IMSA and its WeatherTech SportsCar Championship begin their 2025 season this weekend with the midwinter classic Rolex 24 at Daytona, held on Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course that incorporates a few parts of the 2.5-mile tri-oval used by NASCAR and its stock car entities.
There are a total of 61 entries – and 62 former winners – in the GTP, LMP2 GTD PRO and GTD classes that will compete for both overall and in-class Rolex watches awarded to the winners. Porsche Team Penske returns to try for another overall victory after securing championships in both IMSA’s and the World Endurance Championship’s overall standings. There are a total of nine entries in the premier GTP class, comprised of the reigning Porsche team – along with several independent entries for the marque – Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Lamborghini.
Change is often the least important part of any team’s attempts to win this race. After all, occurring in the middle of winter, when rain storms are known to impact competition and where snowfall could easily disrupt the proceedings this year, as teams prep for this race, they should want as much continuity as possible.
Often, continuity is something that’s hard to grasp. Take, for instance, the return of Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) after a year on the sidelines. The team’s return to Acura and to IMSA is notable for the number of drivers that have great experience in this class, if not often with this team. Bringing their full-season band back together, MSR reunites Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun to bring home another title, joined by INDYCAR standouts Scott Dixon, the six-time champion and Felix Rosenqvist. The second MSR Acura ARX-06 has veterans Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, three-time INDYCAR champ Alex Palou and Kaku Otha at the helm.
Penske’s two-car Porsche team has Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet joined by Kevin Estre, while the second car features Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy for the full season, with Laurens Vanthoor joining the duo for this race. the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche 963 has Neil Jani, Tristan Vautier, Nico Pino and Julien Andlauer to work with their engineers; the team has Porsche entries in both GTD PRO and GTD as well. The JDC-Miller Porsche team boasts Gianmaria Bruni, Tijmen van den Helm, Bryce Aaron and Pascal Wehrlein as this independent team works its way to the front in their familiar bright yellow Porsche 963.
BMW’s entries come from the Tam RLL BMW stable with a pair of M Hybrid V8s ready for action. During last week’s ROAR Before the Rolex 24 test sessions, both BMWs ran strongly, even in the decidedly rain-soaked sessions. The No. 24 is helmed by Philipp Eng, Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marcello and F1 refugee Kevin Magnussen, who drove Chip Ganassi’s now-parked IMSA Cadillac before his Formula One return. The No. 25 car has Sheldon van den Linden, Marco Wittmann, Robin Frijns and Rene Rast sharing the driver’s seats.
Cadillac has customary representation from the No.31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, Frederik Vasti and Felipe Drugovich. Pipo Derani has departed the team. Cadillac is reunited with Wayne Taylor Racing this year and the team’s two entries have exceptional talent to recommend them. The No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R has Felipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Will Stevens and Brendon Hartley behind the wheel, while the No. 40’s team of Louis Delegraz, Jordan Taylor and Kamui Kobayashi. Fourth driver Alex Lynn had to step away due to illness, but with Kobayashi on the grounds, this team definitely has star power.
Lamborghini has a single entry, the No. 63 Automobile Lamborghini Squadron Core Lamborghini SC63 makes its Rolex 24 debut as a factory team, with driving talent that rivals this competition: Mirko Bortolotti, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat and Edoardo Mortara; Bortolotti and Mortara have both earned GT class victories in he past and, in Grosjean and Kvyat this team has two drivers with aggressive stances.
LMP2, a spec class initiated by the WEC and ACO, the latter sanction of mid-summer’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, boasts nine entries for this race. Since they all have the same equipment, winning comes down to teamwork, driver capabilities and, of course a smattering of luck. While Dragonspeed, winners of the 2024 haven’t joined the class this year, two of its drivers shuffled off to Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 ORECA LMP2 07. Eric Lux and Devlin DeFrancesco are joined by F1/INDYCAR racer Pietro Fittipaldi, and 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric.
Still, the No. 51 needs to watch its back, with AO Racing’s PJ Hyatt, Dane Cameron, Jonny Edgar and Christian Rasmussen sharing the driving duties. The Af Corse team, which won Le Mans the past two years as service provider for the Ferrari 499P, are fielding entries in this class and GTD. In LMP2, their drivers are Luis Perez Companc, Nicklas Nielsen, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Dylan Murry. Riley has a single No. 74 entry for Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burton and Felipe Massa, while Pratt Miller Motorsports fields the No. 73 for Chris Cumming, Pietro Fittipaldi (doing double duty), James Roe Jr. and INDYCAR’s Callum Ilott.
United Autosports has a pair of entries in this class, last year’s pole winning No. 2, albeit with different drivers in Nick Boulle, Ben Hanley, Garnet Patterson and Oliver Jarvis; all but Patterson already own a Rolex watch, but this is Patterson’s first ride in this race. The No. 22 boasts Daniel Goldberg, Paul di Resta, Rasmussen Lindh and James Allen. Twice a winner in this race, Era Motorsport once again has Ryan Dalziel behind the wheel on the No. 18, together with Tobias Lutke, David Heinemeier Hansson and Paul-Loup Chatin. The No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA boasts Steven Thomas, Mikel Jensen, Hunter McElrea and Charles Miles, while Tower Powersports’ No. 8 has 13-time IMSA winner Sebastien Bourdais, John Marano, Sebastian Alvarez and Job van Uitert, while the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR rides with George Kurtz, Toby Sowery, Malthe Jacobsen and INDYCAR star Colton Herta.
The two “sports car” or door-slammer classes, GTD PRO and GTD are, as usual, the heavyweights in this race, with the latter boasting the most entries. There are 15 GTD PRO and 22 GTD cars set to compete, with a total of nine auto manufacturers represented in the field: Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche with each one represented in each class. Handicapping these classes is always difficult, because of the differences in speed and driver capabilities can be pretty vast. All of these GT3 sports cars bear some resemblances to their street-going family members.
Look to Paul Miller Racing’s No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Madison Snow/Neil Verhagen/Connor De Phillippi and Kelvin van der Linde); the team’s No. 48 has Max Hesse, Dan Harper, Jesse Krohn and Augusto Farfus, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs. Corvette owns four GT class wins, including overall in 2001! There are familiar drives in both cars: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and Daniel Juncadella in No. 3 and Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg, Nico Varrone in No. 4. The No. 007 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Eco boasts Ross Gun, Alex Riberas, Roman De Angelis and Marco Sorenson.
Pfaff Motorsports is back in plaid this year and in its third different car in the same number of seasons. Racing the No. 9 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 are Andres Caldarelli, Marco Mapelli, Jordan Pepper and James Hinchcliffe. The No. 14 GTD PRO belongs to Ben Barnicoat, Aaron Telitz, Kyle Kirkwood and Townsend Bell, whom you might be more familiar with from his INDYCAR commentating, along with Hinchcliffe. Ford Multmatic Motorsports has a pair of Ford Mustang GT3 entries for Mike Rockenfeller, Seb Priauix, and Austin Cindric, doing double duty, while Christopher Mies, Frederic Vervisch and Dennis Olsen take up the second Mustang. There are two Mercedes-AMG GT3 GTD PRO and a pair of GTD entries: in GTD PRO, the No. 69 GetSpeed car has Anthony Barton, Fabian Schiller, Lucas Stolz and Maxime Martin, while the 75 Express Mercedes has Kenny Habul, Mark Engel, Jules Gounon and Michael Grenier being the wheel.
AO Racing’s No. 77 Porsche 911 GT2 R 992 has Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello racing, while DragonSpeed’s Ferrari 296 GT3 is entered for Albert Costa, Miguel Molina, Davide Rigon and Thomas Neubauer, with assistance from the folks at Risi Competizione. Finally, the No. 91 Trackhouse by TF Sport Corvette sports Ben Keating, Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen and Connor Zilch, definitely a superstar grouping.
GTD has too many cars to list singly, but let it be known the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 is entered for Jack Hawksworth, Parker Thompson, Frankie Montecalvo and Kyle Kirkwood, again doing double duty. The defending winner in this class, Wright Motorsports and its No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 992 return with Ryan Hardwick Jan Heylen and Zachafie Robichon, with Dennis Olsen filled out the roster. Look also at Conquest Racing’s No. 34 Ferrari 296 GT3 with Many Franco, Daniel Serra, Cedric Sbirrauoli and Giacamo Alto and the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R. This team was dominant in last year’s SRO World Challenge America series and has come to IMSA for a first-time full season, anchored by Ali Yolk, Alec Odell, Charlie Eastwood and Pipo Derani.
Magnus Racing is ending its long-time sports car racing entries, always with good humor as much as good racing. Team owners Jon Potter is stepping back to focus on his real estate business so this is a final race for them. Maybe. Their No. 44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Eco has Potter, together with regular teammate Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly and Nicki Thiim. Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 returns with Danny Formal, Trent Hindman, Graham Doyle and Kyle Marcelli this year.
The action begins on Wednesday – after last weekend’s ROAR Before the Rolex 24 – and the race itself is set to start at 1:40PM ET and end 24 hours later. Even before the big race begins, there will be plenty of action with the Mazda MX-5 Cup and Michelin Pilot Challenge races that take place Thursday and Friday. All IMSA action is available to stream on IMSA.tv and on Peacock.
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