There is a virtual plethora of Indycar stars set to shine in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The crop of current and former drivers fill out the four class, 59-car field. The racing action starts Saturday January 28th at at 1:30 PM on NBC & Peacock. Also note that Peacock will have uninterrupted flag-to-flag coverage of the event.
There are reasons galore as to why an Indycar fan should watch the twice around clock racing classic. It is auto racing, and it for 24 hours straight. That should be reason enough. It’s also a nice warm up to those fans that can’t wait for the Indycar season to start on March 10th on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
The IMSA GTP class makes up the first 10 positions. Positions 11-23 consist of the LMP2 class. The GTD Pro & GTD classes will make up the balance of the grid in positions 24-59. They all start at different intervals on the track once the green flag waves.
Indycar fans have been clamoring for multiple chassis & engine manufacturers for years. The GTP division has four different car/engine combinations. They consist of Cadillac, Porsche, BMW and Acura. Each car has its own unique look & engine song. While the LMP2 category consists specifically of an ORECA chassis the GTD Pro & GTD divisions are ripe of different cars & manufacturers. There are Chevrolet Corvettes, Ford Mustangs, Porsche 911s, BMWs, Mercedes, Lamborghini Huracans, Aston Martins, McLarens, & Ferrari 296s.
Which Indycar stars are set to shine in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona? How about the fact that there are no fewer than 13 current full time Indycar drivers, almost 14, and another eight drivers who have tried their hands in Indycar. These drivers aren’t just there to fill the field. Most are actually in top equipment with eyes on the overall win or class win.
Let’s run through this list of who’s who racing this coming weekend. Indy 500 winner and six-time Indycar Champion Scott Dixon will team up with two-time Indycar Champion Alex Palou in the Chip Ganassi Cadillac V-Series R GTP car. The Ganassi team rounds out the entry with four-time Indycar Champion Sebastien Bourdais & Renger Van der Zande, Bourdais & Van der Zande are the regular full season IMSA drivers for the Ganassi entry.
Current Andretti Global Indycar driver Kyle Kirkwood will race in the GTD Pro division with former Indycar drivers Jack Hawksworth & Mike Conway along with series regular Ben Barnicoat in the Vasser/Sullivan Lexus entry.
The 2023 Indianapolis 500 Champion Josef Newgarden will get a chance at a Rolex Watch and overall victory in one of two Penske Porsche GTP entries. He joins full time IMSA pilots Dane Cameron & Felipe Nasr along with Matt Campbell.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global have two Acura GTP entries that include Colten Herta & 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson. They team up with Ricky and Jordan Taylor, 2009 F1 Champion Jenson Button , Louis Deletraz, Brendon Hartley & Filipe Alburequerque.
You will be able to see Penske driver Scott McLaughlin go after a class win in the LMP2 category. Scotty Mac joins John Farano, Michael Dinan & Ferdinand Habsburg in the car entered by Tower Motorsports.
United Motorsports added Felix Rosenqvist, current Meyer/Shank Indycar driver, to their linup. The Swede will compete in the LMP2 class & joins fellow drivers Dan Goldburg, Paul di Resta and Bijoy Garg.
Also competing in the GTD Pro class is 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi. He joins up with his podcast co-host and former Indycar driver James Hinchcliffe. They will be teamed with IMSA regulars Oliver Jarvis & Marvin Kirchofer in the Pfaff Motorsports McLaren.
In fact, Pato O’Ward, Rossi’s McLaren Indycar teammate will take a shot at a watch and class win in the LMP2 class with United Autosport and a driver lineup that includes former Indycar driver Ben Hanley, Ben Keating and Nico Pino.
Action Express has tabbed former Meyer/Shank IMSA pilot and current Meyer/Shank Indycar rookie Tom Blomqvist to join its regular line-up of Pipo Derani & Jack Aitkin. It should be noted that Deroni and Aitkin are the current IMSA GTP Champions.
Current Indycar stars Romain Grosjean, Indycar rookies Christian Rasmussen & Kyffin Simpson are also looking for class victories. Moreover, joining the on the track action are former Indycar pilots Katherine Legge, Tatiana Calderon, Gabby Chaves and Devlin DeFrancesco in the GTD and LMP2 categories. We should not forget about Ryan Dalziel. He drove in the Champcar series in 2007. Dalziel teamed with Rasmussen in the Era Motorsport LMP2 entry. Dalziel is a former Daytona Rolex 24 winner. He had the overall win in 2010 driving for Action Express Racing. Furthermore, he was joined in victory lane by teammates Terry Borcheller, Joao Barbosa and Mike Rockenfeller. Dalzial also has a class win in the 2012 24 Hours of LeMans.
Furthermore, IMSA racing is on an upswing that started in 2023. The sports car organization had record crowds at last years 24 Hours of Daytona. They have already reported a record crowd for its weekend of testing dubbed the Roar Before the 24. Furthermore, IMSA also returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this past September. Not only is the multi-class racing attractive to race fans, IMSA also has the aforementioned multi chassis/motor combinations in the GTP division.
Nevertheless, Indycar stars are set to shine at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. There are many Indycar owners fielding IMSA entries as well. They consist of Chip Ganassi, Roger Penske, Bobby Rahal & Michael Andretti. IMSA sports flag to flag racing action for any race length. They are all out from two hours and 45 minutes up to six, 12 or 24 hours. There is no “saving fuel” like the fans see in Indycar racing. IMSA racing has everything a race fan is yearning for in a racing series. I challenge any fan to check it out and not like the on track product.