Herta to Be “Floater” Between BMW GTP Entries

Photo: BMW

Colton Herta is set to race both BMW M Team RLL GTP class entries in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with the NTT IndyCar Series star entered in the two BMW M Hybrid V8s for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.

Herta, a BMW M Motorsport factory driver, will join full season drivers Phillip Eng and Augusto Farfus, plus Marco Wittmann in the No. 24 entry in addition to the No. 25 BMW that will be spearheaded by Connor De Phillippi, Nick Yelloly and Sheldon van der Linde.

The 22-year-old Californian is set to be the only driver pulling double duty between two cars in the Rolex 24 this year.

“I will be driving both cars here,” Herta told Sportscar365. “I don’t know what the thought process is behind it — it’s probably a better question for BMW.

“I’m basically going to be a little bit of a floater. I think the original thought is to start in the 25 car and move over to the 24 car, do half and half, so I won’t be [going back and forth].

“That way it breaks it up a little bit.

“I think the thought is that they wanted four guys in each car, they couldn’t get that, so now they have basically three in each car and I’m a little bit of an extra.”

Herta will be seeking his third Rolex 24 class win, following GTLM class honors with Team RLL in 2019 and victory last year in DragonSpeed’s LMP2 entry.

“My odds are a lot better than everybody else,” he said in reference to being listed in both BMW GTP entries. “There’s not added pressure. This is such an interesting one this year.

“It’s going to be a true endurance race whereas other times in the GT stuff and even the DPi cars before, this race was more of a sprint race because cars weren’t breaking, there were no issues.

“With a brand new formula like this, I think you’re going to see a lot of guys struggle with stuff coming up, just because we haven’t had these cars for years.

“That’s just everybody on the grid. It’s going to play a big factor in the end result for sure.”

He said he got “a little bit of time” in the LMDh car during last month’s IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona, which helped him acclimate to the new platform.

“It’s very different to drive even from a LMP2 car last year,” Herta said. “Obviously it’s different from the GT stuff and quite different from IndyCar.

“It takes a little bit of an adjustment period and I think that’s what that test for was all about, getting adjusted in the car, getting comfortable.

“We’re obviously at the Roar now so we’ll get more into finding lap time and whatnot and understanding a little bit more about the car.”

Herta Hopeful of BMW GT3 Drives in Future

The second-generation driver, who has been contracted to BMW since 2018, has expressed interest in contesting other endurance races with the German manufacturer if given the opportunity.

Outside of Daytona, Herta has only run the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans with BMW.

“I always like to put my foot in the door for some other races,” he said. “I would love to try to do the 24 Hours of Spa, Nürburgring 24, some of these GT races.

“I’ve always wanted to drive in Bathurst, so the 12 Hour would be a great race to do but I’ve never had the chance yet.

“Obviously I’ve got a lot of stuff on my plate in IndyCar. Hopefully in the future I can do some more of these cool GT races.”

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