IMSA released an extremely preliminary entry list Thursday (Dec. 15) for next month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. In a change from previous communication, the maximum field size has been reduced back to 60 from the 61 that was previously announced. The reasoning given is that the GTP teams require additional pit space as compared to the previous DPis.
In the DPi class, there will be nine teams on the grid, an increase of two from the seven DPis that raced last January. Eight of those teams (the Penske Porsches, the BMWs run by BMW M Team RLL, Wayne Taylor Racing, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, Action Express Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 01 Cadillac) are full-time entrants. The only part-time team in the class is Ganassi’s No. 02, which will race full-time in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
In LMP2, there are 10 cars entered. Full-time entries from Tower Motorsport, Era Motorsport and PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports are back. They are joined by a new two-car full-time effort from TDS Racing using Nos. 11 and 35, along with High Class Racing, which is expanding to full-time after running the Michelin Endurance Cup races in 2022.
Earlier this week, Crowdstrike Racing announced a partnership with Algarve Pro Racing for the Michelin Endurance Cup races. This squad will include former Formula 1 driver Esteban Gutierrez.
AF Corse is fielding a one-off entry, No. 88. This effort has not been announced as of yet, but the team did race an LMP2 effort in the WEC in 2022. That team was a regular contender in the Pro-Am subclass of LMP2 with Francois Perrodo sharing with Alessio Rovera and Nicklas Nielsen.
Proton Competition has a new entry, the No. 55 ORECA 07-Gibson. This car may be running in place of a GTP Porsche that the team will be unable to contain in time for the race.
Finally, Rick Ware Racing is returning to the LMP2 class after competing this past season in the WeatherTech Sprint Cup races with an Acura NSX GT3 Evo22. Two years ago, RWR partnered with Eurasia Motorsport to run a Ligier JS P217-Gibson in the race. NASCAR Cup Series drivers Austin Dillon and Cody Ware shared the car with Sven Mueller and Salih Yoluc. The original plan for that car was a Michelin Endurance Cup schedule, but the schedule was curtailed to only Daytona after Eurasia Motorsport secured an invite to the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the banner of Racing Team India Eurasia.
Based on the list, a previously announced lineup has ended up on the reserve list. That…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Frontstretch…