2022 [IMSA] Daytona 24 hours

[erwin greven]

Capacity 61-Car Entry for Rolex 24

60th annual Rolex 24 at Daytona to feature largest grid since 2014 race…
by John Dagys, January 12, 2022



The Rolex 24 at Daytona will feature the largest grid in eight years, with 61 cars registered for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.

The capacity grid, released by IMSA on Wednesday, features seven DPis, ten LMP2s, nine LMP3 cars, 13 GTD Pro machines and 22 GTD entries.

Defending race winners Wayne Taylor Racing return with its Acura ARX-05 featuring Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi and new recruit Will Stevens, with Helio Castroneves moving to Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura, which features an all-new lineup.

The pair of Acuras are joined by five Cadillac DPi-V.Rs, including a newly expanded two-car effort for Chip Ganassi Racing and the return of Action Express Racing’s championship-winning No. 31 Whelen Engineering car as well as its Ally-sponsored entry for the Michelin Endurance Cup races as well as JDC-Miller Motorsports’ entry.

All ten LMP2 entries are Oreca 07 Gibsons although feature diversity in the eight different teams represented.

It includes defending class winners Era Motorsport and series champions PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, which expands into a two-car operation with the absorption of Steven Thomas’ WIN Autosport effort.

LMP3 features five Ligier JS P320 Nissans and four Duqueine D08 Nissans, with the class and championship-winning Riley Motorsports entry returning to defend its crown.

Forty7 Motorsports is the only new addition to the list, with Mark Kvamme, Austin McCusker and Trenton Estep so far three of the four confirmed drivers in the No. 7 Duqueine.

IMSA’s new-for-2022 GTD Pro class is set for a strong start with a 13-car entry represented by eight GT3 manufacturers.

Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche all have cars featuring factory drivers in the category that replaces the now-defunct GT Le Mans class.

>> A total of 33 FIA GT3-spec cars will be on the grid, thanks in large part to a 22-car field in GTD.

Acura and McLaren are represented in GTD in addition to all but Chevrolet from the GTD Pro contingent of manufacturers, making GTD the most diverse category out of the five classes in this year’s race.

GMG Racing has been confirmed with a Porsche for James Sofronas, Kyle Washington, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Klaus Bachler while Northwest AMR’s Aston Martin will feature factory driver Nicki Thiim alongside Charlie Eastwood, David Pittard and Paul Dalla Lana.

A handful of additional drivers were also confirmed in the class including Corey Lewis and Sandy Mitchell in the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Lamborghini and Jonny Adam completing Magnus Racing’s lineup with its new Aston.

The 60th running of the race will mark the second-largest Rolex 24 entry in the modern-day post-merger era of the WeatherTech Championship, with 67 cars having been permitted to compete in the 2014 event.

>> IMSA’s supplementary regulations, however, detail that a maximum of 61 cars for Daytona.

“The racing world turns its eyes to the Rolex 24 every year since it typically kicks off the season for everyone in the industry and draws such an immense amount of international driver and team talent together,” IMSA President John Doonan said.

“That’s even truer in 2022 with more cars on the grid than we’ve seen at Daytona in the last eight years.

“It shows that the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and sports car racing around the world continues to grow and thrive.

“We’re very excited for what should be a memorable 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona and the season ahead.”

The annual Roar Before the Rolex 24, including the 100-minute qualifying race, will kick off track action on Jan. 21-23 ahead of the race week from Jan. 27-30.

https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/capa ... -rolex-24/

[erwin greven]

Daytona Thursday Notebook

John Dagys’ Thursday notebook from Daytona International Speedway ahead of Roar action…
by John Dagys, January 20, 2022


***All 61 cars that are scheduled to take part in the Rolex 24 at Daytona are set for action in this weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24. Teams unloaded Thursday morning at Daytona International Speedway to prepare for the two-day test and Sunday’s 100-minute qualifying race to set the grid for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.

***Michelin Le Mans Cup driver Antoine Doquin has completed the lineup in Forty7 Motorsports’ Duqueine D08 Nissan, alongside the previously confirmed Mark Kvamme, Austin McCusker and Trenton Estep in the LMP3 class.

***While the current pre-event entry list for the Roar still features a number of TBAs, it’s largely down to administrative reasons dealing with drivers’ licensing. The entry list for the Rolex 24, which was released on Wednesday, features a more representative driver list.

***Starworks Motorsport team owner Peter Baron will be calling strategy on the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi.V-R for the season. The move comes as Baron has taken a step back from LMP2 squad Tower Motorsport, which he previously ran but still provides equipment and logistical support.

***It’s understood that Renger van der Zande, who won the Prototype Challenge class title with Starworks in 2016, put the suggestion in for CGR to recruit Baron to the No. 01 crew.

***TR3 Racing, which is making its WeatherTech Championship debut, is hoping to extend its GTD Pro involvement to also include the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The Florida-based team is fielding a pair of entries for the Rolex 24, including a Lamborghini in GTD.

***Longtime Lamborghini chief technical officer Maurizio Reggiani has been appointed the Vice President of Motorsport in a newly created position within the Italian manufacturer. Reggiani has been replaced by Rouven Mohr as the company’s CTO.

***Lamborghini is known to be working on a possible LMDh program that could debut as early as 2024.

***Proton Competition is running its first non-Porsche in the team’s history. The German squad is fielding two WeatherTech-backed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos in addition to its season-long Porsche 911 GT3 R in GTD Pro.

***The No. 15 Mercedes, which was a late addition to the field, is being supported by crew from Multimatic, in a similar setup seen at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans when Multimatic crew assisted Proton’s No. 99 Porsche 911 RSR-19 in GTE-Am. Proton also runs its U.S. operations out of Multimatic’s shop in North Carolina.

***Multimatic-contracted driver Dirk Mueller is part of the lineup in the No. 15 car, alongside Austin Cindric and Patrick Assenheimer, who is the owner of the chassis. Cindric also holds links to Multimatic through his father, Tim Cindric of Team Penske, which will be campaigning Multimatic-chassied Porsche LMDh cars in 2023.

***The late nature of its entry, which was only finalized earlier this month, means that the No. 15 Mercedes is separated from the two other Proton-run entries in the garage area. The No. 97 Mercedes is one of its three chassis that it previously owned during its 2017 campaign with Riley Motorsports and has since been upgraded to Evo specification.

***Cooper MacNeil and Porsche factory driver Julien Andlauer are confirmed as full season drivers in the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R, also in GTD Pro. MacNeil told Sportscar365 that there are no plans to run the Mercedes in any additional races this season.

***More than a dozen drivers are fresh from competing in last weekend’s Hankook 24H Dubai including Maro Engel, Jules Gounon, Luca Stolz, Mikael Grenier, Alex Riberas, Roman De Angelis, Ian James, Nick Yelloly, Mirko Bortolotti, Rolf Ineichen, Matteo Cairoli, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Jon Miller, George Kurtz and Kenny Habul.

***Engel, Gounon, Grenier and Habul finished third overall in their SPS Automotive Performance-run SunEnergy1 Mercedes, which saw the U.S.-based Australian Habul celebrate with a camel ride to the podium.

***The Heart of Racing, meanwhile, scored a runner-up finish in the GT4 class with James, De Angelis, Riberas and Gray Newell at the wheel of an Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

***Josh Pierson is set to become the youngest driver to compete in the WeatherTech Championship at the age of 15. The PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports driver has received a “one-time waiver” from IMSA due to “preexisting licensing circumstances beyond IMSA’s control” according to a statement from the sanctioning body.

***Pierson, who will turn 16 on Feb. 14, will become the youngest starter in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of his full-time FIA World Endurance Championship LMP2 program with United Autosports this year. He is also confirmed with the Bobby Oergel-led PR1/Mathiasen squad for the Michelin Endurance Cup races in the No. 11 Oreca 07 Gibson.

***Most of BMW’s factory drivers are bidding farewell to motorsport director Mike Krack, who is transferring to the Aston Martin Formula 1 team. The exception is Yelloly, who will continue to work for Krack as part of his Aston Martin F1 simulator duties. “It’s funny,” he enthused, “that he’s leaving being my boss somewhere and is still my boss somewhere else!”

***Inception Racing’s McLaren 720S GT3 is the same chassis that was involved in the multi-car accident at Motul Petit Le Mans two months ago according to team manager Bas Leinders. The Optimum Motorsport-run outfit found Petit to be a useful experience ahead of its first full-time IMSA bid.

“Definitely because for the drivers to get used to the format of IMSA, the way the races are run, the cautions and wave-by,” Leinders told Sportscar365. “And for us as a team, you can watch all the races and try to have a feel of the engineering and strategy, but if you do it yourself it’s a lot better.”

***IMSA and Michelin have introduced tire usage requirements for all classes, including negative camber values in GTD Pro and GTD. The new operational requirements, which outline minimum cold and/or hot pressures and/or stabilized pressures, will be enforced by in-race penalties if teams are found to be running outside of the permitted parameters.

***Teams will be given a warning/reprimand on first violation followed by a drive-through penalty for the second violation and a stop-and-hold plus ten-second penalty for subsequent violations. Additionally, a penalty assessed in qualifying may result in qualifying times being disallowed and an unserved penalty or penalty assessed post-race will be added to the car’s race finishing time and may include a lap count penalty.

***Team Hardpoint has undergone its second rebranding in the last six months, with the organization now known simply as ‘Hardpoint.’ The name is a nod to team owner/driver Rob Ferriol’s military background and refers to the strongest part of the aircraft where weapons, engines and other payloads are mounted.

***Team Penske tested its Oreca 07 Gibson car at Sebring International Raceway this week, in preparation for its FIA World Endurance Championship debut. Newly minted Porsche factory drivers Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr were part of the testing squad in the LMP2 entry, which the team is utilizing as prep for its factory Porsche LMDh effort next year.

***BMW confirmed on Wednesday its lineup of 19 factory drivers, with no major changes apart from the previously announced departures of Martin Tomczyk and Maxi Gunther. The factory roster includes Nicky Catsburg, who coincidently will be racing against the pair of factory Team RLL-run BMW M4 GT3s in his No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R at the Rolex 24.

https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/dayt ... tebook-12/

Find here the first photo's from Daytona as teams unload their cars.

[erwin greven]

[erwin greven]

Andy Blackmore's SPOTTER GUIDE

[erwin greven]

DAYTONA 24 hour race feed starts at Saturday 1:35pm EST - 6:35pm GMT - 7:35pm CET - 4:35am AEST

[erwin greven]

[erwin greven]

For more links pm me

Livetiming.
https://livetiming.alkamelsystems.com/imsa

[JR90]

Jimmie Johnson just crashed out. Contact with a slower car.

[JR90]

Full course caution for the #71 T3 Motorsport Lamborghini:

[JR90]

The #01 Ganassi DPi is behind the wheel for a routine brake change under caution.

[Everso Biggyballies]

I saw some great dicing between Castroneves and Bourdais earlier on

[erwin greven]

[Everso Biggyballies]

I had to get up early to ring my Mum in Spain so watched the last hour live (about 4:30 am here). It (the two GTD Pro leading Porsches) had the look of always going to end in tears..... the final half hour was just a continuous bumpfest between the two Porsches.

I cant imagine Porsche being too happy.... throwing away a class 1-2 finish away as it would have been. AFAIK they are both works Porsche drivers.

The two LMP1 Caddies were not the threat I thought they might be after the final FCY.... I thought their final splash n dash might have set them up for a flat ot run to the end, but the Accuras just gapped them and held station to the end. In the last few laps I think maybe Taylor in the second Accura got caught in traffic as he dropped from half a second behind Castroneves to a 2+ second gap.

[Everso Biggyballies]

A bit sad to see that over 25% of the 24 hours (6hours plus) was run under full yellow. 17 FCY periods, average 25 minutes each. I dont know if it was just my bad luck but everytime I tuned in it was always FCY, or so it seemed.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Oh and I was very happy to see Tom, (son of Stig) Blomqvist getting onto the stop step in the outright class (along with Oliver Jarvis, 'Pags' and Helio).

We will be claiming Tom as one of us seeing as he is based down here nowadays I believe.

Edit Just checked..... Tom is a British born, New Zealand based Swede. NZ is close enough. We will claim him anyway

He seemed to like his Rolex watch.