Photo: Tony DiZinno
***IMSA President John Doonan addressed the media following the pre-race drivers’ meeting for the 64th Rolex 24 at Daytona (pictured above), speaking highly of the momentum the Florida endurance classic, as well as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as a whole, has continued to build in recent years.
***Doonan said: “Coming through the tunnel this morning, I was with a couple of drivers walking in, I had them on the back of my golf cart and they were just blown away by the flow of people. Frank [Kelleher, DIS President] and the team at the track have done an incredible job of marketing the event. We’ve been working really hard on our side to produce a quality racing product that people want to come to see. For all of us in this sport… sports car racing is at its best moment in history and we want to keep that going.”
***Jim Matthews edged out Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley to win Saturday morning’s HSR IMSA Classic race. The 30-minute contest saw former prototype driver Matthews, driving Doyle Racing’s Riley & Scott Mk. III Oldsmobile that won the 1996 Rolex 24 at Daytona with Wayne Taylor, Scott Sharp and Jim Pace, win the HSR race by nearly nine seconds over Farley, who was at the wheel of a 2002 Riley & Scott Mk IIIC Ford that Matthews drove in contemporary racing.
***IMSA issued a pre-race competition bulletin instructing LMP2 teams to disconnect its leader light system due to a reported systems issue. “LMP2 cars are not required to utilize the IMSA leader light system for the duration of the event, however all leader light system components must be installed per the IMSA technical regulations,” the bulletin read.
***Sportscar365 understands the leader light system, while technically the same unit used in GTP, GTD Pro and GTD, is integrated differently into the LMP2 cars, which has caused reliability problems in the past.
***Roger Penske has acknowledged that lack of regular Porsche 963 experience played a factor in his team’s NTT IndyCar Series stars Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin not having gotten the nod for the as fourth drivers this weekend, after both tested with the team in last November’s IMSA-sanctioned test. Newgarden, who was part of the 2024 Rolex 24-winning squad, had not raced the car since while McLaughlin would have made his GTP class debut.
***Penske said: “I’d love to see them but I’m also smart enough to realize that you can’t just jump in these things. It takes some time. Look, I think there will be opportunities as we go forward, hopefully.”
***He also revealed the rationale behind not running a throwback livery on one of its 963s this weekend, as it initially explored as part of the team’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Sportscar365 understands that a livery based on Penske’s Sunoco-sponsored Porsche 917/10 was considered.
***Penske said: “We were thinking about bringing a livery here. This was a big discussion internally. I said, ‘We’re trying to win our third in a row and we’d have a different paint job on this car.’ I couldn’t get myself away from that. JD (Jonathan Diuguid, Penske Racing President) and everybody was excited. But you’ll see some as we go forward.”
***Team Penske has 198 starts in Porsche machinery to date, resulting in 50 wins, a remarkable 25 percent win record, heading into this weekend’s season opener as it seeks a third consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona overall win.
***IMSA will impound the top-four finishing cars from both the GTP and GTD Pro classes following the race in a “controlled location” overnight on Sunday for a “comprehensive vehicle inspection” that’s set to start at 8 a.m. on Monday. Cars that will have passed inspections will be released by 3 p.m. according to a competition bulletin from the sanctioning body.
***Per the bulletin, entrants and/or manufacturers will be required to supply various equipment, such as aerodynamic deflection fixtures and high stands, with the failure to provide the equipment specified may be considered as technical non-compliance.
***Laurens Vanthoor said he expects to do a similar number of races this year, despite his full-time switch to the IMSA GTP ranks with Porsche Penske Motorsport. The Belgian had a remarkable 38 percent win record last year, taking six wins and 11 podiums out of 16 race starts.
***He told Sportscar365: “Not more than last year. It hasn’t been defined yet but I guess the usual things like Nürburgring, Macau. I would have loved to go to Bathurst but internally they decided the younger drivers need their shot, which is fair enough.”
***The pace car for the Rolex 24 is a Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 RS equipped with a Manthey Kit. Manthey managing director Nicolas Raeder revealed to Sportscar365 that its two-car Michelin Endurance Cup program is aimed to help build its commercial business for Porsche road cars in North America.
***The AMR Safety Team has new recovery trucks this year, in the form of 2026 Ford F-150 Raptors. The F-150 Raptor is the ‘Official Truck’ of IMSA.
***Sentronics Limited, a UK-based global innovator in ultrasonic fluid flow sensor technology, has signed a multi-year marketing agreement with IMSA to become a ‘Proud Technology Supplier’ of the sanctioning body.
***IMSA has also announced an expansion of its partnership with BDO USA designating the global advisory and professional services firm as the ‘Official Digital Transformation Partner of IMSA Labs.’ The enhanced relationship centers on a new collaborative initiative supporting IMSA Labs, the sanctioning body’s innovation engine focused on next‑generation data, technology, and competition‑enhancing solutions.
***IMSA Labs was introduced Friday as part of the third IMSA Technology Symposium at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
***Corvette Racing entries have combined to complete 74,013.04 racing miles at Daytona International Speedway since the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R made its debut in the race in 1999. It equates to 3,218 trips across the length of Daytona Beach, which is approximately 23 miles.
***More than 462,758 miles have been completed by the program since the program’s inception. The half-million mark is expected to be surpassed midway through this season.
***Ford is celebrating 125 years of racing this year. The 1901 “Sweepstakes” car, which started it all for the ‘Blue Oval’ is be featured on-site in the Ford midway display, circled by the evolution of the Mustang GT3 competing trackside.
***This years also marks 60 years since Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby led the Ford GT40 Mk II to Ford’s first 24 Hours of Daytona victory.
***Magnus Racing’s fan-favorite webcast returns for the race, which will continue in an un-hosted format that will provide viewers with behind-the-scenes access to its pit box with live cameras and team radio communication. The webcast will be streamed on the team’s YouTube channel.
***NBC Sports’ coverage of the 54th Rolex 24 at Daytona kicks off on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The network will also broadcast the final two hours of the race, on Sunday from 12-2 p.m., with the entire race available live and flag-to-flag on Peacock.
***Leigh Diffey will anchor coverage of the race along with Brian Till, Calvin Fish, Townsend Bell and Oliver Gavin in the booth, with Dave Burns, Kevin Lee, Matt Yocum, Chris Wilner and Amanda Busick, who makes her NBC Sports’ broadcast debut, on pit lane. Marty Snider and Steve Letarte, meanwhile, will be perched on the Peacock Pit Box.
***IMSA Radio’s team, which will serve as the commentary of the international feed available on IMSA’s YouTube channel, will feature John Hindhaugh, Ryan Myrehn, Bruce Jones and Peter Mackay in the booth, with Arjuna Kankipati, Neil Cole, Duncan Vincent and Peter Snowdon on pit lane.
John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John
