A new season of endurance racing is about to get underway across the Atlantic with the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, first round of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The field of 59 cars entered in the race is as follows: 10 in the GTP category, 13 in LMP2, 13 in GTD Pro and 23 in GTD.

Acura won Daytona last year with the ARX-06. This weekend, Wayne Taylor Racing will represent the Japanese marque with two cars, the #10 entrusted to Ricky Taylor/Felipe Albuquerque/Brendon Hartley/Marcus Ericsson, and the #40 shared by Jordan Taylor/Louis Delétraz/Colton Herta/Jenson Button (2009 F1 world champion).

Ahead of its debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Team WRT, BMW is entering two M Hybrid V8s at Daytona. Last season, the German Hypercar turned in solid performances across all championship circuits no matter the race format. Running cars in both the IMSA and FIA WEC has proven advantageous for BMW in terms of collecting valuable data and gaining precious experience.

After winning the IMSA Manufacturers title last seaon, Cadillac is back with two V-Series.Rs fielded by Whelen/Action Express Racing (#31) and Chip Ganassi Racing (#01). The #31 will be driven by Pipo Derani/Jack Aitken/Tom Blomqvist and the #01 by Sébastien Bourdais/Renger van der Zande/Scott Dixon.

Porsche Penske Motorsport will return with the 963 winner of three races last year. Though the car is visually identical to the one seen in 2023, several modifications have been executed under the bonnet. Porsche is the only marque to offer its Hypercar to customer teams, and so Proton Competition and JDC-Miller MotorSports will each field one 963.

Cadillac in pole position

The start of the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona is scheduled for Saturday 27 January at 18:40 GMT. Last weekend, the teams took part in the ROAR (the equivalent of Test Day at the 24 Hours of Le Mans) with a qualifying race. Whelen/Action Express Racing's #31 Cadillac V-Series.R scored the pole thanks to Pipo Derani's record time of 1:32.656 ahead of the other Cadillac V-Series.R entered by Chip Ganassi Racing. The #25 BMW qualifed in P3 trailed by the #40 and #10 Acura ARX-06s, respectively.

In the LMP2 category, pole position went to United Autosports USA's #2 ORECA 07-Gibson entrusted to Ben Hanley/Pato O’Ward/Ben Keating/Nicolás Pino.

AO Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 R "Rexy" took the top spot in GTD Pro. Three cars are making their first appearances in this category: the Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Corvette Racing, the Ford Mustang GT3 and the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. All three are expected to compete in the FIA WEC.

Club ACO members are welcome to watch the start of the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the Georges Durand reception area at the 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit. The event hosted by Bruno Vandestick will begin at 18:30 local time. Click the link to reserve your seat(s) with or without the meal offering.

The race will be broadcast once again on Automoto La Chaîne starting at 18:00 GMT and on the official IMSA website.