VP Challenge Gears Up for Daytona Season Opener at Roar

For its first three seasons, the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge has revealed potential stars and teams poised to ascend throughout other IMSA-sanctioned championships.

The drivers and teams set to compete at Daytona International Speedway to start the season seek to do the same.

A total of 20 cars, split between nine LMP3s and 11 GSX cars, will race a pair of 45-minute, single-driver, sprint races.

Starting strong is a good indicator of title success; Valentino Catalano (LMP3), Adam Adelson (GTDX) and Kiko Porto (GSX) all swept the Daytona races last year to set up for eventual championship runs.

The LMP3 field heads into the year with several elements of newness, both in terms of new eligible third-generation LMP3 cars and also four additional two-hour, two-driver endurance races joining the five two-race sprint weekends.

Defending champions Gebhardt Motorsport are back with a three-car Duqueine D08 Nissan effort for Daytona.

Oscar Tunjo will wear the team’s championship-winning No. 1 on his car, having won twice in a partial 2025 campaign that did not include Daytona starts.

Meanwhile Danny Soufi (No. 11) and Jeremy Siffert (No. 31), grandson of the late Formula 1 and Le Mans race winner Jo Siffert, complete the trio.

The 2024 LMP3 team champions FastMD with Remstar enter its Duqueine for Farhan Siddiqi (No. 87), one of three Bronze Cup LMP3 entrants.

Meanwhile the new Ligier JS P325 Toyota will make its U.S. race debut as the first new third-generation LMP3 car, with talented youngsters Brady Golan (No. 30) and Lincoln Day (No. 95) aboard Toney Driver Development’s pair of Ligiers and Travis Hill (No. 2) in the rebranded Shopify Racing Powered by TWOth Ligier.

Golan finished second in the first Daytona race last year. Forte Racing continues to field the previous generation Ligier JS P320 Nissa for Bronze Cup veterans Brian Thienes (No. 77) and Jon Hirshberg (No. 86).

Thienes finished second overall in 2025 and won the Bronze Cup.

The GSX field has several potential contenders as well, with entries from five different manufacturers: Toyota, Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW and Ford.

Toyota has four of its GR Supra GT4 EVO2s entered while Porsche has four 718 GT4 RS Clubsport cars in the field. Aston Martin, BMW and Ford have a single Vantage GT4, M4 GT4 EVO and Mustang GT4 apiece.

Defending champions RAFA Racing Team will look to reprise their win run from 2025 after claiming 10 of the 12 wins as part of Toyota’s perfect 12-for-12 season (BSI Racing won the other two).

BSI alumnus Westin Workman (No. 8) will contend following his success in both Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin and Toyota GR Cup North America, the latter of which he won a championship last year.

RAFA team founder Rafael Martinez steps into VP Challenge this year in the team’s No. 68 entry.

They replace outgoing GSX and GSX Bronze Cup champions Kiko Porto and Ian Porter, respectively.

Jon Brel (No. 81 Kingpin Racing Toyota) produced a podium at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in his series debut last year and Cecilia Rabelo (No. 98 Panam Motorsport Toyota) completes the Toyota quartet.

For Porsche, Justin di Benedetto returns as its highest-finishing driver from 2025 in his No. 4 entry, having come fourth last year with two podiums.

Grammy Award-winning music producer Jim Jonsin, Martinez’s 2025 co-driver in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, will race against him in 2026 on-board the No. 808 Porsche fielded by sports car veteran outfit, Goldcrest Motorsports.

Series newcomers Dan Ammann (No. 91), an HSR Endurance Cup champion, and Ismaeel Ellahi (No. 25 CSM), a veteran sim racer, are also in contention.

IMSA veteran Sean Quinlan (No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4), newcomer Tiger Tari (No. 26 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO) and occasional runner Mike Fitzpatrick (No. 89 89x Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4) will fly the flags for their respective brands to start the year.

Quinlan’s Stephen Cameron team scored a GSX podium at Daytona last year, as his Michelin Pilot Challenge co-driver Gregory Liefooghe finished second in the season opener.

All three are Bronze Cup contenders along with Jonsin, Ammann, Martinez and Brel.

VP Challenge teams have two practice sessions Friday with qualifying Saturday morning. Races are at 2 p.m. ET and local time Saturday and 1:20 p.m. ET and local time Sunday, streaming on Peacock and internationally via IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.