66 Entries for Roar Before Rolex 24 (Updated)

Photo: Brian Cleary/bcpix.com

IMSA has released the entry list for next weekend’s Roar Before the 24, the final official pre-season testing opportunity before the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

ENTRY List: Click Here

UPDATE: A further revision was issued Monday morning, confirming additional drivers. Among the notable additions include Olivier Pla and Roman Rusinov (OAK Racing), Tom Kimber-Smith (8Star Motorsports), and Scott Tucker, Townsend Bell, Bill Sweedler and Jeff Segal (Level 5 Motorsports).

Both Risi Competizione and a second BAR1 Motorsports entry have been withdrawn.

The list features 66 entries, including a class-high 28 cars set to take part in the GT Daytona category.

Seventeen cars from the Prototype class are set to take part, including the debuts of Pickett Racing’s Oreca 03 Nissan and the OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan.

Extreme Speed Motorsports will run both of its HPD ARX-03bs for the first time in pre-season testing, to be driven by its previously confirmed driver lineup of Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel, David Brabham (No. 1) and Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek, Simon Pagenaud and Anthony Lazzaro (No. 2).

Wayne Taylor is set to return to the wheel of his Dallara-chassised Daytona Prototype, joining sons Ricky and Jordan, plus Max Angelelli in the team’s Rolex Series championship-winning Corvette DP, while Justin Wilson and AJ Allmendinger are listed in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford with full-season pilots Ozz Negri and John Pew.

Chip Ganassi Racing will have both of its Ford-powered Rileys at the test, with only Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, its full season drivers, confirmed in the No. 01 car thus far. The same is the case for Spirit of Daytona, which features Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante at the helm of the brand-new No. 90 Corvette DP.

While yet to announce its driver lineup, the two SpeedSource Mazda prototypes has team principal Sylvain Tremblay and rising star Tristan Nunez listed as drivers.

The Prototype class is completed by entries from DeltaWing, Action Express Racing and GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing, all with its previously announced driver lineups.

Eleven cars are listed to take part in Prototype Challenge, while the GT Le Mans class features ten entries, following the withdrawal of Risi. Team Falken Tire, a registered full-season entrant, will skip the opening round.

Aston Martin Racing’s Vantage V8 will be driven at the test by Stefan Muecke, Darren Turner, Pedro Lamy, Richie Stanaway and Paul Dalla Lana, while IndyCar star Graham Rahal is listed in one of BMW Team RLL’s BMW Z4 GTE cars, alongside Dirk Mueller, John Edwards and Dirk Werner.

The other BMW Z4 GTE will be driven by Bill Auberlen, Andy Priaulx, Joey Hand and Maxime Martin.

Corvette Racing will debut its new Corvette C7.R with its previously announced driving squad of Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia, Ryan Briscoe (No. 3) and Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Robin Liddell (No. 4).

Among the notable drivers in the 27-car GTD field is V8 Supercars ace van Gisbergen, who is listed in the No. 22 Alex Job Racing/WeatherTech Porsche, along with Porsche factory driver Marco Holzer in the Team Seattle-entered 911 GT America.

The AF Corse-run Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia squad will see Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Gianluca Roda, Paulo Ruberti (No. 49) and Matt Griffin, Marco Cioci and Michele Rugolo (No. 51).

Turner Motorsport’s BMW Z4 GT3 features a four-driver lineup, led by BMW factory driver Augusto Farfus, Dane Cameron, Markus Palttala and Dalla Lana.

The Roar Before the Rolex 24 is set for Jan. 3-5.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John