The Drivers

A look at some of the biggest stars in racing that will be at this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The Drivers

Fernando Alonso’s interest in the Rolex 24 is hardly surprising given the event’s prestige, but don’t go thinking he won’t face a mighty challenge – the field is stacked with some of global motorsport’s brightest talents.

Alonso and Stroll offer some rare active F1 representation, but IndyCar drivers are regular fixtures at Daytona. This year the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves, Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais and Ryan Hunter-Reay will all feature across the Prototype and GTLM classes.

Other names of note include ex-F1 racers Bruno Senna and Felipe Nasr - the latter posted the fastest time in the Roar qualifying session - McLaren junior Lando Norris (teammate to Alonso), Paul di Resta, Felix Rosenqvist, Robin Frijns, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy.

The majority of teams are entering with either three or four drivers to share duties across the 24 hours, with four GTD entrants listing five names on their registration.

Teams are free to swap drivers when pitting at any point, but there are both minimum and maximum drive times they must adhere to.

In GTD, all drivers have a minimum drive time of 3 hours, 15 minutes. As this is a class featuring bronze-rated ‘gentleman’ drivers, priority behind the wheel is likely to be given to the professionals in the team.

In Prototype and GTLM, all drivers have a minimum drive time of two hours. Across all three classes, there is a maximum drive time of 13 hours and no more than four in any six.

You can check out the full entry list for Daytona by clicking here.

Read More