61-Car Rolex 24 Entry List Released

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

IMSA has released a 61-car entry list for next month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, featuring another capacity grid for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.

Unveiled on Tuesday, the 64th annual Florida endurance classic will feature 11 GTP entries, 14 LMP2s, 15 GTD Pro cars and 21 GTD machines for the race, which will also double as the opening leg of the Michelin Endurance Cup.

Reigning Rolex 24 winners Porsche Penske Motorsport has opted for three-driver lineups in its pair of Porsche 963s, despite Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin testing for the team at Daytona last month.

The Nos. 6 and 7 cars, along with the two Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.Rs, as well as JDC-Miller Motorsports, which will have Nico Pino, Bryce Aron and Tijmen van der Helm, are the only cars to have opted with three-driver lineups.

The fourth driver in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, widely believed to be rising NASCAR rising star Connor Zilich, is yet to be announced. Zilisch conducted two tests in the car, including at last month’s IMSA-sanctioned outing at Daytona International Speedway.

Multiple entries show “TBD” drivers across the entry list but are understood to not be listed due to their nominated drivers yet to finalize their IMSA licensing requirements.

It includes Kaku Ohta, who was previously announced to complete the lineup in the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06.

Among the newly confirmed LMP2 lineups include the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson, which will see Harry Tincknell and Misha Goikhberg for the season, Parker Thompson in the Endurance Cup races and Ben Keating for the Rolex 24.

Logan Sargeant is confirmed in the No. 18 Era Motorsport entry alongside Naveen Rao, Ferdinand Habsburg and James Roe, while the entire lineup of the Team Tonis effort remains to be confirmed.

Paul Miller Racing’s solo BMW M4 GT3 EVO will feature Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi, Max Hesse and Dan Harper for the Rolex 24, while Team RLL’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, also in GTD Pro, has Max Esterson, Juri Vips and Dean MacDonald listed so far, along with a TBD.

Risi Competizione, which is set to return to competition after a year supporting DragonSpeed, will feature the all-Ferrari factory driver lineup of Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon and Alessandro Pier Guidi in its No. 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

In GTD, only Rory van der Steur and Valentin Hasse Clot have been confirmed in the No. 19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, which is a full season entry, while Eric Zitza and Jan Heylen are so far only listed in the Endurance Cup-only RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.

DXDT Racing, meanwhile, has yet to declare any of the drivers for its No. 36 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Confirmed on the entry list is Muehlner Motorsports’ Porsche, which will feature reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion Ryan Yardley.

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