WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Category

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Simon Pagenaud’s 2018 racing season wasn’t one that he would like to remember. His first winless season since 2015, the Frenchman was sixth in NTT IndyCar Series points with four top-five finishes, the first coming halfway through the season at Texas Motor Speedway. Sports car racing wasn’t kind either to the 2006 Atlantics champion with three races and all three finishes were tenth or worse. However, with a new year comes new beginnings and Pagenaud starts the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona in third place onRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After a year and a half together with Team Joest, Mazda has secured pole position for the 57th Rolex 24 at Daytona. Oliver Jarvis backed up the No. 77’s RT24-P’s performance from the Roar Before the 24 and set a new track record with a fastest lap of 1 minute, 33.685 seconds to average 136.792 mph around the 3.56 mile roval. This broke a 26-year-old record set back in 1993 by P.J. Jones in a Dan Gurney’s All American Racers Toyota. “I think the goal forRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 24, 2019) – After two-and-a-half weeks as unofficial track record holders, Oliver Jarvis and Mazda Team Joest can finally, officially, call themselves track record holders on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road circuit after qualifying for this weekend’s 57th Rolex 24 At Daytona. With six minutes and 10 seconds remaining in the 15-minute qualifying session Thursday afternoon, Jarvis took the Motul Pole Award with a lap of 1 minute, 33.685 seconds (136.792 mph) in the No. 77 Mazda RT24-P DPi car. AndRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 24, 2019) – No other manufacturer has had more success at Daytona International Speedway – and the Rolex 24 At Daytona in particular – than Porsche. And when the green flag flies Saturday at 2:35 p.m. ET (live NBCSN coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET), it’ll be a Porsche leading the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT field to the green flag. Thanks to a record-setting run by Nick Tandy on Thursday, the manufacturer will go for a 70th Rolex 24 class winRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship kicks off with the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the GT classes have very few changes compared to their prototype counterparts. Michelin is the sole tire supplier in the WeatherTech Championship and while this doesn’t change anything in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, the GT Daytona (GTD) class is changing after being on Continental since the sports car racing merger of 2014. GTLM cars are based on the GTE platform that runs in the FIA World Endurance Championship andRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Many changes have come about for the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and they will debut at this weekend’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. The Prototype class from the 2018 WeatherTech Championship is no more, having been split up after the 2018 Petit LeMans into two: Daytona Prototype International (DPi) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2). Let’s take a look at the differences between classes before we get into the competitors. LMP2 is strictly pro/am while DPi is the pro-rated class. The LMP2 class is forRead More

By Holly Cain, IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – One by one, they took a seat smiling. Wayne Taylor Racing’s all-star driver lineup in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R stopped by the Daytona International Speedway media center three weeks ago for a highly anticipated interview session ready to reinforce to reporters at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 practice sessions of the high expectations they carry into this weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona race. Taylor, the team’s namesake, owner and himself a former winner of this IMSARead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer NBC Sports announced Thursday its entire TV lineup for the 57th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, set to take place on January 26-27. The 24-hour classic will have an all-star lineup as not only the IMSA crew covering the race, it’ll feature both NASCAR and IndyCar commentators, analysis and pit reporters, which is also NBC’s first race of a multi-year exclusive broadcast partnership with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. IMSA CEO Ed Bennett described the stacked broadcast as an incredible sign ofRead More

By Holly Cain, IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When it comes to past success and high expectations, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more heralded group of teammates than the Acura Team Penske lineup for the Jan. 26-27 Rolex 24 At Daytona. As it has done seamlessly in the past, the team has brought together a diverse and accomplished group of drivers to contend for the season-opening trophy in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s annual twice-around-the-clock event. Penske’s high-achieving lineup this year features three Indianapolis 500 winners, aRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s finally here. Ten days from now, on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 2:30 p.m. ET, the green flag will fly over a 47-car field in the 57th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. It marks both the start of the IMSA 50th Anniversary Celebration and the beginning of an exciting new era for the sanctioning body and its flagship IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The field will include 47 cars spread across four classes of competition: Daytona Prototype international (DPi) – forRead More