2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona: GTD Preview
The tenth season of the current IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship is also the tenth season of the GT Daytona (GTD) class. IMSA’s GT3 category has produced eight different winners in the previous nine races since 2014.
While Mercedes-AMG customer teams may have run roughshod over GTD qualifying for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, this is by no means a guarantee of a flag-to-flag romp to victory – not with a field this big, with as many top teams comprised of top-tier professionals, under-the-radar talents, and true clubman racers in the mix.
23 cars have entered GTD at the 2023 edition of the Rolex 24 – one more than in last year’s race. Nine manufacturers are represented, with multiples of the new Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini models. Acura and McLaren also have representation, exclusive to this class.
There are also seven women competing in the GTD category. Each will be trying to add their names to a roll of honour that includes five women who’ve achieved a class victory at Daytona: Sierra “Smokey” Drolet, Kathy Rude, Lyn St. James, Lilian Bryner, and the most recent – Claudia Hürtgen.
#1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3: Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow (Full season), Corey Lewis (IMEC), Maxime Martin (Rolex 24)
It took long enough for the 2020 Rolex 24 GTD class winners to get their new BMW M4 GT3, that they missed out on the biggest race of the season in 2022. Then, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow made up for lost time by winning at Long Beach, Lime Rock Park, and grabbing the WeatherTech Sprint Cup title for Paul Miller Racing.
In their first Daytona effort with the new BMW, PMR are vying for their second win in three tries, bringing back Sellers, Snow, and Corey Lewis, all members of the 2020 class-winning effort.
Lewis won the 2020 Michelin Endurance Cup with PMR, and is back with the team as their designated driver for the series’ four longest races. And after five seasons at Aston Martin, Maxime Martin is back as a BMW works driver. He finished third overall in Dubai, his first race for the marque since 2017.
#12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo (Full season), Parker Thompson (IMEC), Kyle Kirkwood (Rolex 24)
Vasser Sullivan Racing finished second in GTD at the 2019 Rolex 24, in their debut effort. They’ve not been back to the podium since, but their number 12 GTD entry has a strong crew behind it ready for the task – and while the Lexus RC F GT3 is older than its contemporaries, it is far from obsolete.
Montecalvo and Telitz, two members of the 2019 runner-up team, will be in the car for the full season, their second together. Parker Thompson is new to Daytona, and makes the step up to GT3 racing as the reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion and a Porsche North America Selected Driver.
Highly-touted IndyCar prospect Kirkwood finished fourth in GTD Pro driving Vasser Sullivan’s number 14 Lexus last year.
#16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): Ryan Hardwick, Jan Heylen and Zacharie Robichon (IMEC – Full season pairing TBD), Dennis Olsen (Rolex 24)
#77 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman (Full season), Max Root (IMEC), Kévin Estre (Rolex 24)
Defending GT Daytona class winners Wright Motorsports are back, not only to try and repeat their 2022 Rolex victory but also, to avenge a tough defeat in last year’s championship.
Hardwick, Heylen, and the 1st Phorm-sponsored number 16 Wright Porsche came just 23 points away from the GTD crown in a year that began with a win at Daytona. 2021 GTD champion Robichon was also part of the team during the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds.
This car will run the full season. While Hardwick, Heylen, and Robichon will run the IMEC rounds, a decision for WeatherTech Sprint Cup drivers is still pending as of today.
Porsche factory driver Olsen completes the crew for Daytona, taking the place of LMDh-bound Richard Lietz from last year’s team. Already a champion of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, he drove for Wright Motorsports during his 2019 title-winning season, and also won at Lime Rock Park in 2019, in his second IMSA start.
In addition, Wright are also taking their championship-winning Michelin Pilot Challenge programme up to the WeatherTech Series – led by the reigning champion duo of Brynjolfsson and Hindman.
Brynjolfsson and his Volt Lighting company are each appearing in this race for the first time, while Hindman, a 2019 GTD series champion, has a strong track record in the Rolex 24 with runner-up finishes in the PC and GTD classes. IMEC driver Root won the GT World Challenge America Am class title for Wright in 2020.
Porsche factory driver Estre has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and WEC GTE Pro championships before, and will be preparing for his upcoming debut at the wheel of the new Porsche 963 Hypercar in WEC. His previous best finish at the Rolex 24 is sixth place in GTLM, in 2017 and his most recent appearance in 2021.
#19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2: Claudio Schiavoni, Raffaele Giammaria, Franck Perera, and Rolf Ineichen (Rolex 24)
Part of Iron Lynx’s first Daytona venture is this number 19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, which will make its sole IMSA appearance at the Rolex 24.
Fittingly, team co-founder Claudio Schiavoni will have a chance to run the race for the first time. He’s joined by two previous GTD class winners at Daytona: Perera and Ineichen helped steer Lamborghini towards their first-ever Daytona win in 2018, then Ineichen won for a second time in 2019 as part of Grasser Racing Team.
For 2014 Italian GT champion Giammaria, it’s his first Daytona start since 2017.
#21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3: Luis Pérez Companc, Simon Mann, Miguel Molina, and Francesco Castellacci (Rolex 24)
While AF Corse will be intrinsically linked with the new Ferrari 499P Hypercar moving forward, the team will still have a presence in GT racing – including this Rolex 24 entry with the newest 296 GT3.
Mann, a rising GT racing star, and rally driver turned endurance racer Pérez Companc took AF Corse’s previous 488 GT3 to a fourth-place finish in GTD last year.
In 2023 they’re joined by Daytona newcomer Castellacci, and Miguel Molina, one of the six drivers that will drive the new Ferrari Hypercar this season. A past champion in European Le Mans Series and SRO America, Molina finished second in GTLM for Risi Competizione in the 2019 Rolex 24.
#023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Onofrio Triarsi, Charlie Scardina, and Alessio Rovera (IMEC), Andrea Bertolini (Rolex 24)
Rapidly making a name for themselves in GT3 competition after success in Ferrari Challenge, Triarsi Competizione are entering the Michelin Endurance Cup with their new Ferrari.
Anchoring the team are team principal and namesake Onofrio Triarsi Jnr, and Charlie Scardina, his co-driver in a title-winning GT World Challenge America campaign last year.
Rovera joined the upstart team at the Indianapolis 8 Hour and has returned for the four-race IMEC slate, including his second Daytona start. A multi-class WEC title winner and 2021 Le Mans class winner, he’s hoping to continue his upward trajectory as one of Ferrari’s brightest young sports car racers.
And it would only be fitting for Andrea Bertolini, the man who’s tested and driven almost every racing Ferrari that’s rolled out of Maranello, to be a part of the 296 GT3’s first big race. The four-time SRO GT1 champion makes his first Rolex 24 appearance since winning the pole in 2019.
#27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3: Roman De Angelis and Marco Sørensen (Full season), Ian James and Darren Turner (Rolex 24 – IMEC trio TBD)
The Heart of Racing Team emerged as the victors in a hotly-contested battle for the GTD championship in 2022, and they’re in search of a first win in the Rolex 24 to go with it.
At just 21, Roman De Angelis is already building an impressive trophy case of his own: The 2022 GTD championship, the Sprint Cup title the year prior, and endurance victories at Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans. He’ll again be the anchor of the number 27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3.
Replacing the departed Martin is Aston Martin Racing factory driver Sørensen, who arrives in his first full season of IMSA competition as the reigning WEC GTE Am champion from 2022.
Heart of Racing Team principal James has made 21 starts in the Rolex 24, with a best finish of third in GTD in 2019. Turner is an Aston Martin Racing legend with three Le Mans class wins to his name, in six previous Rolex 24s his best finish is fourth in 2008.
#32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo: Mike Skeen and Mikaël Grenier (Full season), Kenton Koch and Maxi Goetz (Rolex 24 – IMEC trio TBD)
Team Korthoff Motorsports put together a strong first season in IMSA’s premier category – one that began with a third place at Daytona in their first ever attempt at the race, and then a close third in the GTD table at season’s end.
It’ll be hard to replace Stevan McAleer’s contributions to the team in ’22, but Team Korthoff still have the experience of the well-traveled Skeen in their corner. GT3s, GT4s, NASCAR and Trans-Am, he’s driven them all, and driven them well.
Last year’s Asian Le Mans Series GT Am title winner Grenier takes McAleer’s place in their full-time line-up, which will be the Canadian’s first full IMSA season. After a strong 2022 spent in GT4s, Koch returns to the Rolex 24, a race that he won on debut in the 2016 Prototype Challenge category.
Mercedes-AMG ace, DTM past champion and 2013 Spa 24h winner Götz ran this race for the first time last year.
#42 NTE Sport/SSR Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Don Yount, Jaden Conwright, Kerong Li, and Alessio Deledda (Rolex 24 – Full-season line-ups TBD)
NTE Sport are back with the newest-spec Lamborghini, they ran over half the 2022 schedule and have ambitions of running the full season in ’23. Gentleman racer Yount is the only one of their drivers that has past Rolex 24 experience – finishing third in Prototype Challenge in 2017.
Conwright is the inaugural recipient of the IMSA Diverse Driver Scholarship, and will be a Lamborghini Junior Driver this coming season. He ran all seven of NTE’s races last season and desires to run the full season.
Boston University student Li is just over a year into his own sports car racing career, and makes his Daytona debut as the only Chinese driver in the field. Likewise, Deledda is making his IMSA debut at Daytona – trying to shed his image as a pantomime villain of the junior formula ladder, he switched to DTM last season with Lamborghini.
#44 Magnus Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3: John Potter, Andy Lally, and Spencer Pumpelly (IMEC – Full season pairing TBD), Nicki Thiim (Rolex 24)
Magnus Racing are fun-loving, fan-favourite mainstays of the IMSA paddock – but they are quite serious when it comes to the task of winning races. They won their class in 2012 and 2016, and their second place finish in GTD last year gave Aston Martin their first-ever Rolex 24 podium.
The trio of Magnus Racing founder John Potter, his long time running mate Andy Lally, and Spencer Pumpelly have combined for nine wins at the Rolex 24 Hours.
Lally’s five Rolex 24 class wins – 2001, 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2016 – are more than any other active driver in the field. Potter was part of each of his team’s two wins as a driver and he’ll be going for his third at the wheel of their #44 Aston Martin. Pumpelly is also a two-time class winner, in 2006 and 2011.
An eclectic crew became even more so with the addition of two-time WEC title winner Nicki Thiim. The second-generation Danish racer has won the 24 hour races at Le Mans and the Nürburgring, and now looks to add a Rolex 24 win to his list of accolades.
#47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3: Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto, Antonio Fuoco, and Alessandro Balzan (Rolex 24 – Full season and IMEC line-ups TBD)
Cetilar Racing plan to step up to full-time IMSA competition this season with the new Ferrari 296 GT3, a vision laid out by team founder and gentleman racer Roberto Lacorte nearly a year ago.
Since 2021, Lacorte has mostly shared the cockpit with journeyman driver Sernagiotto and Ferrari Driver Academy alumnus Fuoco. They drove their sparkling blue Ferrari 488 to victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring last year.
That kickstarted a sensational run in 2022 for Fuoco, who went on to secure a Ferrari 499P drive for the upcoming season.
The fourth member of Cetilar Racing’s third effort at Daytona is a newcomer to the team – but Alessandro Balzan, a three-time GT champion across the Grand-Am and IMSA eras, is by no means a newcomer to the world of American sports car racing. His best finish at the Rolex 24 is fourth in 2013, his first title-winning season.
#57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo: Philip Ellis and Russell Ward (Full season), Indy Dontje (IMEC), Lucas Auer (Rolex 24)
In 2021, Winward Racing gave Mercedes-AMG their very first Daytona 24 Hours victory in any class. Two years later, 30-year-old driver Philip Ellis has put them on the pole in GTD, ahead of the 32 other GT3-class cars in the field.
Ellis returns to partner Texas native Russell Ward for a second full season. They fought through early misfortunes to finish fifth in the GTD standings – boosted by a victory at Road America and look to carry that momentum into their third Daytona starts.
Dontje was also part of the 2021 winning crew and returns as Winward’s IMEC driver after driving GT4s in Europe last season.
Auer, who carried the Winward colours to second in last year’s DTM championship, will round out this exceptional line-up for a team that won races in three different series last year – and will certainly be a threat for much, much more as 2023 progresses.
#66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo 2022: Katherine Legge and Sheena Monk (Full season), Mario Farnbacher (IMEC), Marc Miller (Rolex 24)
After several part-time campaigns, Gradient Racing are going full-time in IMSA in 2023 – and they’ll prominently feature an all-female full-season line up of GT3 newcomer Sheena Monk, and IMSA veteran Katherine Legge.
Legge knows the Acura NSX GT3 quite well, having driven an older iteration of this car to second place in GTD in 2018 – yet, the British racer is highly motivated to finally capture her first Rolex 24 win in 11 tries. Monk brings recent experience in Michelin Pilot Challenge with her to this new challenge – and backing from financial services firm JG Wentworth (they of the earworm-like commercial jingle).
Farnbacher, a two-time, back-to-back GTD drivers’ champion at the wheel of an Acura NSX GT3, renews with Gradient to run the IMEC calendar. He won Petit Le Mans with this team and car last season. And grassroots-to-GT racing hero Miller has known this team since before they were Gradient Racing – he’s back for just his third Rolex 24 start.
#70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3: Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff (Full season), Ollie Millroy (IMEC), Marvin Kirchhöfer (Rolex 24)
Anglo-American team Inception Racing finished fifth at Daytona in their first Rolex 24 appearance. They then finished in the top five in every Michelin Endurance Cup round to win the season-long championship.
This was part of a banner year for Brendan Iribe, who won two sports car Endurance Cups in the same weekend on different continents – after he’d already won Asian Le Mans Series GT honours not long after Daytona.
The line-up for 2023 has been re-tooled with the departure of Jordan Pepper: Schandorff, who won the GT World Challenge Endurance Gold Cup with Iribe last year, is now Inception’s full-time driver. Millroy, part of the AsLMS GT title campaign, will run the IMEC races.
McLaren factory driver Kirchhöfer, a standout in GT World Challenge Europe, makes his Rolex 24 debut this week.
#75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo: Kenny Habul, Fabian Schiller, Axcil Jeffries, and Luca Stolz (Rolex 24)
SunEnergy1 Racing were a last-minute, 61st entry into the Rolex 24, and they plan to run the rest of the Michelin Endurance Cup hereafter.
Kenny Habul’s team looks as strong as ever. He shares the wheel of his Mercedes with Fabian Schiller, second-fastest GTD qualifier of the past week and third-place finisher in LMP2 in 2021. Jeffries is the lone representative of Zimbabwe in the field – a former junior formula journeyman, he has recently turned his attention to sports cars and achieved success in GT World Challenge and Asian Le Mans.
Two-time and defending IndyCar Series champion Will Power was meant to run the race for the first time, but withdrew in order to care for his wife Liz after complications from surgery.
Power’s replacement is a top-notch selection – Luca Stolz is a GT World Challenge Sprint and Endurance Cup champion with Mercedes-AMG, and he was part of SunEnergy1 Racing’s two most recent attempts at the race including their second-place finish in 2021.
#78 US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Misha Goikhberg and Loris Spinelli (Full season), Benja Hites (IMEC), and Marco Mapelli (Rolex 24)
US Racetronics have made spot appearances in IMSA GTD, and raced full-time in GT World Challenge America – all with Mercedes-AMG.
Team founder Shane Seneviratne is taking his team up into IMSA full-time this season. US RaceTronics is the name on the entry list, but going forward, they will be using the Forte Racing brand.
The line-up for the full season features an IMSA veteran in Goihkberg, who is a past Prototype Challenge class winner at Daytona in 2016, and overall winner at Watkins Glen in 2018. Spinelli raced for USRT in SRO America this past season, showcasing rapid speed but weighed down by misfortunes all year.
Chilean driver Hites returns for his second Rolex 24 GTD start and will be the IMEC driver, and to round things out, former SRO “Triple Crown Champion” and Lamborghini works driver Mapelli returns for his sixth Rolex 24, aiming to improve upon the second place finish he recorded in 2020.
#80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): PJ Hyett and Seb Priaulx (Full season), Gunnar Jeannette (IMEC), Harry Tincknell (Rolex 24)
AO Racing is but a few months old, but this Chicago-based upstart co-founded by tech entrepeneur Hyett and his mentor Jeannette has big ambitions for their sports car racing future, aiming for programmes in both IMSA and WEC.
Beyond the awesome Swap Shop 935 throwback livery – a nod to veteran driver Jeannette’s racing family heritage – they have also used his ties to Multimatic to recruit the impressive second-generation driver Priaulx to run the full season, and Tincknell – who finished third overall at Daytona in 2021 – to run the Rolex 24 alongside Hyett and Jeannette (who will run the IMEC rounds).
Priaulx finished second in LMP3 in his first Daytona start. For Hyett, it’s his first start in the Rolex 24 – and for Jeannette, his first in five years.
#83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, and Michelle Gatting (IMEC), Doriane Pin (Rolex 24)
Iron Dames is the enormously successful, female-forward wing of Iron Lynx established by Deborah Mayer – and this is their first attempt at Daytona which will be part of a four-race slate in Michelin Endurance Cup.
For the full IMEC, it’ll be Bovy, Frey, and Gatting representing the Dames in America. Bovy became the first woman ever to win pole in FIA World Endurance Championship competition, and along with programme manager/driver Frey, and Ferrari Challenge champion Gatting, they also snagged three WEC podiums.
Frey is the only one of the crew that has run this race before – she was part of the Rolex 24’s last all-women’s team, GEAR Racing with GRT, in 2020.
Also making her first start at Daytona is the impressive 19-year-old French driver Doriane Pin, the reigning Ferrari Challenge champion with nine wins in 13 races. Pin also joined Bovy and Gatting en route to a landmark GTE class win in the European Le Mans Series finale at Portimão.
#91 Kellymoss with Riley Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): Alan Metni and Kay van Berlo (Full season), Jaxon Evans and Julien Andlauer (Rolex 24, IMEC line-up TBD)
#92 Kellymoss with Riley Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): David Brulé and Alec Udell (Full season), Jeroen Bleekemolen and Andrew Davis (Rolex 24, IMEC line-up TBD)
A new multi-car team in IMSA GTD, this is the collaboration between Kellymoss Racing – a massively successful team in Porsche one-make racing in the US built by co-owners Victoria Thomas and Andy Kilcoyne – and the established Riley Technologies firm.
The grey and yellow number 91 Porsche is stocked full of successful exports from the Kellymoss Carrera Cup ranks: Metni was last year’s Pro-Am champion in the North American series, and young Van Berlo finished runner-up in the Pro class with six wins – enough to be picked as a Porsche North America Selected Driver. He also won LMP3 on his Rolex 24 debut, driving a Riley-entered Ligier.
Joining them for Daytona is 2019 Porsche Supercup champion and 2018 Le Mans GTE Am winner Andlauer, who made his first start at Daytona last year; and Evans, a Carrera Cup champion in Australia and France, making his debut.
The number 92, originally planned as an IMEC-only entry, also decided to run full-time with Brule bringing his beauty company’s sponsorship to the team to partner Udell. The two ran together in Michelin Pilot Challenge and finished third in class at Road America.
Both are products of the Kellymoss one-make programmes – Brule in Carrera Cup, Udell in Lamborghini Super Trofeo. And for Brule, this is his first Rolex 24 start in 19 years – his last drive was in a Chevrolet-powered Crawford Daytona Prototype in 2004!
The well-traveled Bleekemolen, two-time American Le Mans Series class champion, has entered this race every year since 2010 with a best finish of second in class in 2012. Davis has worked for Kellymoss as a driver coach and has four class podiums at Daytona, but not yet a win in 20 previous appearances.
#93 Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR Acura NSX GT3: Ashton Harrison, Danny Formal, and Kyle Marcelli (IMEC), Ryan Briscoe (Rolex 24)
After years of success in SRO America, Racers Edge Motorsports are entering the Rolex 24 for the first time after taking a first dip into IMSA last year at Sebring.
With the backing of both Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti Autosport behind them, they will contest the Michelin Endurance Cup with a driver crew led by Ashton Harrison, who became the first woman to win a GT World Challenge America championship in 2022. This will be her first Rolex 24.
Another past GTWCA title winner for Racers Edge, Marcelli, is running Daytona for the first time in five years. He won the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America title alongside Costa Rica’s Formal, in a WTR entered car. This is Formal’s first GT3 race and first time at Daytona.
Three-time IMSA championship runner-up Briscoe is the only driver in GTD with an overall win on his CV, back in 2020 with WTR in their Cadillac DPi-V.R. He returns to this race after a year’s absence.
#96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3: Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley (Full season), Michael Dinan (IMEC), Jens Klingmann (Rolex 24)
This is Turner Motorsports’ entry that will be in GTD all season (their number 95 car is splitting between GTD and GTD Pro), and this year’s line-up will now be anchored by BMW’s newest works driver Foley.
Foley gave the new BMW M4 GT3 its first win at Mid-Ohio. He steps to the forefront with new team mate Gallagher, who has risen the ranks from MX-5 Cup champion to GT4, and now moves up to GT3 for the full season and his first Daytona 24h start.
Dinan is back for his second season as Turner’s IMEC driver in the 96, and another BMW works driver and long-time Turner family member, Klingmann makes his seventh start at the Rolex for this team.
This preview has been modified to note MDK Motorsports’ move from GTD to GTD Pro.
Images © Andrew “Skippy” Hall, Martin W. Spetz, Joe Martin
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