Vaxiviere, Buret Complete Starworks Daytona Lineup

The Starworks-run Tower Motorsport team has finalized its driver lineup for the Rolex 24 at Daytona with the signings of Matthieu Vaxiviere and Timothe Buret.

The French pair join full-season drivers Gabriel Aubry and John Farano in the No. 8 Oreca 07 Gibson for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship opener on Jan. 30-31.

Both Vaxiviere and Buret are set for their Daytona debuts, although Vaxiviere has prior IMSA experience in the form of two 2019 Michelin Endurance Cup outings for Wayne Taylor Racing in the DPi category.

Those resulted in Vaxiviere finishing second in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans.

Buret is new to IMSA competition but has raced in LMP2 for several years, and has also driven in North America before during a Pro Mazda stint in his junior open-wheel days.

Most of the 25-year-old’s prototype racing exploits have come in Ligier machinery with the Panis Racing squad in the European Le Mans Series.

Buret’s association with Panis program operator Tech 1 Racing saw him take part in last year’s GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season at the wheel of the team’s Lexus RC F GT3.

His first drives in the Oreca 07 chassis that Tower Motorsport and Starworks are running at Daytona came last year with DragonSpeed in the ELMS and at Le Mans.

Vaxiviere took part in several major enduros last year including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he scored an LMP2 class podium with Panis Racing.

A total of ten cars are on the LMP2 entry for Daytona, where points in the second-tier prototype class are given for the Michelin Endurance Cup only.