DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The official 61-car entry list has been released for the 61st Rolex 24 at Daytona, which will begin a new hybrid prototype era of sports car racing Saturday (1:30 p.m. ET, NBC).
Tom Blomqvist is on the pole position for defending race winner Meyer Shank Racing after the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 qualified first in the debut of the new Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) category. There are nine cars in the top division of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with Porsche and BMW joining Cadillac and Acura, the existing holdovers from the DPi era of 2017-22.
The field for the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona was capped at 61 cars across five division because the LMDh cars of GTP required larger garage and pit stalls. IMSA officials have said at least 70 entry applications were submitted.
OFFICIAL ENTRY LIST: Click here for the final driver and team configurations in the 61st Rolex 24 at Daytona
Four of the five class-winning teams return from last year’s Rolex 24, and there are 62 drivers with Rolex 24 class wins in the field (led by Andy Lally with five).
In addition to the nine cars in GTP, there are 10 in LMP2, nine in LMP3, 10 in GTD Pro and 23 in GTD.
The field also features 10 active drivers from the NTT IndyCar Series, including Colton Herta, Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves racing in the top class. Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin will be making their sports car debuts in LMP2, which also will feature Rinus VeeKay and Devlin DeFrancesco. Kyle Kirkwood returns in the GTD class, and Romain Grosjean will make his Rolex 24 debut in GTD Pro in the Iron Lynx Lamborghini.
After winning the Daytona 500 as a rookie last year, Austin Cindric will try to become the fifth driver to win the Rolex 24 along with NASCAR’s biggest race.
Click here for the official entry list for the 61st Rolex 24 at Daytona.
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