We have been discussing at length the decision by the FIA to expand the World Endurance Championship grid by a small number, in 2025. Here is how Racer magazine, and their FIA WEC correspondent, Stephen Kilbey, sees the situation. Kilbey writes for Racer and also serves as Deputy Editor of www.Dailysportscar.com.
https://racer.com/2023/11/28/wec-already-planning-grid-expansion-for-2025/
With nineteen entries and nine manufacturers, the new LMH class is delivering on its promise to revive top-flight endurance racing.
Mike Pryson writing for Autoweek magazine analyzes what will make the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship so special.
https://www.autoweek.com/racing/more-racing/a45963824/new-look-2024-wec-sports-car-magnet/
OK. It is time for a deep dive into the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship entry list to see who is where and who (drivers) and what (teams and cars) will be in competition next year. If you're ready, I'm ready. Let's go. 37 cars will be on the list, almost roughly evenly split between Hypercar and LMGT3 with the removal of LMP2 from the championship as a whole, save for spots that will be granted to them on the grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. There are 19 Hypercars, a massive seasonlong entry! It makes me wonder if any of the IMSA GTP teams may even be granted guest entries for the 24 Hours of Le Mans or not. Again, that is another story for another day. We won't know about the Le Mans entries until at least February. So, as the comedy show's title says, curb your enthusiasm, ladies and gentlemen, for now.
Cadillac Racing will be back with the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V Series R for their second season. This is a team that showed consistency throughout 2023. 2/3rds of their 2023 lineup will be back with Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber. Richard Westbrook has departed the team. We don't yet know who their third driver will be in the blue Cadillac. Watch this space. Will they be joined by the other Cadillac's for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, their sister Ganassi Racing Cadillac racing in IMSA, or, the bright red Action Express Cadillac, for the 24 Hours of Le Mans? That we don't know yet and that is up to the brass at Cadillac to decide. Again, watch this space for what the Le Mans entry list will look like in February.
Vanwall, are gone. Like their fellow nonhybrid Hypercar team, Glickenhaus, the Vanwall team decided that their non hybrid Hypercar, the Vanwall Vandervell 680, was not competitive at all against the hybrid propelled factory Hypercars. So, they will not be back. Porsche Penske Motorsports are back with two factory Porsche 963's with an altered driver lineup. Dane Cameron is no longer in the fold in WEC. Does this mean he has switched to the Porsche Penske Motorsports IMSA GTP lineup? Or does this mean he is no longer part of the factory Porsche team altogether? Again, this is something that is developing, and we'll see what the outcome is.
Currently, the Porsche Penske driver lineup has Matt Campbell, the Australian, moving over to the WEC effort from the IMSA team. I have my doubts Campbell will be pulling double duty on both sides of the Atlantic save for the Rolex 24 because there are a handful of clashing weekends between the WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech Championship in 2024, although one of them does not involve the Hypercars/GTP cars. Campbell will join the existing team of Michael Christensen and Fred Makowiecki aboard the #5 PPM Porsche 963. The sister #6 car has a carryover lineup from 2023. Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer, and Kevin Estre will be the drivers.
At Toyota, there is one major change. Jose Maria Lopez has left the factory Toyota team and will now move over to their sister brand at Lexus to race in the GT3 class with the Lexus RC F GT3. Read on in this post to find out more about that when we dig into the GT3 class. His slot will be filled in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid by former LMP2 racer and Formula 1 race starter, Dutchman Nyck De Vries, who has been on Toyota's Hypercar books for a wee while now, as a test driver. He will move up to a full-season race seat. There are no changes in the #8 Toyota that has won championships and has won at Le Mans in the past. Brendon Hartley from New Zealand joins teammates Sebastien Buemi from Switzerland and Japan's Ryo Hirakawa once again in 2024.
The new Isotta Fraschini Hypercar, the Tipo 6 Competizione, will be a part of the championship in 2024. But the management of the team has completely changed, just in the last number of days as you read on Sportscar365. Vector Sport no longer have any skin in the game in the management role and the operation has been taken over by Duqueine Engineering, another team that found moderate success in LMP2. Now, they will step up the ladder into the Hypercar ranks to operate and manage Isotta Fraschini. Two thirds of the driver lineup have been confirmed. Mexico's Alejandro Garcia will join Frenchman Jean Karl Vernay with a third driver yet to be confirmed.
Hertz Team Jota will run two cars in the championship, two customer Porsche 963's after splitting their effort in 2023 between a single Porsche 963 and an Oreca 07 LMP2 car. But they are stepping up to the big leagues in 2024. The usual #38, their famed number, will be back with Danish driver Oliver Rasmussen stepping up to Hypercar from LMP2 as we await the announcement of two more drivers to join him. They have a second car, car #12 entering next year. Will Stevens moves up from LMP2 and back into topflight prototype racing as the lead driver there, again, awaiting on two other co-drivers to be signed up. Jota Sport have already shown their competitiveness and that will grow as they have this two-car effort in Hypercar for 2024.
BMW reenters the top prototype category after a quarter century when they won with Williams Grand Prix Engineering and the fabled Schnitzer team led by the late, great Charlie Lamm and their former boss, former Formula 1 driver, Gerhard Berger, at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans with the fabulous BMW V12 LMR LMP open cockpit V12 prototype. This time, their effort will be spearheaded by WRT who have recently moved over to the BMW fold in GT3 racing and are now tackling Hypercar with the BMW M Hybrid V8, a car we have seen compete in IMSA in 2023. WRT will run two cars. So far, first drivers in each of them have been confirmed. The cars will be numbered #15 and #20.
Belgian Dries Vanthoor and South African Sheldon van der Linde are the two confirmed BMW factory drivers who will spearhead each driver trio. We shall see who else will join the team but I have doubts about drivers that ran for WRT under bosses Vincent Vosse, Yves Weerts, and Thierry Tassin, in LMP2, being a part of the BMW Hypercar effort. Could former MotoGP motorcycle king Valentino Rossi, who has taken the world of GT3 racing with WRT and BMW by storm, be in the frame for a race seat? We'll have to wait and find out.
Alpine are ready for their Hypercar debut with the new Alpine A424B (Beta) chassis, to be powered by the venerable 3.4-liter turbo V6 motor that has been in use in Formula 3 and Formula 2 open wheel racing cars for some years now. The fabled French boutique sports car manufacturer who raced in the 1960s and are racing again now in Formula 1, are set to field an LMDh spec Hypercar for the first time after having a grandfathered LMP1 car at first and then stepping back to LMP2 in 2023 awaiting the arrival of the new Hypercar of theirs built in house. Thus far, veteran French drivers Matthieu Vaxiviere and Nicolas Lapierre, who have been on Alpine's books for a long time, are the confirmed lead drivers. Watch this space to find out who will join them in the #35 and #36 cars respectively.
Ferrari - AF Corse, once again, will have two factory 499P's entered in the championship. The defending champions from this year's centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans have three cars ready to go instead of two. Currently, lead drivers have been confirmed for each one, but we don't yet know who their co-drivers will be. #50 is led by Antonio Fuoco of Italy, Alessandro Pier Guidi (one of the winners of this year's Le Mans) spearheads the #51, and the new third entry is the #83 car and that will have Polish ex Formula 1 and LMP2 driver Robert Kubica as the lead driver. Stay tuned to find out who else will drive for The Prancing Horse as they look to 2024 and defense of their Le Mans title.
Lamborghini will finally debut their new SC63 Le Mans Hypercar at the 2024 WEC season opener in Qatar and as we know, their IMSA Endurance Cup program has been delayed and will begin at the 12 Hours of Sebring due to take place after the WEC season begins by a couple of weeks. On the Iron Lynx Lamborghini World Endurance team, Italian Lamborghini factory ace Mirko Bortolotti is listed as the lead driver. Lamborghini has a massive talent pool, like Ferrari and Porsche, and we'll see who else will be chosen to partner Bortolotti in their single factory car for next year. The drivers have been announced for their IMSA effort but not their WEC effort yet and we'll see how the puzzle fits together at The Raging Bull, from Bologna.
It will be interesting to see how Maranello's Prancing Horse of Ferrari and Bologna's Raging Bull at Lamborghini, will do, competing against each other. There was a rivalry between Enzo Ferrari and Ferrucio Lamborghini, the founder of Lamborghini Automobili, who began making his fortune by building tractors. That will continue, although Lamborghini's foray into motor racing has been much more recent. For most of their existence they focused exclusively on production sports cars with one ill-fated V12 engine supply deal in Formula 1 in the early 1990s that was not at all successful. Their sports car racing efforts have been bearing much fruit in the span of over a decade recently.
Peugeot are back for their second full season in World Endurance with their awesome and bizarre Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar, which, according to regulations, may now have to run with a rear wing, something that it has never done before to this point in the car's existence since debuting in the 2022 Monza race. Scotsman Paul Di Resta and Frenchman Loic Duval both return to the team. It remains to be seen who will join them aboard the #93 and #94 9X8's in 2024. Stay tuned. Completing the Hypercar field for the full season is the third of the privateer Porsche 963's, and the fifth overall Porsche 963 in the field.
This is the #99 Proton Competition car and so far, Harry Tincknell will be the top driver in that team dovetailing their efforts of also racing a Ford Mustang GT3 in the GT3 class. We will get to GT3 in a moment. In fact, come with me through another door, and now, we cross over to the other end of the room, to find the GT3 field after discovering the Hypercars. A reminder, before we begin, and that is the LMP2 cars no longer take full part in WEC because of the explosion of Hypercar and GT3 entries. We will see LMP2 in the Asian and European Le Mans Series and in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, as well as at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, they are no longer a part of the overall World Endurance Championship.
Aston Martin will be back in GT racing with the new GT3 format for FIA WEC. They were a fixture as a Pro and Am factory and semi-works team in the GTE era. There will be two Aston Martin Vantage's in the LMGT3 field. One for The Heart of Racing and another for D'station Racing. Heart of Racing will carry #27 on their car. American domiciled Englishman Ian James, the team principal and lead driver at The Heart of Racing, is so far, the only confirmed driver. Of course, Aston Martin are also preparing to enter the Hypercar fold with their Valkyrie in 2025. So, this will be a carryover year as they continue their GT3 program. The second Aston Martin program remains with D'station from Japan. They have run in the past with a trio of Japanese Am drivers in the old GTE Am category. Thus far, Marco Sorensen, the Danish Aston factory ace, is the only confirmed driver at D'station. We'll see who joins him, later on.
In GT3 there are customer cars. No factory teams are allowed. The factories are meant to support customer efforts. We will see the same thing in the FIA WEC and ACO rules racing that we have been witnessing for a number of years now in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship and in SRO GT3 racing worldwide. Team WRT will have two V6 turbo powered BMW M4 GT3's in addition to their two M Hybrid V8 Hypercars. Thus far cars #31 and #46 have two confirmed drivers. Augusto Farfus, the Brazilian, will lead the #31 team and we'll see who joins him. Valentino Rossi, the motorcycle racing world champion, the king of MotoGP, will spearhead the sister #46 car which is the number Rossi used on motorcycles for his entire career and now in his foray into sports car racing as a BMW factory driver.
Vista AF Corse, stalwarts of the GTE category on the Pro and Am levels, and operators of the 499P Ferrari Hypercar program, will continue their involvement in WEC into the GT3 era with two V6 turbo powered Ferrari 296 GT3's. Their driver lineups remain unchanged and carry over from their GTE successes. Car #54 is led by Swiss gentleman driver Thomas Flohr, sharing with his longtime Italian co-drivers, Francesco Castellaci and Davide Rigon. The sister #55 Ferrari 296 GT3 for AF Corse has Simon Mann and Frenchman Francois Heriau (former LMP2 racer) being joined by one-season LMP2 pilot and GT racing veteran, Italian Alessio Rovera.
Former LMP2 stalwarts United Autosport, they will continue in LMP2 across the pond in America in IMSA. But, for WEC, they become the de facto McLaren team since team boss Zak Brown is also the team boss of the McLaren Formula 1 and IndyCar efforts. They are set to run two McLaren 720S GT3 Evo's, and the lead drivers (with the other two yet to be confirmed in each car) are former open wheel racer (in Formula 3 competition I believe), Frenchman, Gregoire Saucy. Watch this space for an update on a third driver. Saucy is not confirmed on the WEC entry list, but Marino Sato of Japan, is. Sato (no relation to former F1 driver and Indianapolis 500 winner, Takuma Sato), will lead the second McLaren 720S GT3 for United Autosport. Sato ran in the 2023 European Le Mans Series and before that, he raced in open wheel competition in FIA Formula 3, on the Formula 1 ladder. Iron Lynx and Iron Dames enter GT3 and move from Porsche to Lamborghini. They have, (to be fair) competed with Lamborghini's in SRO competition and in the endurance races in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
But since they are now all-in with Lamborghini with the new Hypercar effort, they are also campaigning a pair of Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2's in the GT3 class in FIA World Endurance, too. Iron Lynx team boss Claudio Schiavoni, the Italian Am driver, he is the only confirmed driver on the #60 entry thus far, and we'll see who will join him. As for the Iron Dames, Michelle Gatting is the only confirmed driver and we'll see who joins her. This season of course she raced alongside Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy. I have to wonder if they will team up again at Lamborghini next year and if so, will they be in WEC and IMSA, both? Or will they just be in WEC? They are very likely on Lamborghini's books.
TF Sport under team principal Tom Ferrier have been stalwart Aston Martin campaigners for years throughout the GTE era and have also had a go of it in LMP2. Now, they switch brands and are in the GM and Corvette umbrella with the new GT3 customer Corvette program coming online. TF Sport will campaign two Corvette Z06 GT3.R's. As was announced here a wee while ago, their lead drivers in each car have been confirmed. In car #81, the first of the two Corvette's, is Irishman Charlie Eastwood, who has been with TF Sport for a long time. Former Mercedes driver Daniel Juncadella, the Spaniard, will be the lead driver in the #82 car.
We'll see who joins Eastwood and Juncadella at TF Sport with their new effort with the Chevrolet bowtie. Not to be outdone, it will be a battle of the American muscle cars along with the best Europe has to offer as Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, have now joined the party with their new GT3 spec Ford Mustang. A car that is returning to the endurance racing fold for the first time in a long while. Ford are managed by Multimatic in Canada, and they are building the GT3 Mustang's after also successfully spearheading the old Ford GT, for their GT Le Mans factory program a number of years ago.
Proton Competition, along with their privateer Porsche Hypercar, will be the main Ford Mustang outfit in WEC LMGT3. Cars #77 and #88 will once again be entered by the German team who are former Porsche campaigners. Currently, American GT racing ace Ryan Hardwick will lead the #77 crew and in the #88 the lead driver is set to be Englishman Ben Barker. Both of them are coming over from the Porsche customer fold. Speaking of Porsche, we have seen their Hypercar efforts with Penske, Jota Sport, and Proton. In LMGT3, the Porsche 911 GT3R (992) will be represented by two cars from stalwart Porsche affiliate Manthey Racing under the EMA banner from Germany and the Pure Rxcing (Pure Racing) banners, from Lithuania.
Manthey will partially run both cars along with the aforementioned teams. Longtime Porsche GT campaigner Richard Lietz, a former factory driver, from Germany, will be the lead driver aboard car #91. We await to find out who his teammates will be. The #92 car has Aleksandr Malykhin as the lead driver. the British domiciled driver originally from Russia. He is set to team up with Austrian Porsche GT veteran Klaus Bachler and German Porsche racer, Joel Sturm. Lexus will give Toyota representation in Hypercar and now in LMGT3. This is per that strange rule I discussed in another recent editorial. Refer to my editorial entitled "Utterly Ridiculous".
French team Akkodis ASP moves over from SRO GT World Challenge Europe where they raced with Mercedes Benz for a number of years, very successfully. Now, the team, led by French former driver Jerome Policand, is bringing Lexus to the WEC with a pair of older but still competitive Lexus RC F GT3 cars. Vasser Sullivan have been campaigning the Lexus RC F GT3's stateside in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship now for a number of years and there have been RC F GT3's formerly running in SRO GT World Challenge Europe, and concurrently, in SRO GT World Challenge Asia.
Akkodis ASP have signed former Audi driver, and brother of Sheldon van der Linde racing for BMW in Hypercar, Kelvin van der Linde, to their team. The South African remains in the GT3 fold. Kelvin van der Linde will spearhead car #78 and we await to find out who his co-drivers will be. Likewise, the sister #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus, that automobile is being led by now former Toyota Hypercar driver, Jose Maria Lopez. This announcement was just made recently. Toyota are bringing Lopez, an overall winner at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans, into the Lexus fold in GT3. Who else will we see in these cars? I have my doubts that drivers currently signed on with the American Vasser Sullivan team in IMSA will be shifted away from that program and moved to the Akkodis ASP WEC effort. The 2024 FIA WEC team and driver puzzle is pretty well put together. When the other pieces fall into place before the season opens in Qatar the first weekend in March, we shall let you know what the situation is. For now, so long everyone. Take care.
Hear from the drivers who took part in the 2023 FIA WEC Rookie test held in Bahrain on November 5th.
Featured drivers:
14 Manufacturers. 19 Hypercars and 18 LMGT3s. 8 Races. The 2024 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship will be unlike any other. Full entry list available on FIAWEC.com
From Ewan Wane. Ewan's analysis of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship that we have been discussing lately.
The 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship entry list has been confirmed. Details in this post. Stay tuned, too, for an editorial breaking everything down in the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes.
This is a shocker. Isotta Fraschini and Vector Sport have parted ways. Isotta Fraschini I believe will still show up on the Hypercar grid next year. But who will be in charge of their team operations? We'll see.
Ewan Wane's live video discussion about the 2024 WEC entry list. Check it out.
Report from Fanatec GT Australia title decider plus other racing action and news...
https://sportscar365.com/features/roundup/weekly-racing-roundup-11-27-23/
The finale, the third and final race at Adelaide concludes the 2023 SRO GT World Challenge Australia championship from the streets of Adelaide, Australia, on SRO GTWorld with Matt Naulty and Andrew Jones calling all the action from the broadcast booth.
Race two of the SRO GT World Challenge Australia finale from Adelaide, Australia on GTWorld. Matt Naulty and Andrew Jones calling all the action.
Race one of the weekend for Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia at Adelaide. Matt Naulty leads the commentary team alongside Andy Jones bringing you all the action of the Friday race on the Adelaide street circuit, the former home of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
All you need to know before the SRO GT World Challenge Australia finale doubleheader in Adelaide, Australia. The race broadcasts, coming up, next.
From Formula Jonah. Mick Schumacher will race Alpine's A424 LMDh in 2024. The Former F1 driver, will step into the #35 car and compete in the WEC and the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans. Mick is also following in his fathers footsteps, as Micheal also raced at Le Mans... Find out all the details about Alpine exciting signing of Mick Schumacher!
From Ewan Wane. Alpine have revealed their 2024 drivers for the FIA World Endurance Championship and one of the big-name drivers on the team will be Mick Schumacher, son of former sports car driver and seven-time Formula 1 World Champion, Michael Schumacher. Mick Schumacher also has had F1 experience but is now becoming an endurance sports car racer.
News to be aware of as the 2023-2024 Asian Le Mans Series season approaches.
More to talk about as far as IMSA WeatherTech Championship news with a couple of Lamborghini related stories leading things off.
From Off in the Esses. A ton of things happened in IMSA this season! Here are the 7 biggest takeaways from it!
What is this nonsense? What is this rubbish? FIA and ACO, you have some 'splainin' to do, as Desi would tell Lucy. This is with respect to your inane rules and ideas about GT3 cars entering your championship, the FIA World Endurance Championship beginning next year in 2024. You stipulated that only manufacturers that have dedicated Le Mans Hypercar and/or LMDh entries, may enter the LMGT3 class. This is ridiculous, especially to two of the bosses of the top brands looking to enter the championship. Stefan Wendl from Mercedes Benz, and Chris Reinke, from Audi, both think so. Wendl mentioned that there were Mercedes-AMG teams signed up and ready for entries into the European Le Mans Series for next year, and for possible Le Mans invites should they be granted.
There are Mercedes-AMG teams signed up for the Asian Le Mans Series that begins in a few short weeks and runs off and on in December and in February of next year for their five-race calendar. Yet, Mercedes-AMG are understandably concerned that they will not have any representation at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a race that has been a star-crossed part of their history. Mercedes have won overall only twice, in 1952 with Mercedes Benz AG under team boss Alfred Neubauer under Daimler Benz A.G. in the 3-liter Sports Prototype class with German factory drivers Herman Lang and Fritz Riess, and near the end of the Group C era in the late 1980's, specifically in 1989, with Peter Sauber, the Swiss race car designer and his factory run Sauber C9/88 Mercedes Benz, listed as Team Sauber Mercedes with drivers Stanley Dickens of Sweden, and German co-drivers Manuel Reuter and Jochen Mass.
In 1998, with the CLK GTR, Mercedes tried everything to win, but alas, they came up short after running into mechanical and reliability issues. 1999 was even worse, after the fateful backflips of the vaunted Mercedes CLRs of Mark Webber in practice, and with Peter Dumbreck in the race itself, the garage doors were lowered, and for 25 years, we never, ever thought Mercedes would be back at Le Mans again. Now, they will have a chance to come back in a customer capacity, but it is complicated. Audi is one of the most decorated brands at Le Mans, even in the fairly recent past, in the last two decades, with their gasoline and diesel-powered prototype rocket ships from the LMP900 and LMP1 Hybrid classes amassing a total of 13 wins among 15 drivers, second total, all-time, only to Porsche's 19 wins among 36 drivers.
Balance of Performance, those dreaded three words in the realm of sports car racing, Wendl says, is an understandable reason for not having a brand show up for a one-shot deal like the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mercedes did not know that even if they were racing in the European and Asian Le Man Series (also sanctioned by ACO rules racing), that they could not race Le Mans and WEC because they do not have a race legal Hypercar to go off of. Mercedes, I believe they build a road going Hypercar, but they don't have a racing version. Whereas other brands in Hypercar such as Porsche and Ferrari have supercars and hypercars on the market, while certainly Cadillac and GM don't, but GM has an ace in the hole with their new GT3 spec customer Corvette's.
Wendl clearly states that the teams partnering with the Three-Pointed Star aim to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMGT3 and if they are unable to do so via a rule's technicality, that is problematic. As the Sportscar365 article states, there are nine brands that are currently eligible for GT3 and three of them do not have a Hypercar currently racing and those include Ford, McLaren, and Aston Martin. Well, Mercedes is in the same boat. We may see Aston Martin bring the Valkyrie into the picture in 2025 but as for the other two, Ford and McLaren have no plans to build a Hypercar to race Le Mans or the WEC.
We could see a grid increase for full-season entries for the FIA World Endurance Championship beyond the capped 37 cars eligible for next year, in 2025 which gives Mercedes a glimmer of hope that they could field full-time GT3 efforts. Audi is even more determined. The brand of the four rings, and chef d'equipe Chris Reinke say they will keep fighting and that their whole idea with the R8 road car that evolved into the successful GT3 race car was the success of the R8 LMP prototype race car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times in the span of six years between 2000 and 2005. The only times they lost, was 20 years ago, to their sister Volkswagen Audi Group brand, Bentley, 20 years ago, in 2003, and to Peugeot's lion, who ran the diesel powered 908 HDI FAP LMP1 car, in 2009, almost 15 years ago.
Reinke and the Ingolstadt brand are determined to get back to their former glory, albeit in a GT racing capacity. Reinke says he "fully trusts that the ACO will make the right decisions on this situation", to paraphrase his words. Reinke understands the limitations if there are any. Now, in my book, as a sports car racing observer, I believe as much competition as possible is good for the sport and as we have seen in GT3 since it was introduced by the SRO in 2010 and up to now, in the nearly 15 years of it's existence, it has been highly successful. Yours truly believes every brand should be represented and that full and open competition and clean racing should be the emphasis, just the same as it is on the prototypes side of the equation.
Therefore, in summary, I think it is utterly ridiculous, hence the title of the editorial, that only Hypercar aligned brands can enter the WEC frame for the production car classes. This makes the grids less healthy and discourages new teams and new drivers from entering the fold. We have seen the GT3 formula work globally in several championships. SRO, IMSA, Euro and Asian Le Mans Series, Nurburgring Endurance Series, and others. Why can't it work for the FIA and the ACO to match the Hypercars and the GT3 cars and have as wide a berth for manufacturer involvement as possible? It will benefit the championship. It will benefit the teams and the drivers and benefit the fans. It is a win-win, a positive boost, for everyone. ACO, please consider this. Use your heads on this one and do not leave out those brands that wish to put forth their cars and their teams and drivers and put emphasis not on silly rules technicalities and complications, but instead on what sports car racing is all about which means speed, endurance, teamwork, and courage.
Wendl and Reinke are both correct. Extend the olive branch. Open the tent. Don't just reserve places in your little club for the existing companies that have made commitments. Let other brands make commitments to the GT3 championship that they already have spent years, decades, making. Please stop with the politicization of sport and let these brands race cleanly and fairly in competition and prove themselves in your events including the gold standard that is the Le Mans 24 Hour race.
It may be the offseason, but the spigot of news and updates from the FIA World Endurance Championship continues running. Here's more news you can use.
From Formula Jonah.
The World Endurance Championship has REMOVED the LMP2 class from the 2024 season onward. Why did this happen? And what is the future of LMP2 racing in the WEC, will the class ever return?These questions and so much more will be answered in this video, as I break down the collapse of the WEC LMP2 Class.
Ewan Wane explains the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar.
From Ewan Wane, an update on offseason news from the FIA World Endurance Championship, plus this disclaimer from Ewan. I feel like I say this every time - but sorry about the audio as I'm still ill!
From Formula Jonah. Hertz Team Jota might have Robert Kubica, Jenson Button, and Sebastian Vettel all drive a Porsche 963 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans NEXT SEASON!! For this video I brake down this rumor, and discuss how, why, and when this could happen... All the details on this potential dream team can be found in this video!
You have seen the race for the Macau GT Cup. Now, some post-race headlines to check out and thoughts from the winner, Raffaele Marciello, and the runner-up driver, Edoardo Mortara.
Join us for live coverage of the 2023 FIA GT World Cup held as part of the 70th edition of the Macau Grand Prix. The FIA Formula 3 and GT World Cups are being held at Macau’s unique and demanding Guia Circuit for the first time since 2019, headlining the 70th running of the Macau Grand Prix. FIA-sanctioned races are set to return to the renowned Asian street circuit as part of a three-year agreement resulting from joint efforts by the FIA, Macau’s FIA member club, Automobile General Association Macao-China (AAMC), and the Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee.
The two FIA competitions will take place from 16 – 19 November, with the action kicking off on Thursday and the format featuring two 40-minute-long free practice sessions and two qualifying sessions for Formula 3, as well as two 30-minute practice sessions followed by single qualifying of the same duration for GT cars.
Both competitions will be held across two race heats over the weekend, each with a qualifying race followed by a title-deciding main race. The race durations will be 12 and 16 laps for GT cars. This year marks the return of FIA racing to the streets of Macau for the first time since 2019 and, therefore, the first edition of the FIA GT World Cup in four years.
All five winners of the event held between 2015 and 2019 are due to battle for their second FIA GT World Cup glory, along with a star-studded line-up of some of the world’s best closed-roof specialists, each seeking to triumph on the 6.120-kilometre circuit.
This year’s edition of the FIA GT World Cup will host a grid of 21 cars, with machinery from five different manufacturers and a total of 12 Platinum-ranked drivers, making it arguably the strongest field since the event first ran in 2015. Once again, we join David Addison and Alan Hyde to bring us, from the broadcast booth, all the thrilling action of the FIA GT World Cup for GT3 cars at Macau. Enjoy.
All the news you need to know about, between qualifying and the main race for FIA GT World Cup on the streets of Macau during the Macau Grand Prix weekend.
Join us for live coverage of the 2023 FIA GT World Cup held as part of the 70th edition of the Macau Grand Prix. The FIA Formula 3 and GT World Cups are being held at Macau’s unique and demanding Guia Circuit for the first time since 2019, headlining the 70th running of the Macau Grand Prix.FIA-sanctioned races are set to return to the renowned Asian street circuit as part of a three-year agreement resulting from joint efforts by the FIA, Macau’s FIA member club, Automobile General Association Macao-China (AAMC), and the Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee.
The two FIA competitions will take place from 16 – 19 November, with the action kicking off on Thursday and the format featuring two 40-minute-long free practice sessions and two qualifying sessions for Formula 3, as well as two 30-minute practice sessions followed by single qualifying of the same duration for GT cars.
Both competitions will be held across two race heats over the weekend, each with a qualifying race followed by a title-deciding main race. The race durations will be 12 and 16 laps for GT cars. This year marks the return of FIA racing to the streets of Macau for the first time since 2019 and, therefore, the first edition of the FIA GT World Cup in four years.
All five winners of the event held between 2015 and 2019 are due to battle for their second FIA GT World Cup glory, along with a star-studded line-up of some of the world’s best closed-roof specialists, each seeking to triumph on the 6.120-kilometre circuit. This year’s edition of the FIA GT World Cup will host a grid of 21 cars, with machinery from five different manufacturers and a total of 12 Platinum-ranked drivers, making it arguably the strongest field since the event first ran in 2015.
Join us for live coverage of the 2023 FIA GT World Cup held as part of the 70th edition of the Macau Grand Prix. The FIA Formula 3 and GT World Cups are being held at Macau’s unique and demanding Guia Circuit for the first time since 2019, headlining the 70th running of the Macau Grand Prix.
FIA-sanctioned races are set to return to the renowned Asian street circuit as part of a three-year agreement resulting from joint efforts by the FIA, Macau’s FIA member club, Automobile General Association Macao-China (AAMC), and the Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee. The two FIA competitions will take place from 16 – 19 November, with the action kicking off on Thursday and the format featuring two 40-minute-long free practice sessions and two qualifying sessions for Formula 3, as well as two 30-minute practice sessions followed by single qualifying of the same duration for GT cars.
Both competitions will be held across two race heats over the weekend, each with a qualifying race followed by a title-deciding main race. The race durations will be 12 and 16 laps for GT cars. This year marks the return of FIA racing to the streets of Macau for the first time since 2019 and, therefore, the first edition of the FIA GT World Cup in four years.
All five winners of the event held between 2015 and 2019 are due to battle for their second FIA GT World Cup glory, along with a star-studded line-up of some of the world’s best closed-roof specialists, each seeking to triumph on the 6.120-kilometre circuit.
This year’s edition of the FIA GT World Cup will host a grid of 21 cars, with machinery from five different manufacturers and a total of 12 Platinum-ranked drivers, making it arguably the strongest field since the event first ran in 2015.
Everything you need to know about the FIA GT World Cup in Macau before we show you the videos of the races and how they turned out.
News including Asian LMS driver lineups, Le Mans ticket sales, Loeb's GT return and more...
https://sportscar365.com/features/roundup/weekly-racing-roundup-11-20-23/
Sorry, everyone. The test day tickets are still available. But, as far as the tickets for the race, for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, quel dommage, fromage. They're sold out.
From Formula Jonah. Which GT3 cars will race in 2024? Next season of the new WEC LMGT3 class and IMSA GTD Pro and GTD class's will be truly something special! But which manufacturers will be returning and new to the championship? Find out all the info in the video, about which GT3 race cars will participate in WEC and IMSA in 2024.
More offseason news to delve into from the IMSA official website. I think I first checked and published a number of these stories via other sources. But here is the latest.
Watch the race start of the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain through onboard cameras only. 🔥
It's time for the season finale in Bahrain, where the Hypercar and LMP2 titles will be decided. One last challenge lies ahead, featuring day and night racing on a very demanding track. Who will emerge as the world champions in the Kingdom of Bahrain?
In collaboration with Motul, the WEC Full Access series is back with a full in-depth episode dedicated to the 2023 8 Hours of Bahrain. The best moments of the race complemented with exclusive behind-the-scenes images will put you once again at the heart of the action!
Watch the most memorable moments of the 2023 Endurance Cup season! David Addison narrates the season review program. Enjoy.
Re-live all of the best moments of the 2023 Sprint Cup season. David Addison narrates the program and tells the story of the 2023 season. Enjoy.
Ewan Wane analyzes which GTP drivers were the best qualifiers in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship GTP class in 2023.
Ah yes. I knew I would be writing another editorial. What's the topic? The provisional entry list for the 62nd renewal of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. A bit bummed as I don't believe I will be able to make it to Daytona Beach again this year. That being said, shooting for another IMSA race later in the season, as every race is slated to have large entries and right now, sports car racing and especially the WeatherTech Championship, is booming. Okie dokie then, let's get to the heart of the story, and the actual list itself. We begin, talking about the top class on this capacity grid, the fabulous, marvelous, revolutionary Grand Touring Prototypes, entering their second full season of competition. We shall see a total of ten GTP racers on the Rolex 24 grid.
We begin with Chip Ganassi Racing and the first of the two factory Cadillac V Series R's. They have an unchanged lineup from last year and the #01 entry will feature the trio of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, Dutchman Renger van der Zande, and New Zealand's king of IndyCar, Scott Dixon. A trio of Porsche 963's comes next starting with the surprising JDC-Miller Motorsports entry who are based in my home state of Minnesota. Their driver lineup both for the Rolex 24 and perhaps for the entirety of the 2024 season has been totally revamped. Tijmen van der Helm, who is still a GTP rookie after a number of years competing in LMP2, is the lead driver, sharing with another LMP2 standout of recent time, Phil Hanson, who is making his debut in a top-class prototype and coming over from Europe where he has been a mainstay in LMP2 in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Porsche juggernaut continues with who else but Porsche Penske Motorsport, who, once again, have stacked the deck for their factory duo of Porsche 963's. Car #6 and car #7 each contain relatively unchanged driver lineups save for the fact that some of the WEC drivers are also included on the teams for both entries. #6 is to be driven by Nick Tandy, Matthieu Jaminet, Kevin Estre, and Laurens Vanthoor. The sister #7 has a predictable lineup as well with Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden (who made his IMSA debut at Petit Le Mans), and Fred Makowiecki who comes across along with Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, from the sister FIA WEC Porsche Penske 963 program. Penske does have a large driver pool.
Wayne Taylor Racing and Acura, this year, with the omission of Meyer Shank Racing from IMSA for the time being, they have become the de facto Acura/Honda factory team. They will have two Acura ARX-06's on the grid. The first is the familiar #10 car to be driven by Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, who are joined concurrently for the Rolex 24 by Toyota FIA WEC Hypercar driver Brendon Hartley and by IndyCar star Marcus Ericsson who is a new hire at Andretti Global who are associated with Wayne Taylor Racing for this IMSA effort.
BMW Team RLL have another major two-car effort as Bavarian Motorwerks enters their second GTP season in the modern era and we all know BMW's illustrious history in sports car racing that really dates back to the time of the magnificent CSL coupes of the 1970s, and also a presence in the first GTP era in the 1980s. So, BMW Rahal Letterman Lanigan have maintained parts of their lineup from a year ago but there are new faces in the team as well. Car #24 is expected to be shared by Finland's Jesse Krohn, Brazilian Augusto Farfus, and new recruit, Belgian, Dries Vanthoor, brother of Laurens Vanthoor who races for Porsche. So, we will likely see a rivalry between the Vanthoor brothers since both are racing for the two top German brands in GTP.
The sister #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 will have 2/3rds of it's existing lineup from last year with Connor De Philippi and Nick Yelloly returning to the cockpit being joined by Belgian GT3 ace Maxime Martin who I believe is getting his first run in a prototype. There are fourth driver slots on both cars, at this moment, listed as TBA. We could see them add fourth drivers to the #24 and #25 entries. Watch this space to find out before January. Now we move to a team that is near and dear to my heart. My buddies at Action Express Racing with the second Cadillac V Series R on the grid. There are some changes for our team this year that have been well documented. Pipo Derani, our lead driver, who is so solid, he is joined full-time in 2024 by Jack Aitken.
We have seen what Jack offers our team and his talent is phenomenal, especially with the victory this year at the 12 Hours of Sebring where he put in a yeoman drive towards the end of the motor race before we took a well-earned victory. The new recruit is a former rival turned partner for our team in the form of Englishman Tom Blomqvist. This was a massive surprise when I found out and got confirmation from AXR chef d'equipe, and my good friend, Bob Johnson, that Tom Blomqvist was signed on to our effort just before the Indianapolis sprint race back in September. I believe, with Blomqvist now in our camp for the endurance events, since he (very much like Pipo and Jack, both), is A. a solid talent, and B. knows how to get everything out of a car in an endurance race, Tom Blomqvist will be another valued player on our team.
I feel that our 2023 Sebring victory and the championship we earned, these are no flukes. We will give everything we've got since we're the defending champions and the other teams mentioned here in GTP will be gunning for us. That said, we are ready to go, and we are going to race hard, clean, and fair, and add more victories to our tally, more trophies, in 2024. As I always say, if you see a red Cadillac in your mirrors, beware that we are there to race you, cleanly and fairly, but also, wanting a bite of the cherry at every opportunity.
Alright. Another newcomer is that aforementioned second Wayne Taylor Racing Acura. This is the #40 entry. With the departure of Meyer Shank Racing this left a slot open for WTR to take on another Acura and to become the de facto Honda factory effort in GTP as we said before. Another car stacked with talent, Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor's brother, who has been a GM driver for a number of years, is joining the fold. He will be joined in the second Acura by the team's existing driver Louis Deletraz, and showing the connection with Andretti Autosport, Colton Herta, moves over from BMW to Acura to join for the Rolex 24. The team has also secured the services for the Rolex 24 of 2009 Formula 1 World Champion and standout sports car racer, Jenson Button.
We have seen Button this year. He raced the Hendrick Motorsports Garage 56 NASCAR Cup Series Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and competed at the Petit Le Mans in the JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963. However, he has now landed with the WTR Andretti organization aboard their second car at least for Daytona and could have other endurance races as part of the program. That, we don't know yet. Porsche are also stacking the deck. We've talked about the two Penske cars. We've talked about the JDC-Miller car. There is a fourth 963 in the mix as well. No, Jota Sport are not racing in IMSA. They said so that they will only focus, I believe on the FIA WEC even though rumors persisted that the British team would come stateside as well.
Instead, Proton Competition are upping the ante. After doing a partial schedule in 2023 in both IMSA and the WEC, they have confirmed an IMSA effort for 2024. Right now, Gianmaria Bruni of Italy and Neel Jani of Switzerland are the two confirmed pilots for that WeatherTech sponsored Porsche 963. However, we may hear more about who their partners will be for the Rolex 24 in due time. Chapter one, on GTP is complete. Read more to find out about LMP2, and the two GT Daytona classes, Pro, and regular.
There will be a dozen LMP2 cars on the grid and with the elimination of LMP3 and its demotion to the VP Sports Car Challenge, this will be the hotly contested lower tier prototype division. Let's start with the Anglo American United Autosports team. They are slated to be running two cars at Daytona. The first is the #2 entry. This car will have a fascinating trio as Ben Keating, the Texas car dealer turned racing driver, he comes over from one of the other LMP2 efforts he has raced for in years past and joins United alongside Englishman Ben Hanley and the talented Chilean driver Nico Pino. CrowdStrike Racing by APR are back for another go in LMP2. Currently, their regular season duo of George Kurtz and Colin Braun, who also have found much success in SRO GT3 competition in the past, are the only two drivers in the team's lineup. Watch this space, for developments.
TDS Racing and car #11 are back with the same duo from last year, American Steven Thomas and Dane Mikkel Jensen, concurrently racing for Peugeot's factory WEC Hypercar team, who will be joined by newcomer and feeder series open wheel racing standout Hunter McElrea, and their fourth driver will be WEC LMP2 racer Charles Milesi. Era Motorsports and their venerable #18 car return with both drivers who have been the backbone of their operation for a good while now. American Dwight Merriman teaming with veteran Scotsman Ryan Dalziel. Two more drivers are expected to join the team and we'll know who they are, soon. High Class Racing have teamed up with MDK Motorsports for LMP2 in IMSA in 2024. They will have a duo of the Dane Dennis Andersen, and prototype newcomer Seth Lucas, who impressed massively this year in SRO competition for this team in a GT3 class Porsche. Now, he gets his shot at big league prototype racing for the first time. LMP3 and LMP2 standout Lorents Horr will also be on that team.
Who will the other drivers be? Stay tuned to find out. A second United Autosports entry? Why, yes. United who have raced for many moons in Europe, it seems they are truly focusing on stateside competition in the WeatherTech Championship for 2024 and have brought over their #22 LMP2 Oreca as well as the aforementioned #2. Former F1 and DTM turned prototype driver, Scotsman Paul di Resta, who has also raced in Hypercar for Peugeot before, he will be lead the effort in the second car alongside Dan Goldburg who has had experience in both LMP3 and LMP2 before. Two more drivers will be announced to join them.
With the demise of LMP3 from WTSC, Sean Creech Motorsports step up to LMP2 with the sole Ligier chassis in a sea of Oreca's. Their existing LMP3 drivers will spearhead the effort. Dr. Lance Willsey joined by the Portuguese endurance racing veteran, Joao Barbosa. Two more drivers will be joining them and they will again be announced at a later date. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports will be teaming up with the Polish bakers, Inter Europol Competition, this year's LMP2 class winners at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jakub "Kuba" Smiechowski, the Polish driver, and son of the boss of Inter Europol, thus far he is the only confirmed driver. Who else will join him? Wait and see. Riley Motorsports step up to LMP2 with their #74 entry, an Oreca 07 set to be driven by their trio who raced LMP3 in the last handful of seasons. Gar Robinson, joined by Brazilian Felipe Fraga and Australian Josh Burdon.
AF Corse come to LMP2 here stateside after a number of years running LMP2 in European Le Mans Series and FIA WEC and of course, they also have the Ferrari WEC Hypercar effort that won Le Mans. However, it is doubtful the Ferrari 499P Hypercar may be allowed to race in IMSA GTP despite several rumors stating that would be so. The AF Corse LMP2 effort is spearheaded by Luis Perez Companc of Argentina with Ferrari factory drivers Nicklas Nielsen of Denmark, and successful young French driver Lilou Wadoux on the driver's strength. We have seen Lilou Wadoux in GT class Ferrari's as of late and so she is stepping back up to the prototype ranks.
AO Racing also step up to LMP2 along with what may be a sole entry in the GT Daytona ranks, I believe in GTD Pro. Read on to find out more. P.J. Hyett, AO Racing team principal, he will be joined by French LMP2 veteran Paul Loup Chatin, and two more yet to be named drivers. So, this wraps up the LMP2 field. Now, we move on to the production car classes, the GT3 cars that are a part of both GT Daytona Pro and GT Daytona regular, with no changes between those sets of cars save for the ratings of the drivers chosen to pilot them.
There will be a grand total of 38 cars across both GTD classes. In GT Daytona Pro, there's a baker's dozen of 13. Let's start with the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3. With their GTD successes, they are now boosted up to the GTD Pro ranks. Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, their dynamic driving duo, will be joined for the Rolex 24 at Daytona by BMW factory driver Neil Verhagen, who has had success aboard the M4 GT3 in several championships between such disciplines as SRO America and Europe, and NLS, the Nurburgring Langstrecken Series. South African BMW factory driver Sheldon van der Linde is the fourth driver on the team. A venerable quartet sure to be in contention in the category.
Corvette Racing once again, for the first time in a wee while, have a two-car effort with two new GT3 spec Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R's for Corvette Racing by Pratt & Miller Motorsports. This is the new team name. Keep in mind, in GT3 racing, only customer cars are allowed. There are no factory GT3 teams. The rules stipulate that the cars must be built to be campaigned by customers, hence the complete restructuring of Corvette Racing under the GM umbrella. The cars will be run not just in IMSA but in other championships around the world. GT3 is becoming a global formula. There are plenty of new or returning drivers to the Corvette fold and there are more than just the Pratt & Miller cars on the grid.
Car #3 for Pratt & Miller has veteran Antonio "The King of Spain" Garcia as lead driver, sharing with returning driver Alexander Sims, after a single year at the wheel of a Cadillac GTP car. Sims and Garcia are to be joined by new recruit, another Spanish standout, Dani Juncadella, who is a former Mercedes-AMG driver now switching camps over to General Motors. The sister #4 Pratt & Miller Corvette Z06 GT3.R is set to be driven by Tommy Milner, Dutchman Nicky "The Cat" Catsburg, and another new driver for Corvette, former Cadillac prototype driver, Earl Bamber, from New Zealand. Again, there are more Corvette's to talk about.
Pfaff Motorsports, the Canadian team that owns a successful Canadian car dealership franchise, have done a total 180, ending their association with Porsche and their fabled plaid lumberjack livery. Because of their franchising, they now are fully aligned with the famed orange of McLaren cars from England. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 will be shared by Oliver Jarvis (a new recruit who has been in the prototype ranks now for a number of years), Canadian IndyCar turned sports car racer and sometimes race broadcaster, James Hinchcliffe, Gernan driver Marvin Kirchhofer, who has been for a number of years, a McLaren factory GT3 driver, and their current IndyCar driver, one time Indianapolis 500 winner, in 2016, Alexander Rossi.
Vasser Sullivan Lexus return with their #14 Lexus RC F GT3, now the oldest GT3 car in the field, with two cars. Their Pro rated entry is car #14, and they have their returning trio from 2023 of Englishmen Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth, the Yorkshireman, alongside IndyCar star, Floridian, Kyle Kirkwood. Iron Lynx are back. Their delayed Lamborghini LMDh effort (which is hopefully going to get off the ground at round two, the 12 Hours of Sebring), means that they will stick with GTD Pro and the #19 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Italian drivers Mirko Bortolotti and Andrea Caldarelli, joined by South African Jordan Pepper, and Frenchman Franck Perera, in a relatively unchanged lineup.
Heart of Racing Aston Martin, they are back with the usual #23 GTD Pro ranked Aston Martin, while they are also the team spearheading the new Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar that will finally come online in 2025 and be racing on both sides of the Atlantic in IMSA and WEC. In the meantime, Heart of Racing will feature Spaniard Alex Riberas, and Englishman Ross Gunn, and their new recruit, is former HPD GT3 driver Mario Farnbacher who moves over to the British Racing Green team from Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. Risi Competizione return once again to the championship with the sole Pro class Ferrari 296 GT3 in the second year of the mid-engined GT3 racer.
Italian Davide Rigon is the lead driver, sharing with countryman Alessandro Pier Guidi, who is one of the winners of this year's centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Ferrari 499P Hypercar program in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and they will be joined by rapid Brazilian racer, Daniel Serra, the son of former Formula 1 driver, Chico Serra, to complete the lineup. For the first time in five years, since the end of the ultra-successful GT program, Ford Motor Company returns to big league sports car racing with the new GT3 specification Mustang to celebrate the car's 60th anniversary, the Mustang having been introduced to the world on April 17th, 1964, and maintaining a sterling racing pedigree in several guises with several teams through the years.
The Mustang is making it's return to top level sports car racing after also competing for a number of years worldwide in GT4 competition. The GT4 program with the new generation Mustang will continue apace, and be joined by this factory GT3 effort from Multimatic Motorsports in Canada. Multimatic are the same folks who ran the Ford GT program as well as the short-lived Mazda program in the old Daytona Prototype International division, the precursor to the new GTP. Ford are currently continuing to add to their driver lineup, but they have some heavy hitters already signed up for the new two-car Multimatic Mustang program. These new Mustang's will also be run by privateer teams globally in a myriad of championships, much like the new Corvette.
Former Audi, Porsche, and GM driver Mike Rockenfeller is a new Ford signing. "Rocky" will share the #64 Ford Mustang GT3 with Harry Tincknell, a recent driver for the Mazda Multimatic program, a Multimatic factory driver, who loaned his services to some customer Porsche teams in recent years. We shall see who the third drivers are in both of these cars. The sister #65 car (#65 was used for years in the old GTO class by Jack Roush who ran the first Mustang program im IMSA in the 1980s), will have two stalwarts from the Ford GT program coming back into the fold, with Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller. Hand has driven in GT4 and done a lot of NASCAR testing and driving for Ford and did so I believe on their version of the now current Generation 7 NASCAR Cup car, because of it's similarities to a GT car in construction and independent suspension setup.
A sole Mercedes-AMG GT3 is set to race in GTD Pro at the Rolex 24 for SunEnergy1 Racing in the hands of Australian businessman and solar energy tycoon, Kenny Habul, who also happens to be a winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race at Mount Panorama in Australia. We do not yet know the full extent of their driver lineup. We'll see. AO Racing will carry the #77 on their upgraded GTD Pro Porsche 992 911 GT3R this year. We don't know if the car will return with it's famous tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur livery yet.
Sebastian Priaulx of England, son of famed touring car and GT racer Andy Priaulx teams up with German Porsche GT3 stalwart Laurin Heinrich and as for the rest of the driver's strength, again, stay tuned. Ditto for the #92 Kellymoss with Riley Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R 992 model. That car has no confirmed drivers as of yet. Now we move to the final class, GT Daytona. Again, GT3 cars abound throughout, but with Pro-Am driver lineups and instead of red number symbols and panels, the GTD cars use green. Vasser Sullivan's second Lexus RC F GT3 starts off the class roster, with the returning trio of drivers from 2023 including Frankie Montecalvo, Parker Thompson, and Aaron Telitz, with an as yet unnamed fourth driver for the Rolex 24.
AWA move from the defunct LMP3 category to GTD with two customer Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R's. These are the other customer Corvette's I was speaking about. A good chunk of their existing driver lineup has been maintained, with some new additions to the crew for GT3. Orey Fidani, Matt Bell, and Lars Kern will pilot lucky #13 while the sister #17 Corvette GT3 has returning drivers Anthony Mantella and Nico Varrone at the wheel of it (Varrone raced for Corvette in GTE Am in FIA WEC all this year), and new recruits for the team, Thomas Merrill, and former Aston Martin GT driver in IMSA and WEC, Irishman Charlie Eastwood. The customer Corvette lineups between Pratt & Miller in GTD Pro and AWA in GTD are formidable.
The second Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 is registered in GTD regular this year as always, to team with their aforementioned Pro car, #23. Roman De Angelis, Marco Sorensen, and Ian James, have secured the services of former Porsche driver, Zacharie Robichon. So, #27 will have a half Canadian lineup at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Aston Martin will also be represented by Magnus Racing in the #44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3, we believe, with the Flex Box (or Flexi Box as I tend to call it), livery on the car. #44 is set to be driven by their regular American trio that have driven with this team through several manufacturer switches over the last four, maybe five or six years. John Potter sharing with Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly.
Ferrari are set to have stout GT Daytona entries to go along with the Risi Competizione GTD Pro car. There are four more Ferrari 296 GT3's in GTD. AF Corse have car #21 to be shared by three veterans of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Kei Cozzolino of Japan, England's Simon Mann, and Frenchman Francois Heriau, who has seen success in LMP2 in recent years. Triarsi Competizione have a single 296 GT3 entered for team boss and lead driver Onofrio Triarsi, GT and LMP2 racer Alessio Rovera, Charlie Scardina (moving with Triarsi to IMSA, over from SRO competition), and a driver I am only hearing the name of for the first time, Ricky Agostini. Agostini, the only instance where I have heard his name, he won the 2020 edition of the 6 Hours of Rome at Vallelunga near Rome, Italy, racing for Audi Sport Team Italia alongside Lorenzo Ferrari and Sean Hudspeth. So, this is a big opportunity for Agostini to put his name back on the map in GT racing. Conquest Racing will also have a Ferrari 296 GT3 running the #34.
Conquest moves over to IMSA from SRO competition much like a few of the other teams mentioned, or about to be mentioned here, in the GTD Pro/GTD classes. Manny Franco and Alessandro Balzan who made up the duo for Conquest in SRO GT World Challenge America in 2023, will be joined by Monegasque Cedric Sbirrazuoli for the Rolex 24. Will the fourth slot in their driver lineup be filled? Once again, we'll find out. Cetilar Racing, the Italian team, fill out the roster of Ferrari 296 GT3's in the GT Daytona division. Car #47 is back with the Italian duo of Giorgio Sernagiotto and Roberto Lacorte, being joined by Eddie Cheever III. and possibly a fourth driver.
Mercedes Benz has three cars in GTD, joining the SunEnergy1 GTD Pro entry. One each from Korthoff Preston Motorsports, Winward Racing, and Lone Star Racing. Korthoff Preston retains their full driver lineup I believe, from this year's Rolex 24 and it is unchanged led by Americans Mike Skeen and Kenton Koch, alongside Canadian Mikael Grenier, and veteran German Mercedes GT3 campaigner Maximilian Gotz. Russell Ward and Canada's Daniel Morad are the two drivers currently confirmed at Winward and we shall see who else will join them. Lone Star Racing's lineup for the #80 Mercedes-AMG GT3 also is to be announced yet, for all four drivers.
Porsche has five representatives in GT Daytona. Andretti Motorsports have switched to the German marque from Stuttgart after racing with Aston Martin, last year. Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves return to the team joined by Canadian driver Scott Hargrove, who has raced for Porsche before I believe in SRO and IMSA and is making a return to driving after a handful of years away. There is a fourth slot on their team yet to be confirmed. Wright Motorsports continue in GT Daytona after splitting their program between this class in IMSA and SRO competition using a handful of different numbers. #16 and #77 in IMSA and #120 in SRO. This year, #16 and #77 are both gone especially after the retirement of driver Alan Brynjolfsson who figured prominently in their IMSA effort especially last year.
No drivers listed yet for the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche. The same is true for other Porsche efforts in GTD, the #53 MDK Motorsports car and the #91 car for Kellymoss with Riley, which is the sister car to their GTD Pro effort #92. Speaking of MDK Motorsports, they do have a second car entered, car #86, which has made some traction with a driver lineup or at least half of one at this stage. Currently, the second MDK entry has Kerong Li and Anders Fjordbach confirmed. Fjordbach, remember, is now part of this team because of their partnership with High Class Racing running in LMP2 which he has been a part of both in IMSA and in WEC before.
There is another Ford Mustang GT3 entered in GTD regular. This is the new Proton Competition entry. Proton Competition, again, have moved to The Blue Oval and are, I believe, fielding cars not only in IMSA but likely in FIA World Endurance too. No drivers currently listed for the #55 Ford Mustang GT3 as of yet. This is the sole GTD class Mustang while the Multimatic factory entries are of course in GTD Pro. Lamborghini are back in a big way. "The Raging Bulls" being represented by four cars from three different teams.
Wayne Taylor Racing will have one car, to support their new two-car Acura GTP effort, running with Lamborghini. The #45 car has Canadian Kyle Marcelli and Costa Rican driver Danny Formal on the books, with two more drivers for the Rolex 24 yet to be named. Lamborghini are supposed to debut their new SC63 LMDh/GTP racer. But the car has been delayed. They were of course supposed to race at Daytona but will make the worldwide debut with the car at the FIA WEC season opener in Qatar in March and make their IMSA debut a few weeks later at the 72nd running of the 12 Hours of Sebring.
In the meantime, Iron Lynx/Iron Dames (Iron Dames also being the new champions in the FIA World Endurance Championship's recently defunct GTE Am class), they have two cars. One each for Iron Lynx in yellow and Iron Dames in pink. Car #60 will be shared by Italian's Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni, with two more drivers set to join them soon. Iron Dames is the trio of the three ladies we know so well from their recent championship and their successes in Europe over the years, Michelle Gatting from Denmark, Rahel Frey from Germany, and Sarah Bovy from Belgium. I wonder who their fourth driver will be, or will they just go with three? Forte Racing are the other Lamborghini GTD outfit with car #78. Canadian Misha Goikhberg and Italian Loris Spinelli, are confirmed to drive as they did this year. Who will join them at Daytona? Again, your guess is as good as mine at this moment.
Acura will have a sole representative in the GTD class this year with Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport expanding to their two-car GTP effort. The sole Acura NSX GT3 on the grid is the #66 Gradient Racing car slated to be driven once again this year by Katherine Legge and Sheena Monk. It is likely we shall know their co-drivers for their Rolex 24 effort, soon. Turner Motorsports and BMW will have a single car on the GT Daytona grid this year, opting not to renew a second car as they had for selected races in 2023. The quartet of drivers at Turner Motorsports has been determined. American drivers Robby Foley, Michael Dinan, and Patrick Gallagher will team up for the Rolex 24 with German BMW GT driver Jens Klingman.
Like Pfaff Motorsports in GTD Pro, McLaren will have a sole representative in the GT Daytona class, regular. Inception Racing are back with their #70 McLaren 720S GT3 with a full lineup that is slightly revised. American Brendon Iribe is joined by Danish driver Fredrik Schandorff alongside British drivers Ollie Milroy and Tom Gamble. Gamble, a former driver in LMP2 in the FIA WEC, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series, I believe, he is making his debut as a McLaren driver. So, there you have it. That covers everyone, I think, in the entire list of entries as they stand (at least provisionally) for the 62nd Rolex 24 coming up in January.
Should anything change, you will hear about it ASAP. That's a wrap for this editorial report. I think all classes will be very, very competitive. Lots and lots of things to look out for. GTP will continue being bonkers. LMP2 will have stiff competition. Both flavors of GT Daytona classes are stacked with talent and with fabulous GT3 cars. This is going to be a truly exciting prospect as we head for the Rolex 24 in January. Wish I could be there to see it! Might try to make it to another race later in the year, since the grids for both the enduros and the sprints, are expected to be absolutely massive. Thanks for reading, everybody. Enjoy the rest of your day and/or night. So long, for now.
