IMSA has released the entry list for the 55th Rolex 24 at Daytona, featuring 55 cars for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opener, and also kicking off a new era of prototype racing.
Twelve new-for-2017 Prototypes will take part, alongside five Prototype Challenge, 11 GT Le Mans and 27 GT Daytona entries.
ENTRY LIST: Rolex 24
No major changes have been made since the Roar Before the 24, which, for the first time, was a mandatory test for all teams taking part in the twice-around-the-clock Florida endurance classic.
Up front, all eyes will be on the new DPi and LMP2 cars, with manufacturer involvement from Cadillac, Mazda and Nissan.
Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express will both field Cadillac DPi-V.Rs, joined by the two factory Mazda RT24-Ps and pair of customer Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPis.
Gibson-powered LMP2 entries, meanwhile will be run by Rebellion Racing (Oreca 07), PR1/Mathaisen Motorsports (Ligier JS P217), Visit Florida Racing (Riley Mk. 30) as well as DragonSpeed, which topped the time charts at the Roar with its brand-new Oreca-Gibson.
The only notable change on the driver front in the P class with Brendon Hartley listed in both ESM Nissans, after having originally been announced for the No. 22 entry only.
The GTLM class will feature a heavyweight battle between Corvette, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and Ford, which fields four Ford GTs for the first time since its class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year.
Porsche, meanwhile, will give its mid-engined 911 RSR its competition debut, with the CORE autosport-run entries, now running under the globally unified Porsche GT Team banner.
GTD, meanwhile, showcases the most diversity, with nine manufacturers (Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche) represented in the GT3 class, including the 24-hour race debuts for the Acura NSX GT3 and Lexus RC F GT3 cars.
Mercedes-AMG will also make its WeatherTech Championship debut, three of its second-generation machines set to do battle, while Lamborghini is the most represented manufacturer with a total of eight entries for the race.
Maro Engel has been confirmed in the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG, with a shakeup in the No. 991 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 R, which sees Tim Pappas and Mike Hedlund added to the lineup alongside Wolf Henzler, Jan Heylen and Santiago Creel.
Turner Motorsport’s late addition, featuring Maxime Martin, Jens Klingmann, Jesse Krohn and Justin Marks, is also listed, following the confirmation of the team’s driver lineup on Wednesday morning.
The PC class, now in its final year, will take part in its final 24-hour race, with a handful of still to-be-confirmed driver lineups.
David Cheng is listed alongside Trent Hindman, Johnny Mowlem, Tom Papadopoulos and Adam Merzon in the No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca FLM09, with Nick Boulle moving to the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry, taking the seat vacated by Clark Toppe.
Starworks Motorsport’s two-car lineup has also been confirmed, with Ben Keating, Robert Wickens, Chris Cumming, John Falb and Remo Ruscitti in the No. 8 car and Scott Mayer, James Dayson, Alex Popow and Sebastian Saavedra in the No. 88 entry.
The Rolex 24 is set for Jan. 28-29, with live coverage across the FOX family of networks.
