This weekend, some of the top sports car drivers in the world will go head to head in the legendary 24 Hours of Daytona. From 27th to 29th January, Daytona International Speedway will host one of the most prestigious 24-hour races. A total of 18 drivers from the DTM and the ADAC GT Masters will take their place at the wheel of various different cars. Among them: DTM champion Sheldon van der Linde (ZA) and last year’s ADAC GT Masters winner Raffaele Marciello (I).
Van der Linde will swap the steering wheel of his championship-winning car for the brand-new BMW M Hybrid V8 with car number 25 at the 5.73-kilometre racetrack. Like the LMDh class, the new prototype from Munich is set for its race debut in Daytona. Van der Linde’s DTM colleagues from last year, Philipp Eng (A) and Marco Wittmann from Germany, will drive BMW M Team RLL’s second car. Sheldon van der Linde: “This is the first time that I will have driven a prototype and is a fantastic way to start the season. Daytona is always a very special place and I am looking forward to supporting the team. It is difficult to get to know a new car, and then to go straight into a race weekend. However, I am confident that we have done our homework over the winter.”
Former Formula 1 driver Jack Aitken (GB) starts for Whelen Engineering in a new Cadillac in the LMDh category. ADAC GT Masters champion Marciello lines up in an Oreca LMP2 car for High Class Racing. Felipe Fraga will also be racing in a prototype. The Brazilian and winner of the DTM race at the Norisring will be at the wheel of a Ligier LMP3.
In the GTD Pro class for GT3 cars, Laurens Vanthoor (B) lines up in a newly developed Porsche 911 GT3 R for Pfaff Motorsports. Meanwhile, Italy’s Mirko Bortolotti is looking forward to the first race outing for the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, in the hands of the Iron Lynx team. Daniel Juncadella (E), Jules Gounon (AND) and Maro Engel (D) will share the cockpit of a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for WeatherTech Racing.
The start list in the GTD class is packed with familiar GT3 aces from the DTM and the ADAC GT Masters. Rolf Ineichen (CH) and Franck Perera (F) alternate at the wheel of the new Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 for Iron Lynx. Italian Marco Mapelli (US RaceTronics) will also guide Lamborghini’s new Evo2 model around the iconic circuit. Dennis Olsen (N) is making his debut in the brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 R with Wright Motorsport. Former DTM and ADAC GT Masters champion Maximilian Götz (Korthoff Motorsports), Fabian Schiller (Sun Energy 1) and Austria’s Lucas Auer (Winward Racing) will each take on the endurance classic in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The 24 Hours of Daytona begins at 20:40 (CET) on Saturday, 28th January 2023. A free livestream is available on the IMSA website: imsa.com/tvlive
