IMSA has released a draft version of the entry list for next weekend’s Roar Before the 24, the final official pre-season testing opportunity before the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.
It includes Kiwi’s Richie Stanaway, Earl Bamber and Shane Van Gisbergen.
ENTRY List: Click Here
The provisional list, which still has a number of to-be-announced drivers, features 67 entries, including a class-high 27 cars set to take part in the GT Daytona category.
Some of the surprise drivers to be on the list include Graham Rahal (BMW Team RLL), Wayne Taylor (Wayne Taylor Racing) and Shane van Gisbergen (Alex Job Racing).
Seventeen cars from the Prototype class are set to take part, including the debuts of Pickett Racing’s Oreca 03 Nissan and the OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan. Drivers are TBD for both outfits, other than Klaus Graf already being confirmed in the Muscle Milk-sponsored entry.
Extreme Speed Motorsports will run both of its HPD ARX-03bs for the first time in pre-season testing, to be driven by its previously confirmed driver lineup of Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel, David Brabham (No. 1) and Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek, Simon Pagenaud and Anthony Lazzaro (No. 2).
Wayne Taylor is set to return to the wheel of his Dallara-chassised Daytona Prototype, joining sons Ricky and Jordan, plus Max Angelelli in the team’s Rolex Series championship-winning Corvette DP, while Justin Wilson and AJ Allmendinger are listed in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford with full-season pilots Ozz Negri and John Pew.
Chip Ganassi Racing will have both of its Ford-powered Rileys at the test, with only Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, its full season drivers, confirmed in the No. 01 car thus far. The same is the case for Spirit of Daytona, which features Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante at the helm of the brand-new No. 90 Corvette DP.
While yet to announce its driver lineup, the two SpeedSource Mazda prototypes has team principal Sylvain Tremblay and rising star Tristan Nunez listed as drivers.
The Prototype class is completed by entries from DeltaWing, Action Express Racing and GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing, all with its previously announced driver lineups.
Twelve cars are listed to take part in Prototype Challenge, although only the entries from Starworks Motorsport, 8Star Motorsports, Performance Tech, CORE autosport and RSR Racing have at least one listed driver.
Alex Popow is set to to be joined by Isaac Tutumlu and Martin Fuentes in the No. 7 Starworks Oreca FLM09, while Eric Lux will join Mirco Schultis and Renger van der Zande in the No. 8 entry.
The GT Le Mans class sees a total of 11 entries, all of the full-season and NAEC teams except for Team Falken Tire, which will skip the opening round.
Aston Martin Racing’s Vantage V8 will be driven at the test by Stefan Muecke, Darren Turner, Pedro Lamy, Richie Stanaway and Paul Dalla Lana, while IndyCar star Graham Rahal is listed in one of BMW Team RLL’s BMW Z4 GTE cars, alongside Dirk Mueller, John Edwards and Dirk Werner.
The other BMW Z4 GTE will be driven by Bill Auberlen, Andy Priaulx, Joey Hand and Maxime Martin.
Corvette Racing will debut its new Corvette C7.R with its previously announced driving squad of Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia, Ryan Briscoe (No. 3) and Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Robin Liddell (No. 4).
No drivers are listed for either the Risi Competizione or Krohn Racing Ferraris.
Among the notable drivers in the 27-car GTD field is V8 Supercars ace van Gisbergen, who is listed in the No. 22 Alex Job Racing/WeatherTech Porsche, along with Porsche factory driver Marco Holzer in the Team Seattle-entered 911 GT America.
The AF Corse-run Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia squad will see Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Gianluca Roda, Paulo Ruberti (No. 49) and Matt Griffin, Marco Cioci and Michele Rugolo (No. 51).
Turner Motorsport’s BMW Z4 GT3 features a five-driver lineup, led by BMW factory driver Augusto Farfus, Dane Cameron, Markus Palttala, Jens Klingmann and Dalla Lana.
Additional updates to the entry list are expected in the coming days.
The Roar Before the Rolex 24 is set for Jan. 3-5.
