Unloading the new Ford GT for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 at the Daytona International Speedway. [Photo by Eddie LePine]
It’s a new year and I made my annual trip to Daytona for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 to check out all the new car and driver combinations for the upcoming Rolex 24 at Daytona in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series.
Of course, the big news that everyone has been anticipating since the announcement last year from Ford is the all new Ford GT. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing has entered two of the GTLM challengers for the Rolex 24 and both are on hand for the Roar.
It could be a very historic Rolex 24 this year, with Ganassi and Ford looking not only for wins in the GTLM class, but also looking to repeat as overall winners with a pair of Ford EcoBoost Riley DP cars in the Prototype class.
The GTLM class looks very exciting this season, with Ford taking on the likes of Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari, and BMW. The Corvette C7.R is updated for 2016, while Ferrari has the all new 488 and BMW will do battle with their M6. All of these cars are on hand at Daytona for the Roar. I spoke with Gimmi Bruni and he is fired up and ready to go in the new Ferrari with new teammate James Calado. He told me the Ferrari 488 is fantastic and he can’t wait to do battle with Ford.
I also spoke with Corvette’s Dan Binks. Corvette has pulled out all the stops for a repeat class victory at the Rolex, adding Audi regulars Mike Rockenfeller and Marcel Fassler to their outstanding driver line up for the 24 Hours. Dan told me that the Audi pilots are very impressive and already up to speed.
A total of 54 cars are entered for the Roar and it breaks down as follows: 13 Prototypes, 8 LMPC, 11 GTLM and 22 GTD. It is going to be a very busy few days at Daytona.
In GTD, there are entries from Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, Dodge and Lamborghini – an outstanding field of cars.
In Prototypes, in addition to the Ford entries from Ganassi, there are strong cars powered by Chevrolet, Honda, Mazda, BMW and Nissan. And don’t count out the Deltawing, which this week announced full season participation in the IMSA WeatherTech series.
If the Road Before the Rolex 24 is any indication, this is going to be an outstanding season of racing for IMSA.
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