Michelin Daytona Notebook

***This is the historic 60th anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

***The Rolex 24 is the first race of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, which features the four longest races of the IMSA season.

***The 61-car field in the WeatherTech Championship is up 12 cars from 2021 and the largest field here since 2014.

***Last year’s 49-car Rolex 24 field completed a combined total of 29,678 laps or 105,654 miles, an average of 605.673 laps or 2,156 miles per starter.

***Only six of the 49 starters in 2021 competed fewer than 500 laps.

***The 2021 race winning No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 completed a massive 807 laps or 2,872.92 miles of the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway circuit.

***With 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes per hour, the Rolex 24 represents 84,000 ticks of the clock. The 2021 margin of victory was 4.704 seconds.

***With a bigger 61-car field in 2022, Michelin estimates that a 60-minute green flag run in dry conditions will produce more than 5,000 miles in a single hour.

***Michelin has shipped 30 semi-trailer loads of tires and equipment to Daytona for the IMSA season-opening events.

***There are 35 Michelin race tire engineers, tire specialists, and managers on site in addition to a crew of 75 who are working in rotating shifts to handle tire inventory, mounting, balancing and release to teams.

***Daytona International Speedway is living up to the “international” middle name, as drivers from 26 countries have entered the Rolex 24. The seven DPi entries include drivers from 13 countries.

***Last year, track temperatures in the 24-hour race ranged from 56 degrees Fahrenheit to 90 degrees. During the 2021 season, Michelin reports that track temperatures ranged from 39 degrees at Road Atlanta to 127 degrees at Lime Rock.

***Teams may look to double stint Michelin tires, especially through the night when temperatures are colder as keeping hot tires on the car can be advantage.

***Tire warmers are not permitted in IMSA.

***The BMW M4 GT3 will be making its IMSA debut. This is now the top car in the high-performance M Motorsport range. Michelin is proud to have been on every edition of the M class.

***Some of the biggest names in racing will be in Daytona. This includes Indy 500 champions, IndyCar champions, a NASCAR Champ and several overall 24 hours of Le Mans winners.

***Teams and fans are excited to have the IMSA Radio crew back on site for the first time since the pandemic.

***The Rolex 24 begins the countdown to what will be the first race of the new IMSA – World Endurance Championship agreement that will bring Prototype class entries from several top manufacturers here next January.