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International Motor Sports Association Lamborghini Super Trofeo series

International Motor Sports Association

www.imsa.com

About the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)

International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 and owns a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, as well as four one-make series: Ferrari Challenge North America, Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Porsche Carrera Cup North America. IMSA – a company within the NASCAR family – is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Perfect Matt-ch? Porsche Penske’s Campbell, Jaminet Just May Be

2022 GTD PRO Champs Reunited to Share No. 6 Porsche 963 GTP in 2025

December 19, 2024

By Jeff Olson

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – They first met in 2016 at Porsche Night of Champions, the annual Stuttgart gala celebrating the company’s success in motorsports.

Matt Campbell had just been hired to join Porsche Motorsport’s junior program, while Mathieu Jaminet was entering his second season.

“It turned out to be a bit of a party,” Campbell recalled. “Obviously, we had a good time, but we didn’t have a working relationship until a couple of years after that. We didn’t really know each other well or do much together in the beginning, but later we were able to hang out together and got along extremely well.”

Nine years after that initial encounter, an unlikely pair – a 29-year-old Australian and a 30-year-old Frenchman – have become fast friends. They’re weeks away from teaming up in Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No. 6 Porsche 963 for the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

While they didn’t necessarily connect at the party, they did a few weeks later at Porsche’s training camp. They shared similar status in the gathering of talented and experienced drivers at camp: They were newbies.

“This is where we really started to get to know each other and spend some time among other drivers,” Jaminet said. “We were both the young guys. We meshed pretty early and pretty well.”

Five years after that training camp, Campbell and Jaminet teamed together as full-season co-drivers for Pfaff Motorsports, helping the team win the 2022 driver, team and manufacturer championships in the WeatherTech Championship Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class.

They credit compatibility – the ease and comfort with which they work together – as a primary reason for their success.

“It’s extremely important to be compatible with your teammate, definitely in more ways than one,” Campbell said. “Mathieu and I have proven this in the past, having driven together for a number of years.”

It’s not just that they're on the same page. They’re on the same sentence on that page.

“We definitely share the same vision about racing,” Jaminet said. “We like the same aspects around the car, and we like to work the same way with the people around us. Between us, there is a good friendship on and off the track. We also spend quite some time together outside racing, which is not very common with teammates. There’s no ego. We just try to help and support each other for the best.”

In 2023, they were teammates again – but not sharing a car. In the inaugural season for the reborn Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, Jaminet shared the No. 6 Porsche with Nick Tandy while Campbell was in the No. 7 alongside Felipe Nasr. This past season, Jaminet and Tandy guided the No. 6 Porsche to second in the final standings. Campbell spent most of the year in Porsche Penske’s FIA World Endurance Championship program but was part of the No. 7 Porsche’s title-winning WeatherTech Championship effort, joining the No. 7 lineup for three endurance races including a victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

When the 2025 season kicks off Jan. 17 with the Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, Campbell and Jaminet will be in the No. 6 Porsche for the full season.

“We’ve had some strong results in the prototype so far, and I think we’ve been a good addition to the Porsche Penske Motorsport program,” Campbell said. “We’ve always had very good success and results together as teammates. No matter what championship we were in, we were always at the front, fighting for the championship and also victories. Hopefully, we can do something similar next year.”

They’ve proven they’re good. They’ve also proven that they’re good together.

“I think we’ve proven to the brand and to the team that we were both competitive and working at a very high level,” Jaminet said. “I think they realized that they should give a shot to these two guys. The last time they raced together, they won a championship. So maybe let’s put them together again and maybe try to win another one.”

GTD Champion Ward Honored At Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Championship

Cetilar Racing Unveils Revised
Lineup For Rolex 24 At Daytona

DragonSpeed Finalizes Rolex 24 Driver Lineup For GTD PRO Ferrari

Van Der Steur Racing Ascends To WeatherTech Championship For 2025

Kligerman, Big Machine Join Forte Racing For ‘Ginormous Party’
At Rolex 24

VP Racing SportsCar Challenge
Poised For Expansion In 2025

Czabok-Simpson Motorsport Signs
Pair Of Drivers For 2025 Season

KMW Motorsports With TMR Engineering Partnering With Honda
In 2025

Holmatro Continuing As IMSA Proud Supplier Of Safety Equipment

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GTD Champion Ward Honored at Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Championship

Winward Racing Driver Named Manufacturer’s Top Overall Pro Driver and Pro Driver GT3

December 19, 2024

By Mark Robinson

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The magical season for Russell Ward continues.

The driver and co-owner of the Winward Racing team that swept every possible 2024 championship in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class was honored last weekend by his manufacturer, when he was named the Overall Pro Driver and Pro Driver GT3 awards winner at the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Championship ceremony in Stuttgart, Germany.

Ward topped Mercedes-AMG customer drivers from around the world to earn the honors. Drivers earn points competing in their respective races, but the amount of points earned is based on the finishing position in each race as well as the type and distance of the race.

That in mind, it wasn’t difficult to see why Ward came away with the Overall Pro Driver and Pro Driver GT3 hardware. He and co-driver Philip Ellis won four GTD races this year in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to easily capture the driver and team championships, and spearhead Mercedes-AMG to the season manufacturer championship.

Three of those victories came in IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events: the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac and Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. That was enough for Ward, Ellis and endurance driver Indy Dontje to top the Michelin Endurance Cup driver standings and for the No. 57 and Mercedes-AMG to collect Michelin Endurance Cup team and manufacturer crowns as well.

Ward was quick to credit the dedicated work of the Winward crew for the slew of championships they achieved this year.

“It is really a testament to the hard work of the crew,” Ward said at the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans in October. “Lots of long nights, hard nights, and they deserve this after all of the nonstop work. Nobody sees that. We arrive at races and the car is well prepared, the trailer is organized and ready, and everything looks good. They are constantly working 12 hours a day to keep everything perfect.

“We have one of the easier jobs on the team as drivers,” he added. “The team really made it easy this year. They did such a perfect job. They always had a great car, great strategy in the pit box. We were always one step ahead of the competition. As drivers, we just had to bring it home.”

Ward also pointed to the drivability of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 for making it easier to succeed, the words any customer racing manufacturer yearns to hear.

“The Mercedes has a couple of strengths,” Ward said. “I think one of them is drivability; it has a pretty large setup window that allows kind of anyone to get in there and be pretty close to the ultimate lap time of the car.

“We’re also really good on the tire wear. I think that’s been one of the really strong points of the car we’ve had throughout the year. … The initial testing with the tire and how that’s developed over the year (was) one of our strong suits. We put a lot of time into it.”

Van der Steur Racing Ascends to WeatherTech Championship for 2025

After Years Honing Craft in Michelin Pilot Challenge, Team Set to Expand Effort

December 18, 2024

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Longtime sports car aficionados may note the name “van der Steur Racing” as a deep cut from a prior era.

The Maryland-based team has its roots in the American Le Mans Series, running first a Lola B2K/40 and then Radical SR9 prototype chassis in the mid-2000s, with Dutch-born, South African-raised Gunnar van der Steur at the wheel.

Flash forward nearly two decades and the team is back again and will soon ascend to the top-level IMSA-sanctioned championship of this era, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Van der Steur Racing was confirmed in mid-September to run an IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup effort in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class in 2025, and the team may add select sprint races. It also will continue its full-time presence in the Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class.

Rory van der Steur, Gunnar’s son, has become part of the fabric in the Michelin Pilot Challenge over the last five years. Together with a consortium of co-drivers, most notably friend and Aston Martin ace Valentin Hasse-Clot, he enjoyed his best season in 2024, finishing fourth in GS driver points while the team finished third in the standings.

“My dad did those one-off races in LMP2 in the early 2000s, or LM675 with the Lola B2K/40. Then in 2005 we purchased one of six Radical SR9s,” the younger van der Steur said. “We have one of the only SR9s left in the world with everything original and the spares.

“After we rejoined IMSA after all my karting years, we always had an eye on (competing in the WeatherTech Championship) and said we’d be there one day. But we needed to build our resume up.”

The team has acquired two ex-Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo chassis. Van der Steur said the team’s current GS crew, led by team manager Christopher Deely, will continue to oversee the GS program and “shadow” the Prodrive and Aston Martin crew supporting and running the GTD car. The team unveiled its new GTD cars at the IMSA-sanctioned test held at Daytona International Speedway in November.

The relationship with Aston Martin has grown over a two-year run in GS, with the idea of advancing into the WeatherTech Championship formulated in January.

“It’s a big project we’ve been working on for a while,” van der Steur said. “We had the idea at Daytona and then thought, ‘Can we do this?’ We saw it was possible, and our cars are back at the shop already.”

The steps in Michelin Pilot Challenge have been character-building. Two years in the Touring Car (TCR) class with Hyundai’s Veloster N TCR featured flashes of potential but were punctuated by a malady of mechanical mishaps.

After debuting at the 2020 Sebring finale, van der Steur and Denis Dupont had their first podium visit with second place at Road America in 2021 and finished 13th in the points. Van der Steur and co-driver Tyler Gonzalez added a third place at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in 2022, improving to ninth in points.

However, it was a race van der Steur failed to finish that inarguably provided the most visible and pivotal moment in the team’s return to IMSA.

Just four races into its step up to GS, van der Steur’s car was inadvertently used as a launching pad when Robert Megennis overshot his braking point and catapulted his No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 on top of van der Steur’s Aston Martin at the Turn 3 hairpin on the new Detroit downtown street course.

With just three weeks to rebuild until the next race at Watkins Glen, the small team performed a herculean effort to get the car ready. The Frankenstein-looking car finished fifth.

“It was crazy. I have flashbacks, but now I laugh on it because it went viral,” van der Steur said of the Detroit mishap.

“I don’t know how we made Watkins Glen. We didn’t have time to wrap it! We finished fifth that race and third the next one (with Austin McCusker at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park). The momentum grew. It pushed everyone for this year.”

This is the second significant step in the team’s program, but a much bigger one than moving from TCR to GS. Yet the confidence forged from that incident in Detroit has pushed the team higher, one where its 2024 season featured three podiums.

“We had always a fast car in TCR, but we battled adversity when it came to reliability,” van der Steur said. “In GS, we wanted to learn a rear-wheel drive platform before stepping up to GT3.

“We continued to grow. This year we grew exponentially with the help of Aston Martin. Having (co-drivers) Valentin, Scott (Andrews), Alex (Premat), Danny (Formal), they all have their own ways of driving so I try to put that into one.

“It’s a big step. It’s not like going from TCR to GS. It’s way more intense. I’m very excited, as is the crew. I think it all stems from results. Once you have results, the crew wants to do better and go to the next level.”

The 2025 WeatherTech Championship season opens with three days of testing at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 from January 17-19. The Rolex 24 At Daytona follows from January 23-26. Race coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday, January 25 on NBC, with continuing coverage of the 24-hour race on USA Network and Peacock before returning to NBC for the January 26 conclusion. Tickets for the Roar and the Rolex 24 are available at DaytonaInternationalSpeedway.com.

Holmatro Continuing as IMSA Proud Supplier of Safety Equipment

Worldwide Leader in Rescue Tools Will Continue Supplying IMSA’s AMR Safety Team

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (December 18, 2024) – Building on a half-century’s history of developing the world’s most innovative and powerful hydraulic rescue tool equipment, Holmatro USA will continue as an IMSA Proud Supplier in a multiyear extension announced today.

Under the extension, Holmatro continues as the exclusive extrication equipment supplier to the IMSA AMR Safety Team that’s on site at every IMSA event, attending to drivers in the case of an on-track incident. Holmatro has been a Proud Supplier for IMSA since 2020.

“Safety has always been a top priority at IMSA, and Holmatro has been a vital part of that effort in recent years,” said Brandon Huddleston, Vice President, Partnership Marketing and Business Development. “Extending this Proud Supplier relationship was important as it continues providing our IMSA AMR Safety Team with Holmatro’s advanced equipment and services to respond to incidents in the fastest and most efficient ways possible.”

Founded in the Netherlands in 1967, Holmatro manufactures hydraulic rescue, industrial, and special tactics equipment used worldwide. At its ISO-9001 certified U.S. headquarters in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Holmatro manufactures and supports a full suite of rescue equipment. Holmatro’s Experience Center also enables partners like IMSA to rigorously test rescue tools on the toughest materials, ensuring they’re ready for first responders.

“Holmatro has a long history in motorsports safety. We recognize the challenging situations these teams can face on the track. Combining Holmatro’s hydraulic expertise with the motorsports perspective is a recipe for innovative solutions,” said Shelly Elliott, President of Holmatro North America. “This extension of our partnership with IMSA allows us to continue working with the IMSA AMR Safety Team to develop and test products used on race tracks around the world, as well as by first-responders serving the public. We are proud to provide them with the most up-to-date equipment, so that they may perform their critical jobs as efficiently as possible when every moment counts. We’re pleased to continue in this role as an IMSA Proud Supplier.”

Kligerman, Big Machine Join Forte for ‘Ginormous Party’ at Rolex 24

Veteran NASCAR Star Set for Rolex 24 Driving Debut after Years Covering Race for NBC Sports

December 17, 2024

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s the middle of the night. The sun is still several hours away from rising. It’s freezing. Bonfires burn in the infield as fans soak up a symphony of different sounds cascading against the 30-plus-degree banking at Daytona International Speedway.

And for each of the last six years as part of NBC Sports’ broadcast team, Parker Kligerman has been somewhere on pit lane, patrolling the field with a microphone and a firesuit.

“It’s my favorite time of the race,” he said.

“It’s so ridiculous because race cars are running around near 200 mph, it’s 3-4 a.m. and it doesn’t stop. There are people sleeping in pit lane as cars are pounding around.

“It’s such a surreal experience to be on pit lane and I definitely want to be a part of that time.”

He’ll have a chance to do so in 2025 because Kligerman will wear a firesuit of a different kind: a driving one.

On Tuesday, Big Machine Racing announced a partnership with Forte Racing to field the No. 78 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 for Kligerman, past Rolex 24 class winner Misha Goikhberg (2016, Prototype Challenge) and two drivers to be named later for the 2025 Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Forte ended the 2024 season with two runner-up finishes in the final three races, and scored its maiden IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win at the 2023 Motul Petit Le Mans.

Kligerman is testing with the Shane Senaviratne-led team this week at Daytona in preparation. Thanks to Big Machine’s Scott Borchetta and a pair of longtime friends within the Forte Racing organization, the opportunity for Kligerman to drive in a bucket list-type event arose.

“It’s obviously been a case of talking since I made the decision about stopping Xfinity full-time and asked, ‘What is some cool stuff we can do?’” Kligerman explained. “(Scott) loves this race. I love this race. We’ll be friends forever.

“With his help and Big Machine Spiked Coolers, we were able to put the deal together with some friends at Forte Racing, with Misha and Bob Perona, my longtime driver coach. It all came together. Scott was gracious enough to want to help me. We put something cool together to get a Rolex.

“Most years I tried, I’d always be too busy, or had a full-time season ahead. I’d be working a deal for NASCAR and couldn’t really take focus off to put a deal together for this. Everything aligned, and here we are. I could not be more excited. I feel like I’m 9 years old again.”

Kligerman hailed Perona, who spots for Forte Racing and has driven as well as coached throughout his career.

“We’re best of friends. Bob has helped me immeasurably in my career; he was very helpful in putting this all together,” he said. “It’s our first day going over video and it’s like we’re back in the day again.”

Though Kligerman has had some marathon-type broadcast experiences – the three-day delayed NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas in 2020 comes to mind – he hasn’t driven a race of this length in the real world.

He has, however, been a regular 24-hour race participant on iRacing, and along with his podcast co-host Landon Cassill of “The Money Lap” noted the sheer joy that comes with finishing a 24-hour race.

“We did the endurance sim races, Landon Cassill and I did the Nürburgring 24 and we finished fifth. We all cried,” he said. “Why was this such an accomplishment? Just finishing is. It takes physical and mental abilities to grind this out over 24 hours.”

That’ll be Kligerman’s goal here, once he gets through the inevitable learning curve of a new race car after 15 years of running primarily in NASCAR.

“Yeah, for sure I’m just trying to learn,” he said. “These first two days (are) not about lap time. It’s braking, ABS and the systems within the car. There’s a 19-page manual to memorize. It’s the proverbial drinking from the firehose.

“The nice part is, we have these two days, then the Roar (Before the Rolex 24 test). By the time we get to race weekend, I expect I’ll feel comfortable. I want to be a valuable part of the team, and make an impact on runs and stints. I’ll have to change my terminology!”

The driver in him is delighted to have this opportunity to race in IMSA for the first time. Kligerman learned a lot from his introduction to the sports car world and quickly embraced the variety that makes it popular.

“The Rolex, I feel like is one of the coolest events in all of motorsports,” he said.

“It feels like a ginormous party. … It feels like everyone came together down here and said, ‘We should have a race.’ That’s the atmosphere of this race.

“Sports car racing is so awesome. You have the cars, the manufacturers, the sounds, the vibes. It’s so dynamic. You have world-class drivers throughout the field from all over the world.

“It’s so different than what I’ve been in for 15 years. It’s different. It’s cool because that’s motorsports. All different shapes, smells, sounds … you get that here in IMSA.

“It’s so good to be able to have cars people can relate to, especially in the GT class. My time spent here in this paddock was really cool. I came in a little bit fresh and was not sure what to expect. But hey, I like it here.”

Kligerman has a time he really wants to be in the car, too.

“My dream is to be in at sunrise,” he said “I’ve always wanted to be in a race car then. It has to be the coolest feeling in the world.

“We’ll see if that happens. If it does, that would be surreal.”

(Photo of Kligerman courtesy of NASCAR)

VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Poised for Expansion in 2025

Addition of GTDX Cars Set to Amplify Multi-Class Prototype/GT Grids for Series

December 17, 2024

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Three might be a magic number for IMSA’s VP Racing SportsCar Challenge heading into 2025.

On the eve of its third season, the VP Racing Challenge welcomes a third racing class with Grand Touring Daytona X (GTDX) entering alongside the Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) and Grand Sport X (GSX) classes.

The move to include GT3-specification cars provides another entry point into IMSA for teams and drivers who like the type of car but may prefer the format and/or cost-effectiveness of two 45-minute sprint races on a given weekend.

IMSA has trialed the LMP3/GT3/GT4 grouping of racing before, with non-points Michelin IMSA SportsCar Encore races at Sebring International Raceway in late 2018 and 2019.

An additional series enhancement in 2025 will be the introduction of a Bronze podium for each class to go along with the already competitive Bronze Cup Championship.

Teams are still officially declaring their intentions, but the GTDX field should near double digits for its class debut at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 weekend, January 17-19. Both P3 and GSX appear close to that number as well, with an overall grid projected near 30 total cars at Daytona International Speedway.

Several race-winning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) teams are exploring or are planning to enter GTDX. Other noteworthy teams that have made waves in other sports car championships are poised to announce their programs shortly.

MLT Motorsports (P3) and KohR Motorsports (GSX) fielded the championship-winning drivers in 2024, while FastMD Racing with Remstar took home the P3 team title.

Turner Motorsport Expanding Series Presence

Turner Motorsport, BMW’s longest serving privateer team which nears 600 starts with the brand heading into 2025, has been an active part of the VP Racing Challenge since the series’ inception. It’s already built an in-house series ladder, as 2023 GSX champion Francis Selldorff advanced from one Turner BMW M4 GT4 into the team’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class entry in 2024. Turner intends to add a GTDX entry to its GSX entry in 2025.

“(Michelin Pilot Challenge) isn’t the entry-level (series) anymore,” team owner Will Turner said. “There’s such talent in Pilot that VP was perfect timing. If you don’t have the experience to do Pilot, VP is great as where you can get it to move up.

“Now with GTDX, that’s the same thing. To throw someone in a GT3 car with only limited experience, it’s too much to go into GTD. So GTDX could be a great place to get the experience for the move up to GTD. It just makes sense. The more GT3 cars, the better in that class.”

The formerly named US RaceTronics team, now operating as Forte Racing, has also built a presence within the VP Racing Challenge. Shane Senaviratne’s program will start the season with Bronze-rated drivers Brian Thienes and Jon Hirshberg, who seek to build on their 2024 P3 outings with the team and continue their progression toward the podium.

“The series helps provide a strong single-driver, sprint-race platform for gentlemen drivers,” Senaviratne said. “As VPRC, it’s got away from the IPC (IMSA Prototype Challenge) format which was more expensive with pit stops. This is more refined as a sprint-race championship that’s affordable. You can do it as a hobby or career advancement opportunity, and that’s a big positive.

“I would say doing a VPRC season, you get more TV coverage in my opinion than had you done LMP3 in WeatherTech. If television is important, that’s a highlight to run a car for a lot less and get more TV time.”

Fellow P3 entrants Ave Motorsports, with longtime sports car driver and team owner Tony Ave, note the importance of learning the IMSA framework within the VP Racing Challenge.

“To me, the VP Challenge series is a perfect place for drivers and teams to learn the ropes of competing on the big IMSA stage,” Ave said. “They can become acquainted with the level of professionalism expected both on the racetrack and in the garage area, from team appearance to dealing with a pro level technical inspection as well as vehicle preparation to be a part of the ‘big show’ that IMSA has become.”

Samantha Tan Bringing Team to VP Racing Challenge

One new team entering IMSA for 2025 is Samantha Tan Racing. The team has made waves in other sports car series running first GT4, then GT3-specification machinery, with Tan winning races herself and determined to add IMSA success to her resume.

“I’m thrilled to announce my step into IMSA for 2025, one of the most competitive and prestigious racing series in North America,” Tan said. “My first full GT3 season this year was incredibly rewarding, pushing me to maximize every moment on and off the track.

“I’m eager to take on the challenge of a new multi-class format with LMP3, GT3, and GT4 cars, continuing to sharpen my skills against some of the best in the sport. Losing the 2024 (GT World Challenge America) championship by a single point has only fueled my determination, and I’m entering this season with a fire in my heart and my sights set firmly on the VP Challenge championship title.”

RAFA Racing, which is also making a splash in the sports car racing world, will field both P3 and GSX entries following its recent merge with Smooge Racing, in addition to a Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America program. The VP Racing Challenge team will run a Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, a car Smooge Racing has worked with over the last couple years.

“We’ve worked with some fantastic teams over the past couple of years, but this relationship and the existing partnerships with Toyota Gazoo Racing North America and Lamborghini Squadra Corsa are something special,” said Rafael Martinez, RAFA Racing founder. “It’s a logical step in our mission, and a great way to make our debut at this level here in the States.”

GMG Racing, an off-and-on IMSA participant over the years, appears set to start the VP Challenge season with a GTDX-specification Porsche 911 GT3 R for longtime team driver Kyle Washington. GMG team principal and founder James Sofronas has been busy not only getting this program together, but also moving his program’s shop from Santa Ana, California, to a new, 28,000-square-foot facility at The Thermal Club near Palm Springs.

“Kyle really enjoys the sprint race format,” Sofronas explained. “He wants to maximize track time when he travels, and so having two races in one weekend at iconic tracks like Daytona, COTA and Road Atlanta is really appealing.

“It’s great to run Daytona, for instance, without the huge commitment of running the Rolex 24. To do so in a GT3-spec car holds great appeal. In a way, you can gauge yourself against the GTD class but not have to commit the large personnel it takes to run a massive endurance event.

“It makes sense to add this class to want to train potential drivers, gauge their interest, get on the same (Michelin) tire and run the same tracks. It’s a logical step for IMSA and we look forward to being a part of it.”

(Samantha Tan photo courtesy Samantha Tan Racing; GMG photo courtesy GMG Racing)

Recapping A Flurry Of Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Announcements

Four First-Time Run Group Winners Crowned At Mission Foods HSR
Sebring Classic 12 Hour

Team Redline Sweeps Classes In IMSA Esports Return To Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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Rolex 24 Beckons with Massive Grid

61-Car Field Set to Compete in January Test Leading into 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona

December 12, 2024

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Rolex 24 Entry List

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With just over a month until the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship commences, another spectacular grid is set to partake in the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test on January 17-19, leading into the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona race weekend, January 23-26.

Most of the 61 entered cars have their lineups set, while a handful are yet to be announced in the coming weeks prior to on-track activity. Per usual, the high volume of full-season IMSA stars and a bevy of Rolex 24 additions from other championships provide an excellent caliber of competition.

Here are some initial storylines to follow based on what we know from the entry list thus far, subject to changes.

The 61 cars are split among 12 Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), 12 Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), 15 Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and 22 Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) entries.

Host of Changes Highlights GTP: Most of the announced lineups in GTP have some degree of change, whether it’s in the driver pairings, manufacturer or team name.

Defending race and series champions Porsche Penske Motorsport have swapped the pairings in its Nos. 6 and 7 Porsche 963s, as Nick Tandy moves to the No. 7 car alongside Felipe Nasr while Matt Campbell reunites with longtime teammate Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 car.

Cadillac welcomes Wayne Taylor Racing back to the fold with its two Cadillac V-Series.R cars and a powerful driver lineup for both cars that includes previous Rolex 24 winners Ricky and Jordan Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Kamui Kobayashi.

Similarly, Acura and Meyer Shank Racing reunite after a year apart with two Acura ARX-06s, and both team and manufacturer welcome previous Rolex 24 winner Renger van der Zande (formerly of Cadillac) and Nick Yelloly (formerly of BMW) to the fold. The MSR team has won the Rolex 24 in each of its past two appearances in the twice-around-the clock classic with the returning Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist both part of the winning lineup in 2023.

Scott Dixon, the six-time IndyCar champion and a four-time Rolex 24 winner, three-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou, rising IndyCar star Felix Rosenqvist and Honda factory driver Kakunoshin Ohta complete a fearsome lineup for the two-car program.

Cadillac Whelen has significant changes with Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber now spearheading its flagship No. 31 car alongside emerging talents Frederik Vesti and Felipe Drugovich.

BMW M Team RLL has an adjusted, mostly new lineup that includes ex-Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen, two-time Rolex 24 winner Rene Rast and six other sports car veterans – including past Rolex 24 class winner Philipp Eng – in their pair of BMW M V8 Hybrids.

Lamborghini is due to debut its SC63 prototype at Daytona after skipping this race last year, with Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat and past Rolex 24 winners Mirko Bortolotti and Edoardo Mortara on board.

Customer Porsche 963 entries from JDC-Miller MotorSports and Proton Competition are yet to finalize their lineups.

Stacked LMP2 Grid: The dozen LMP2 class entries – all ORECA 07 cars – feature no shortage of talent, either.

Four-time IMSA champion Dane Cameron (AO Racing) and four-time IndyCar champion Sebastien Bourdais (Tower Motorsports) are listed to enter the category after previous stints in GTP. AO’s lineup also includes another young IndyCar driver in Christian Rasmussen, part of Era’s winning lineup last year. Felipe Massa, the former Formula 1 driver, is back with Riley.

Pratt Miller, long regarded for its GT program with Corvette Racing, adds an LMP2 entry that includes IndyCar drivers Callum Ilott and Pietro Fittipaldi. PR1 Mathiasen and Inter Europol are set for separate programs after uniting to win the 2024 title, while TDS Racing seeks to add a full-season crown to its Michelin Endurance Cup honors won last year.

Era Motorsport seeks to defend its Rolex 24 win with three new drivers alongside three-time Rolex 24 winner Ryan Dalziel. CrowdStrike Racing by APR returns as well with two-time Rolex 24 winner Colton Herta among its lineup, and the balance of the class – United Autosports USA and PECOM Racing – all could have winning potential at hand.

GTD PRO Features Record Grid: Ahead of its fourth season, GTD PRO will field its largest car count of 15 cars, surpassing the previous mark of 13 set on multiple occasions.

Defending class champions AO Racing are back, Laurin Heinrich now sharing the No. 77 “Rexy” Porsche 911 GT3 R with new full-season co-driver Klaus Bachler, while title rivals Heart of Racing Team are back with its No. 007 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo as the team waits to debut its Valkyrie GTP car until the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The pairs of entries from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and Ford Multimatic Motorsports are back, and ahead of their second year with their new cars, they may be able to renew battles up front in class. Paul Miller Racing expands to two BMW M4 GT3 Evos, but PMR is yet to announce who’s driving them.

Pfaff Motorsports switches from McLaren to Lamborghini, and its Daytona lineup includes veteran driver and commentator James Hinchcliffe and past Rolex 24 winner Andrea Caldarelli.

Trackhouse by TF Sport enters an all-star Corvette Z06 GT3.R that includes Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin with past Rolex 24 winners Connor Zilisch and Ben Keating. The entry unites past Rolex 24 class winner Justin Marks and his Trackhouse Racing team with sports car specialists TF Sport, a Corvette Racing team in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The remaining cars are a single Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, single DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, single Porsche 911 GT3 R from Proton Competition and two Mercedes-AMG GT3s from Bartone Bros. by GetSpeed and 75 Express. A number of past Rolex 24 winners are expected among those entries.

GTD Reveals 22 Cars: GTD boasts both the biggest car count at the 2025 Rolex 24 with 22 cars from nine manufacturers, and also the greatest number of TBDs among any class.

Defending race and season champions Winward Racing spearhead the list as one of three Mercedes-AMG GT3s, along with Korthoff Competition Motors and Lone Star Racing.

Ferrari is the most populous car in the category – no less than seven 296 GT3s are entered. Triarsi Competizione and AF Corse have two apiece, with one each from Conquest Racing, Cetilar Racing and Inception Racing.

Longtime entries from Heart of Racing Team and Magnus Racing join newcomers van der Steur Racing running Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evos.

There are a pair of Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVOs (Wayne Taylor Racing, Forte Racing), a pair of Porsche 911 GT3 R cars (Iron Dames’ all-female lineup included and one car from Wright Motorsports) and a pair of Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs (AWA, DXDT Racing).

Lastly, there is a single Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo and Gradient Racing Ford Mustang GT3, the latter team having switched from the Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 over the winter. Gradient’s Ford includes Joey Hand as its first named driver.

IMSA Stars Are Out: A run through the Rolex 24 entry list reveals more than 20 IMSA full-season champions, at least, on the grid. That number grows substantially with those who have won an IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup and/or past Sprint Cup title.

Six of the seven 2024 full-season champions – Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Tom Dillmann, Laurin Heinrich, Russell Ward and Philip Ellis – appear set to defend their respective titles with all but Cameron doing so in the same car, class or program.

Among GTP entered drivers, Nasr, Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Jordan Taylor, Kamui Kobayashi, Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon and Renger van der Zande have overall Rolex 24 victories on their resumes. Several others entered have class victories but not overall triumphs, or vice versa where they’ve won overall but are now entered in different classes.

Qualifying Returns to Rolex 24 Race Weekend: After the last four years have featured Rolex 24 qualifying as part of the Roar Before the Rolex 24 weekend, the qualifying returns to Rolex 24 race week in 2025. That reverts IMSA’s traditional preseason test to entirely that, with seven total sessions covering three days. The last of those seven on Sunday, January 19, is a Bronze-only session for LMP2 and GTD entrants. Track activity for the Roar begins on Friday, January 17, with the first session at 11 a.m. ET.

Konica Minolta Renews IMSA Partnership

Relationship Expanded to Support New STEM Program

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (December 5, 2024) – Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta) today announced the renewal of its Official Partnership with the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). This year, the relationship will expand its impact through the company’s support of IMSA’s new STEM - Science, Engineering, Technology and Math - education program for high school students in select race markets.

Konica Minolta’s business hub of the paddock will remain known as the Konica Minolta Business Center, which has become a highly recognizable element at IMSA events, providing corporate partners, automobile partners, teams, drivers and other stakeholders a place to conduct business at the track. The hub will now also facilitate at-track STEM initiatives, where students will hear from team engineers, drivers, corporate and OEM partners and IMSA Officials. They will also have opportunities to visit the IMSA Technology Center, Race Control and more. Additionally, as the sponsor of the in-school curriculum, Konica Minolta will directly support teachers, administrators and students in high schools with a comprehensive and turn-key STEM module.

“What makes our partnership with IMSA so unique and exciting is how we are able to expand the scope each year. Since 2015, we have started each new agreement with an innovative initiative that fulfills a greater purpose,” said Michael Mathé, Chief Operating Officer, Konica Minolta. “The IMSA racing circuit provides students with real-world, high-intensity examples of STEM. Konica Minolta already provides complete business solutions to schools, from back-end work flow and information management solutions to digital classroom tools, innovative and cost-effective collaboration tools, making this new touchpoint a great and natural fit for us.”

The bespoke IMSA STEM curriculum has been developed in conjunction with EVERFI, which works with more than 60,000 teachers and their schools throughout the country – providing interactive, game-based lessons and helping students thrive in an ever-changing world – all at no cost to the schools, teachers or students. Curriculum will be based on the unique STEM elements that drive IMSA, bringing concepts to life for students in school and at the racetrack. The program will be scenario-based and rooted in careers in motorsports and technology.

“STEM education and the opportunity to introduce IMSA to the next generation of engineers, mechanics, business leaders, and others who will play a fundamental role in the future of our sport has long been a passion of mine, and as a valued partner, we are thrilled that Konica Minolta shares in that vision.” said John Doonan, President, IMSA. “The ability to leverage Konica Minolta’s expertise in the education industry is such an amazing complement to this initiative. We look forward to many more years together and the future of this endeavor to educate and inspire young minds.”

The first IMSA STEM experience will take place in January 2025 in conjunction with the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the first race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. Additional details and race markets will be revealed at a later date.