Sitting in the drivers meeting for her Rolex 24 at Daytona debut in 2007, Katherine Legge was feeling starstruck.
“I remember looking around and seeing NASCAR drivers, IndyCar drivers and people coming over from F1,” Legge told NBC Sports. “It’s just the diversity in the driver lineup. It’s crazy. It has the best drivers in the world without doubt, without question. And there are only a few races that garner that much attention.
“So for me, it gives you chills because you’re looking around like, ‘Wow, I’m racing against people who have legit been the best in their field,’ and that might not be the field you’re used to driving The people we’re racing right now are people I’m telling that story about in 10 years. It’s just like a magnet for all the best drivers in the world.”
The 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, which will run Saturday through Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, is the global lid lifter for the motorsports season, and the round-the-clock sports car extravaganza will maintain its worldwide allure.
HOW TO WATCH THE ROLEX 24: TV information, schedules, start times and entry lists
Among the full-capacity 59 entries with more than 200 drivers around the world, there are four Indy 500 crowns, a Formula One champion and numerous 24 Hours of Le Mans winners in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.
“It’s mouthwatering when you look at the entry list and see who’s going to be competing,” NBC Sports analyst Calvin Fish said. “It’s a star-studded field. It’s always been like a race of champions in terms of who it attracts.”
IMSA president John Doonan said the annual who’s who of motorsports is a validation of NASCAR founder Bill France’s vision for a race that modestly began as “the Daytona Continental,” a three-hour endurance event in 1962.
“He was trying to have the best drivers, best teams and best cars compete at the World Center of Racing,” Doonan said. “And the unique nature of the track alone is enough to get world-class drivers excited. Where else in the world is there 31 degrees of banking that you get to run a sports car?”
Daytona International Speedway’s unique 12-turn, 3.56-mile road course will feature one of its most diverse collection of drivers this year. Legge, an Indy 500 veteran and sports car winner who will drive in the GTD category, is among a record nine female drivers in a field packed with ties to the world’s biggest racing series.
With a crew for an upcoming Formula One-themed movie starring Brad Pitt shooting at the track, F1 already was well-represented in Daytona. Jenson Button, who won the 2009 title, will become the sixth world champion to drive the event when he makes his Rolex 24 debut on Wayne Taylor Racing With Andretti’s new No. 40 Acura ARX-06 in the premier GTP category.
According to IMSA, nearly 200 drivers with an F1 start have raced the Rolex 24. Button is one of 11 this year, and there’s even larger representation from the NTT IndyCar Series.
Reigning two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou is among 14 IndyCar drivers in this year’s field, including six in the top division. Palou will be teamed with six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing entry operated by Chip Ganassi Racing.
“It’s not one of the races you put on the calendar for a year, you put it on for life,” Palou told NBC Sports. “It’s one of the most important motorsport races that exists, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the Indy 500. Those iconic races that you don’t only want to be a part of, but you also want to win it at least once in your lifetime.”
Joining Palou and Dixon in the GTP category will be IndyCar full-timers Tom Blomqvist, Marcus Ericsson, Colton Herta and 2023 Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden, who will be making his first Daytona start in a hybrid prototype after an LMP2 debut last year.
“This event is so fun because you do get the best of the best from around the world coming together,” Newgarden told NBC Sports. “It feels like a global event in so many respects with the top drivers from everywhere. All different series, all different walks, all different backgrounds. I love it. It’s very much a community race.
“Something you take a lot of pride competing in, learning from competitors you don’t see often but see from afar racing in other parts of the world. We’re all trying to represent our little region, our little background. We all share the commonality that we just like to go race together and compete on track and try to get the most out of cars. This is one of the best times to bring everyone together to do that on a big stage.”
As a Florida native, Kyle Kirkwood has had the Rolex 24 on his bucket list since childhood. The Andretti Global driver will be seeking his first Daytona win in his fifth start with the Vasser Sullivan Lexus in the GT Daytona category.
“This is like our Olympics with how many different countries are represented at this single race,” Kirkwood told NBC Sports. “In my car, we have the USA and the U.K. Amongst field, we have every country you can think of that competes in motorsports.”
Mexican star Pato O’Ward will be making his fourth Rolex 24 start after scoring class victories in 2018 (his debut) and 2022.
“What I love about IMSA and multiple class racing in general is that it’s an opportunity to get a lot of the big names in different series like NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula One, Formula E, WEC,” O’Ward told NBC Sports. “Just everybody joins in and is one happy family and race against each other. It’s cool because you don’t get to race with these guys pretty much ever. The coolest part of coming to Daytona is you can expect to race with people you’ve never driven wheel to wheel against.”
That raises the prestige of getting a victory.
Dixon has 20 Rolex 24 starts and four victories, most recently an overall win in 2020 with Wayne Taylor Racing – his only start for a team other than Ganassi.
“It’s huge to win this race,” Dixon told NBC Sports. “It’s one of the marquee events in the world and a race that everybody wants to win. It’s why I try to get it on the calendar every year. The history of the race, the people, teams and manufacturers that have won it, I’d love nothing more than winning this race again.”
In making his second Daytona start, Ericsson is trying to join Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi as drivers with victories at Indianapolis and Daytona.
Rossi will return to Daytona this year in the GTD Pro class, teaming with NBC Sports analyst James Hinchcliffe in the No. 9 McLaren. He said the Rolex watch from his 2021 overall win with WTR is “the second favorite trophy in my house” after the Baby Borg from his 2016 Indy 500 victory.
“Winning this event is one of five that every single race car driver wants to win,” Rossi told NBC Sports. “It’s one of the most coveted prizes in motorsports. To say you’re one of the few that has an original watch is very cool.”
Here are four more things to watch this weekend at Daytona:
Penske and Porsche’s quest
Endurance races are among the only voids on the resume for Roger Penske, who has yet to win at Le Mans and has only one Rolex 24 victory in 1969. It’s also been more than two decades since an overall win at Daytona for Porsche.
That made last year’s Grand Touring Prototype debut of Porsche Penske Motorsport hard to swallow. After more than a year of developing the new hybrid car for the top class, the Porsche Penske 963s flamed out with 42nd– and 14th-place finishes marred by mechanical failures and crashes. Neither car ever was in contention at Daytona and hardly at the endurance races, though the tide began to turn with sprint victories at Long Beach, Road America and Indianapolis.
“It was just savage,” No. 6 driver Nick Tandy told NBC Sports. “We learned a lot from Daytona the first season. You can do all the testing you like, but to go racing, you learn a lot about each other. Long Beach, Road America, Indy gave us confidence. It gave us belief that we could do it.”
Dane Cameron, the 2019 champion who will rejoin Penske’s IMSA team after a season in the World Endurance Championship, said the team’s offseason focus on durability tests (in the United States and Germany) has been paying off. “It’s just a very different feel for Year 2,” he told NBC Sports. “Last year it felt so much effort was just making the hybrid cars work and survive to get on track. The basic things were really difficult. Now the car just runs like normal for the most part nine times out of 10, so it’s shifted to the performance side. We’ve definitely put updates in the car and feel better about that.”
Felipe Nasr, who will be teamed with Cameron on the No. 7, said Road America was “a turning point in the championship where we understood the car better from the point with its operation and setup.
“I feel we’re much better prepared in many areas and in a much stronger position than last year,” he told NBC Sports. “We’ve got the car to a place of delivering. … It was a hard year for us. I can guarantee Roger wants this so badly, and I’ll do everything I can to bring this win for all of us.”
GT revival
After a heavy focus on the new GTP category last year, manufacturer involvement has spiked to renew interest in the GT classes.
GTD Pro will feature 10 brands, twice as many as last year, in latest example of the cost-effective success of the GT3 business model. The platform can be raced across various global series, providing automakers with more avenues to promote their sleek showroom counterparts.
“You’re amortizing the costs over maybe a dozen cars vs. supporting just two or four in a particular championship,” Fish said. “So that’s made it very popular, and it allows a manufacturer to make one investment and then try to win or at least compete in the big races on a global scale.”
After a four-year absence from GT, Ford will return this season with the Mustang and reviving its longtime natural rivalry with General Motors’ Corvette Z06.
“Certainly, it’s a Detroit battle royale,” Doonan said. “I love that both of those brands have chosen to use IMSA to battle on the sports car side. Clearly in NASCAR, those two brands have been battling it pretty hard. But for us, it’s a great boost.”
IndyCar previews
The NTT IndyCar Series will be switching to hybrid engines at some point during the second half of the season in a move that many are expecting could determine the championship.
So the highly sophisticated and technical hybrid prototype will give Newgarden, Palou, Dixon, Herta and Ericsson a head start on transitioning to a hybrid engine with a high-downforce car (an IMSA full timer last year, Blomqvist already has significant laps behind the wheel of a hybrid).
“I feel better every lap in the GTP car,” Newgarden said. “For sure, it’s more complex than my normal day job. There’s more happening, a lot more team members. There’s a lot more requested of you inside the car. The more laps you turn, the more you become familiar with the process. In a lot of ways, it makes you a better race car driver. When you’re in a (new) environment, it elevates your game as a driver, and you become more nimble and flexible.
“That excites me for my main job. I can’t wait to go back to IndyCar and use my new skillset. Driving this Porsche is making me better, and I feel really comfortable at this point.”
Though they are in separate cars, Herta and Ericsson also are getting comfortable as teammates at Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti for the Rolex 24 – giving them a head start on their first IndyCar season together at Andretti Global.
“It’s cool to work with Marcus on the IndyCar side and sports car side,” said Herta, a two-time class winner (GTLM in 2020, LMP2 in ’22). “I’ve never been teammates with him, so I’ve gotten to know him a lot better doing the sports car stuff.”
Said Ericsson: “Colton is one of the most talented and fast drivers in the sport. Fun to be teammates in IndyCar and in Daytona. You can always learn when you look at his onboards for data.
An overall streak ends … and maybe continues
The absence of Meyer Shank Racing ensures there will be a new team atop the top step of the podium at Daytona for the first time in three years, but the winning manufacturer could be the same.
Acura is aiming for its fourth consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona victory, a streak that started in 2021 with Wayne Taylor Racing drivers Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi.
After partnering with Andretti Global last year, WTR has expanded to a second Acura in GTP this season with Albuquerque and Taylor as full-time drivers in the No. 10 while Jordan Taylor and Louis Delatraz will pilot the new No. 40 ARX-06.
The lineup will be filled by all-stars at Daytona with Ericsson and Brendon Hartley on the No. 10 and Herta and Button on the No. 40.
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