Rolex 24 Hours has nearly five dozen past winners in this year's field

An amazing 57 drivers who will compete at the World Center of Racing this weekend have won at least once in class in past Rolex 24 At Daytona races
Rolex 24 Hours has nearly five dozen past winners in this year's field
Rolex 24 Hours has nearly five dozen past winners in this year's field /

THIS WEEKEND'S TV SCHEDULE:

Motorsports TV / Internet Schedule January 29 - 30, 2022

(All Times EST)

(Peacock will be live streaming the Rolex 24)

Saturday, January 29

1:30P IMSA Rolex 24 – Start NBC Daytona

4:00P IMSA Rolex 24 – Part 2 USA Daytona

10:00P IMSA Rolex 24 – Part 3 USA Daytona

Sunday, January 30

12:00A IMSA Rolex 24 – Part 4 USA Daytona

6:00A IMSA Rolex 24 – Part 5 USA Daytona

12:00P IMSA Rolex 24 – Finish NBC Daytona

Compliments of Jay Wells Racing

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 27, 2022) The field for the 60th running of this weekend’s Rolex 24 At DAYTONA is overloaded with racing talent. More than 230 drivers representing 61 cars – the most for the race since 2014 – are on the entry list.

That group of drivers is chock full of endurance racing experts. Fifty-seven drivers have won at least once in class at the Rolex 24, led by Andy Lally’s five victories. Forty drivers have been winners at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, headed by Nicolas Lapierre’s four triumphs. Toss in four Indianapolis 500 winners and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, and it makes Daytona International Speedway THE place to be to open the 2022 motorsports season – both globally and for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Five Classes, Each with a Champion to Crown

For the second straight year, five classes will be racing when the green flag drops at 1:40 p.m. ET Saturday. The starting grid was set by the results of Sunday’s 100-minute qualifying race at Daytona, with the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 winning that race to earn the Motul Pole Award and first starting position. The Wayne Taylor Racing entry, with drivers Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens, is aiming to collect the overall and Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class wins a record fourth straight time.

The No. 10 will face stiff competition from the other six DPi entries, including the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R that claimed the 2021 DPi championship on the final lap of the final race last season. Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez and Mike Conway will share the No. 31 from Action Express Racing.

Action Express also fields the No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi that finished second in last year’s Rolex 24. Along with NASCAR-turned-IndyCar driver Johnson, the lineup includes two-time Rolex 24 winner Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, who along with Conway were overall winners last August at Le Mans. Mike Rockenfeller, an overall champion at both the Rolex 24 and Le Mans, rounds out the stout No. 48 lineup.

The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) field again boasts 10 entries, including the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07 that returns its Rolex 24-winning lineup intact with Dwight Merriman, Kyle Tilley, Ryan Dalziel and Paul-Loup Chatin. Four-time Le Mans LMP2 winner Lapierre anchors the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA that won last year’s WeatherTech Championship LMP2 season title and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup as well as Sunday’s qualifying race. The No. 52’s lineup includes Ben Keating, who’s pulling double duty by also co-driving the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi.

Beginning its second season in the WeatherTech Championship, the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class has swelled to nine entries. The No 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 won the Rolex 24 on its way to capturing the season championship and Michelin Endurance Cup title. Gar Robinson is the sole returning driver from the Rolex 24 winner, joined this year by Felipe Fraga, Kay van Berlo and Michael Cooper.

The No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier finished second in the 2021 LMP2 championship with a lineup anchored by past Rolex 24 winners Jon Bennett and Colin Braun. Four-time Rolex 24 winner Joao Barbosa is back in the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier. Andretti Autosport, with a Rolex 24 entry for the first time, won the LMP3 portion of Sunday’s qualifying race behind full-season drivers Jarett Andretti and Josh Burdon.

The Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class makes its official WeatherTech Championship debut in the Rolex 24. GTD PRO, which aligns with international GT3 specifications, takes over for the GT Le Mans class and is a wide-open affair with eight manufacturers and 13 cars entered. The No. 63 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3, whose drivers have combined for five previous Rolex 24 victories, was the class winner in the qualifying race. Corvette Racing has struggled somewhat adapting its GTLM champion cars to the GT3 spec, but never count out three-time Rolex 24 winners Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, who’ll share the No. 3 Corvette C8.R with Nicky Catsburg.

The Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class figures to be just as unpredictable with 22 entrants and nine manufacturers participating. Mercedes-AMG looks to replicate its 1-2 finish in last year’s Rolex 24 fashioned by the No. 57 Winward Racing and No. 75 Sun Energy 1 GT3s.

The No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, without semi-retired Porsche factory driver Patrick Long, looks to improve on last year’s fourth-place Rolex 24 finish with a lineup that includes two-time Rolex 24 and three-time Le Mans winner Richard Lietz. The No. 44 Magnus Racing driver quartet boasts nine Rolex 24 and two Le Mans victories, though the team has switched to an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 this year. And then there’s Bill Auberlen, IMSA’s all-time winner at the top level (64 wins) who chases his first Rolex 24 victory in 24 years in Turner Motorsport’s new No. 96 BMW M4 GT3.

Three WeatherTech Championship practices are set for Thursday, including a vital nighttime session. A final practice is set for Friday morning, the last opportunity to dial in cars before the historic race begins.

Rolex 24 At Daytona Winners in 2022 Rolex 24 Field (57)

Andy Lally (5): SRPII – 2001; GT – 2009, 2011, 2012; GTD – 2016

Joao Barbosa (4): GTS – 2003; DP/Overall –2010; P/Overall – 2014; DPi/Overall – 2018

Scott Dixon (4): DP/Overall – 2006; P/Overall – 2015; GTLM – 2018; DPi/Overall – 2020

Filipe Albuquerque (3): GT – 2013; P/Overall – 2018; DPi/Overall – 2021

Antonio Garcia (3): DP/Overall – 2009; GTLM – 2015, 2021

Jordan Taylor (3): P/Overall – 2017; DPi/Overall – 2019; GTLM – 2021

Bill Auberlen (2): GTS-3 – 1997; GT3 – 1998

Mirko Bortolotti (2): GTD – 2018, 2019

Sebastien Bourdais (2): P/Overall – 2014; GTLM – 2017

Colin Braun (2): PC – 2014; LMP2 – 2020

Ryan Dalziel (2): DP/Overall – 2010; LMP2 – 2021

Augusto Farfus (2): GTLM – 2019, 2020

Rolf Ineichen (2): GTD – 2018, 2019

Kamui Kobayashi (2): DPi/Overall – 2019, 2020

Richard Lietz (2): GT – 2012; GTLM – 2014

Dirk Mueller (2): GT1 – 1998; GTLM – 2017

John Potter (2): GT – 2012; GTD – 2016

Spencer Pumpelly (2): GT – 2006, 2011

Rene Rast (2): GT – 2012; GTD – 2016

Ricky Taylor (2): P/Overall – 2017; DPi/Overall – 2021

Renger van der Zande (2): DPi/Overall – 2019, 2020

Townsend Bell (1): GTD – 2014

Jonathan Bennett (1): PC – 2014

Jonathan Bomarito (1): GT – 2010

Nick Boulle (1): PC – 2017

Andrea Caldarelli (1): GTD – 2020

Helio Castroneves (1): DPi/Overall – 2021

Nicky Catsburg (1): GTLM – 2021

Paul-Loup Chatin (1): LMP2 – 2021

Connor De Phillippi (1): GTLM – 2019

Michael de Quesada (1): GTD – 2017

Pipo Derani (1): P/Overall – 2016

Indy Dontje (1): GTD – 2021

John Edwards (1): GTLM – 2020

Philip Ellis (1): GTD – 2021

Philipp Eng (1): GTLM – 2019

Misha Goikhberg (1): PC – 2016

Colton Herta (1): GTLM – 2019

Oliver Jarvis (1): GT – 2013

Ben Keating (1): GTD – 2015

Jesse Krohn (1): GTLM – 2020

Corey Lewis (1): GTD – 2020

Dwight Merriman (1): LMP2 – 2021

Tommy Milner (1): GTLM – 2016

Daniel Morad (1): GTD – 2017

Pato O’Ward (1): PC – 2017

Franck Perera (1): GTD – 2018

Alessandro Pier Guidi (1): GTD – 2014

Patrick Pilet (1): GTLM – 2014

Gar Robinson (1): LMP3 – 2021

Mike Rockenfeller (1): DP/Overall – 2010

Alexander Rossi (1): DPi/Overall – 2021

Jeff Segal (1): GTD – 2014

Nick Tandy (1): GTLM – 2014

Kyle Tilley (1): LMP2 – 2021

Russell Ward (1): GTD – 2021

Richard Westbrook (1): GTLM – 2018

IMSA Champions in 2022 Rolex 24 Field (42)

Joao Barbosa (6): WeatherTech Championship Prototype – 2014, 2015; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Prototype – 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

Antonio Garcia (6): American Le Mans Series GT – 2013; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTLM – 2015; WeatherTech Championship GTLM – 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021

Jeroen Bleekemolen (5): American Le Mans Series GTC – 2010, 2013; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD – 2017, 2018, 2019

Ben Keating (5): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD – 2017, 2018, 2019; WeatherTech Championship LMP2 – 2021; IMSA Michelin Cup Endurance LMP2 – 2021

Andy Lally (4): GRAND-AM SRPII – 2001; GRAND-AM SGS – 2004; GRAND-AM GT – 2006; GRAND-AM North American Endurance Cup GT – 2012

Tommy Milner (4): American Le Mans Series GT – 2012; WeatherTech Championship GTLM – 2016; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTLM – 2016, 2021

Felipe Nasr (4): WeatherTech Championship Prototype – 2018; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Prototype – 2018; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup DPi – 2019; WeatherTech Championship DPi 2021

Jordan Taylor (4): GRAND-AM DP – 2013; WeatherTech Championship Prototype – 2017; WeatherTech Championship GTLM – 2020, 2021

Bill Auberlen (3): IMSA GTS-3 – 1997; GRAND-AM GT – 2002, 2004

Jonathan Bennett (3): WeatherTech Championship PC – 2014, 2015; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup PC – 2014

Colin Braun (3): WeatherTech Championship PC – 2014, 2015; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup PC – 2014

Mario Farnbacher (3): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD – 2017; WeatherTech Championship GTD – 2019, 2020

Dirk Mueller (3): American Le Mans Series GT – 2000, 2001; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTLM – 2018

Ricky Taylor (3): WeatherTech Championship Prototype – 2017; WeatherTech Championship DPi – 2020; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup DPi – 2021

Filipe Albuquerque (2): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Prototype – 2017; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup DPi – 2021

Townsend Bell (2): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD – 2014; WeatherTech Championship GTD – 2015

Pipo Derani (2): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup DPi – 2019; WeatherTech Championship DPi – 2021

John Edwards (2): GRAND-AM North American Endurance Cup GT – 2013; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTLM – 2020

Mikkel Jensen (2): WeatherTech Championship LMP2 – 2021; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup LMP2 – 2021

Cooper MacNeil (2): American Le Mans Series GTC – 2012, 2013

Pato O’Ward (2): WeatherTech Championship PC – 2017; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup PC – 2017

Tim Pappas (2): American Le Mans Series GTC – 2010, 2011

Patrick Pilet (2): WeatherTech Championship GTLM – 2015; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTLM – 2017

Gar Robinson (2): WeatherTech Championship LMP3 – 2021; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup LMP3 – 2021

Jeff Segal (2): GRAND-AM GT – 2010, 2012

Renger van der Zande (2): WeatherTech Championship PC – 2016; IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup DPi – 2020

Laurens Vanthoor (2): WeatherTech Championship GTLM – 2019; WeatherTech Championship GTD – 2021

Earl Bamber (1): WeatherTech Championship GTLM – 2019

Helio Castroneves (1): WeatherTech Championship DPi – 2020

Felipe Fraga (1): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD – 2019

Jan Heylen (1): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD – 2021

Scott Huffaker (1): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup LMP2 – 2021

Ian James (1): American Le Mans Series P2 – 2004

Jesse Krohn (1): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTLM – 2020

Corey Lewis (1): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTD – 2020

Simon Pagenaud (1): American Le Mans Series LMP – 2010

John Potter (1): GRAND-AM North American Endurance Cup GT – 2012

Zacharie Robichon (1): WeatherTech Championship GTD – 2021

Alexander Rossi (1): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup DPi – 2021

Guy Smith (1): American Le Mans Series P1 – 2011

Nick Tandy (1): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTLM – 2021

Richard Westbrook (1): IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTLM – 2019

24 Hours of Le Mans Winners in 2022 Rolex 24 Field (40)

Nicolas Lapierre (4): LMP2 – 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019

Antonio Garcia (3): GT1 – 2008, 2009; GTE Pro – 2011

Richard Lietz (3): GT2 – 2007, 2010; GTE Pro – 2013

Darren Turner (3): GT1 – 2007, 2008; GTE Pro – 2017

Jonathan Adam (2): GTE Pro – 2017; GTE Am – 2020

Earl Bamber (2): LMP1/Overall – 2015, 2017

James Calado (2): GTE Pro – 2019, 2021

Tommy Milner (2): GTE Pro – 2011, 2015

Alessandro Pier Guidi (2): GTE Pro – 2019, 2021

Mike Rockenfeller (2): GT2 – 2005; LMP1/Overall – 2010

Daniel Serra (2): GTE Pro – 2017, 2019

Harry Tincknell (2): LMP2 – 2014; GTE Pro – 2020

Toni Vilander (2): GTE Pro – 2012, 2014

Filipe Albuquerque (1): LMP2 – 2020

Townsend Bell (1): GTE Am – 2016

Jeroen Bleekemolen (1): LMP2 – 2008

Sebastien Bourdais (1): GTE Pro – 2016

Matt Campbell (1): GTE Am – 2018

Mike Conway (1): LMH/Overall – 2021

Ryan Dalziel (1): LMP2 – 2012

Loic Duval (1): LMP1/Overall – 2013

Charlie Eastwood (1): GTE Am – 2020

Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen (1): LMP2 – 2021

Phil Hanson (1): LMP2 – 2020

Oliver Jarvis (1): LMP2 – 2017

Kamui Kobayashi (1): LMH/Overall – 2021

Jose Maria Lopez (1): LMH/Overall – 2021

Alex Lynn (1): GTE Pro – 2020

Maxime Martin (1): GTE Pro – 2020

Dirk Mueller (1): GTE Pro – 2016

Nicklas Nielsen (1): GTE Am – 2021

Alessio Rovera (1): GTE Am – 2021

Jeff Segal (1): GTE Am – 2016

Guy Smith (1): LMGTP/Overall – 2003

Will Stevens (1): GTE Am – 2017

Bill Sweedler (1): GTE Am – 2016

Nick Tandy (1): LMP1/Overall – 2015

Jordan Taylor (1): GTE Pro – 2015

Nicki Thiim (1): GTE Am – 2014

Laurens Vanthoor (1): GTE Pro – 2018

IndyCar Champions in 2022 Rolex 24 Field (4)

Scott Dixon (6): 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020

Sebastien Bourdais (4): 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

Alex Palou (1): 2021

Simon Pagenaud (1): 2016

Indianapolis 500 Winners in 2022 Rolex 24 Field (4)

Helio Castroneves (4): 2001, 2002, 2009, 2021

Scott Dixon (1): 2008

Simon Pagenaud (1): 2019

Alexander Rossi (1): 2016

NASCAR Cup Series Champions in 2022 Rolex 24 Field (1)

Jimmie Johnson – 7 titles

This weekend’s battle will feature a field of 61 cars spread amongst five classes. It begins Saturday at 1:40 p.m. ET. 

NBC Sports has complete race coverage beginning on NBC network at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday. Stints will follow on USA network (4-7 p.m. Saturday; 10 p.m. Saturday-3 a.m. Sunday; 6 a.m.-noon Sunday) before returning to NBC for the dramatic conclusion from noon-2 p.m. Sunday.

Peacock, IMSA’s new livestream home, has flag-to-flag coverage of all 24 hours in the U.S. The international livestream is available in most countries outside the U.S. at IMSA.com/TVLive. IMSA Radio also has complete coverage beginning with the “Michelin Countdown to Green” at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as the all-new NASCAR Tracks App, for the latest speedway news.


Published
IMSA Wire Service
IMSA WIRE SERVICE

By IMSA Wire Service