Ford CEO Farley Among Drivers Entered for Daytona Kickoff

Photo: Ford

Ford CEO Jim Farley is among the two-dozen drivers that are set to take part in next weekend’s inaugural IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge rounds at Daytona International Speedway as part of the Roar Before the Rolex 24.

Farley, an accomplished historic racer, will drive a Multimatic Motorsports-run Ford Mustang GT4 in the GSX class, which is comprised entirely of GT4-spec machinery.

It will mark Farley’s IMSA race debut, coming in the first outing for the new multi-class sprint race series featuring Bronze or Silver-rated drivers.

Released on Wednesday, the entry list features nine LMP3 cars and 15 GSX entries for the pair of 45-minute single-driver races.

The LMP3 class is predominately made up of former IMSA Prototype Challenge teams, including Jr III Racing, Muehlner Motorsports, Sean Creech Motorsport, MLT Motorsports, JDC Motorsports, US RaceTronics and Forty7 Motorsports.

Of note, Kellymoss with Riley will make its LMP3 debut with a pair of Ligier JS P320 Nissans for Keith McGovern and Scott Neal.

Newly named IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship winner Courtney Crone will be at the wheel of Forty7’s Duqueine D08 Nissan, while WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Lance Willsey and Dan Goldburg will drive for Sean Creech and JDC, respectively.

The 15-car GSX class sees the greatest diversity with six manufacturers and seven models represented, including the IMSA debut of the new BMW M4 GT4.

Stephen Cameron Racing and Auto Technic Racing will each field G82-model BMWs alongside the previous generation F82 versions from Turner Motorsport and Split Decision Motorsports.

Longtime Michelin Pilot Challenge racer Vinny Barletta is confirmed in the No. 96 Turner entry alongside teammate Francis Selldorff.

In addition to Farley’s Multimatic entry, KohR Motorsports will also field a Mustang GT4 for Bill Griffin, while fellow Pilot Challenge squad KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering will make its GT4 debut with a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport for Agnus Rogers.

Additional Porsches will be fielded by Kellymoss with Riley, BGB Motorsports and CarBahn with Peregrine Racing

Frank DePew has the lone Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R in the field, entered by Rebel Rock Racing, while Tim Probert will drive Murillo Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 and Todd Coleman is set for his debut with the Archangel Motorsports-run Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

Track action kicks for VP Challenge competitors kicks off on Fri., Jan. 20 with a pair of practice sessions, followed by qualifying on Saturday morning. Race 1 gets underway at 2:05 p.m. ET on Sat. Jan. 21, with Race 2 on Sunday at 12:20 p.m. ET.

Both races will be streamed live on Peacock and will be available on IMSA.tv for international viewers.

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