76 degrees and minimal chance of rain. I’m not going to get any work done this week.
52 year old bald car dealership owner is the inverse of all the 22 year old factory "fake silvers". I love it.
Going to be 20 degrees warmer for the race. Going to be interesting to see if that changes who is fastest. Hopefully that also means fewer issues on cold tires during the night or teams taking forever to get them up to temp.
Race Day! Start time 1:30 PM 78-80 Deg F high in the day. 68-69 Deg F low in the night. From sunrise to race end chance of rain 30-70%. So I'm guessing at least some rain. Enough for rains, enough for some spins? Tires too soon, tires too late. Good fields in all classes. Look for a great race.
