The Rolex 24 at Daytona will raise the curtain on the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship this weekend. A 49-strong field split across five classes will line up for the race. The grid will comprise seven DPi prototypes, 10 LMP2s, seven LMP3s, six cars in the GTLM class and 19 GTDs. No fewer than 46 drivers who were at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last September will compete in the race. They include American Ben Keating who will divide his time between two cars: the #52 Oreca 07 of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports (LMP2) and the #97 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of TF Sport (GTD).

As Grand Marshal for the race, Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, will give the order for the drivers to start their engines.

Three manufacturers will battle for outright victory in the DPi class: Cadillac, through Chip Ganassi Racing, JDC Miller MotorSports, Whelen Engineering Racing and Ally Cadillac Racing; Acura, with Konica Minolta and Meyer Shank Racing; and Mazda, with Mazda Motorsports. The LMP2 class features some of the teams familiar to FIA WEC or European Le Mans Series fans, such as High Class Racing, Racing Team Nederland, Cetilar Racing and DragonSpeed. Corvette, BMW, Ferrari and Porsche will contest the GTLM title. This class is equivalent to LMGTE Pro at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona will see LMP3s in action for the very first time. The entry list is made up of Ligier JS P320 and Duqueine M30-D08 prototypes. Finally, Lamborghini, Porsche, Lexus, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes-AMG, Audi, Acura and BMW will all be fighting for the GTD crown.

Cadillac in pole position

The starting grid for the Rolex 24 at Daytona was settled at the “Roar Before the 24” qualifying race, staged on Sunday, which pitted pairs of drivers against each other. Whelen Engineering Racing duo Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani took the honours in the #31 Cadillac DPi-VR and will start from pole position. They edged out the #55 Mazda RT24-P of Mazda Motorsports and the #5 Cadillac DPi-VR of JDC Miller Motorsports.
In GTLM, the #4 Corvette C8.R of Corvette Racing won the qualifying race ahead of her sister car (#3) and the Porsche 911 RSR-19 entered by the WeatherTech Racing team.
The #52 Oreca 07 of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports clinched pole position in LMP2. In LMP3, the #6 Duqueine M30-D08 of Mühlner Motorsports America led the way while the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 took pole position in the GTD field.

Qualifying race results

The competitors will return to the track on Thursday for free practice. The race itself will start at 15:40 EST (20:40 UTC) on Saturday.

Rolex 24 at Daytona provisional entry list