The future is here. The United Sportscar Championship, the
result of the merger between Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series, gets
underway this weekend with the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the start of a new
era of optimism for sportscar racing both in North America and internationally.
With a colossal 67 car field of international drivers and marques set to take
the start, James
Newbold takes a look at the key combinations to keep an eye on.
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| There will be plenty of this over the course of 24 hours... |
P-Class
The battle for outright honours between DP and LMP2 looked to favour the former after the ‘Roar before the Rolex 24’ test was dominated by the Corvette DP, but Balance of Performance alterations made since then could even things up come the race. A frightening puncture-induced accident for Richard Westbrook during testing in November prompted organising body IMSA to sanction Continental to revise the tyre compound for the test, negating the advantage of the nimbler P2 cars which proved incapable of heating up their tyres and struggled to get near the more powerful DPs around the banking. The advantage afforded to the DPs prompted IMSA to step in once again, with the DP teams given smaller diameter engine-restrictors, which will reduce their top speed by an estimated four miles per hour.
Of all the teams, defending Rolex 24 winners Chip Ganassi
Racing with Felix Sebates are perhaps best equipped to deal with the changes. Always
a threat at Daytona with their rapid Riley DPs, Ganassi will however be wary
that their unproven new Ford engines could hamper the chances of Memo Rojas and
Scott Pruett, three times and five times a winner of the event respectively, who
are joined in the 01 by 18-year old Indy Lights champion Sage Karam and Jamie
McMurray, a winner at Talladega last year with Ganassi’s NASCAR arm. IndyCar champion Scott Dixon heads up the 02
attack, with defending Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan, up and coming NASCAR racer
Kyle Larson and Marino Franchitti, brother to the now-retired triple IndyCar
champion Dario providing more than capable support.
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| The mulleted Jordan Taylor won three races on the spin to wrap up the 2013 Rolex Grand-Am title. |
With three wins on the bounce at the business end of the
2013 season to give them the championship, Wayne Taylor Racing are undoubtedly
the form team heading into the 24 Hours. Champion pairing Jordan Taylor and Max
Angelelli are joined by Jordan’s younger brother Ricky and father Wayne, the
eponymous team owner coming out of retirement as he looks to add to his 1996
and 2005 victories.
2012 winners Michael Shank Racing again call on the services
of AJ Allmendinger and Justin Wilson – having recovered from the pelvic
fractures he sustained in the IndyCar finale at Fontana – to partner regular
pairing Ozz Negri and John Pew, while the GAINSCO Racing partnership of double
Grand-Am champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty continues into its ninth
season, with 2009 Rolex 24 winner Darren Law and Memo Gidley joining.
Quick straight out of the box in testing, Action Express are
sure to be in the mix with experienced Christian Fittipaldi anchoring the no.5 car
alongside Joao Barbosa, IndyCar star Sebastien Bourdais and Burt Frisselle, who
will also pull a shift in the second car, ran in partnership with WEC
outfit ADR-Delta for John Martin, Fabien Giroix and Brian Frisselle.
Brendon Hartley’s stellar performances aboard the Starworks
Riley last season helped him win a factory contract with Porsche, and he
returns alongside Scott Mayer, Alex Popow and IndyCar racers Sebastien Saavedra
and EJ Viso for the 24 Hours, while 2010 Daytona winner and DTM champion Mike
Rockenfeller joins Spirit of Daytona Racing on loan from Audi, sharing with Michael
Valiante and Richard Westbrook.
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| Brendon Harley was a winner in the Starworks Chevy last year and is one to watch. |
The Extreme Speed HPD of Ryan Dalziel, Scott Sharp and David
Brabham was consistently the quickest LMP2 package during testing and looks
most likely to capitalise on any DP slipups, but will have to contend with double ALMS
champions Pickett Racing for that honour, with Nissan-contracted Alex Brundle
completing a strong lineup alongside Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr, who step down from
the now-defunct LMP1 class.
Over from Europe, LMP2 victors at Le Mans and WEC champions
Oak Racing will run a Morgan-Nissan for single-seater convert Oliver Webb,
former Grand-Am bad boy Gustavo Yacaman, Russia’s Roman Rusinov and Olivier Pla,
the Frenchman consistently one of the quickest drivers in LMP2 last year at Le
Mans and surely worthy of a manufacturer drive in the not too distant future.
Elsewhere, the ever-improving DeltaWing, now a coupe, driven
by Andy Meyrick, Katherine Legge, Caterham F1 junior Alexander Rossi and Indy Lights
graduate Gabby Chaves, will look to continue its upward trajectory having
troubled Pickett at times last season, while the Speedsource Mazda, running the
venerable Lola B12/80 chassis will look to spring a surprise with James
Hinchcliffe joining Sylvian Tremblay and Tom Long in the no. 70.
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| The unique DeltaWing coupe showed well in testing. |
LMPC
While the LMPC class for the one-make Oreca FLM09 was poorly
supported in the European Le Mans Series last year, with only four regular
entries, its American counterpart boasts nine entries ahead of Daytona, headed
up by a two-car effort from Peter Baron’s Starworks Motorsport outfit. DP
racer Alex Popow will also drive the no.
7 PC entry alongside WEC regular Pierre Kaffer, Kyle Marcelli, Isaac Tutumlu and Martin Fuentes, while the
no. 8 entry of Eric Lux, Renger van der Zande, Mirco Schultis and GP2 graduate
Sam Bird will be among the class favourites after a strong run in testing.
Treble championship-wining outfit CORE Autosport are also
present, with Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, Mark Wilkins and James Gue looking to
take the fight to PR1/ Mathiasen Motosport, who ran Mike Guasch to the driver’s
championship last year. Guasch is joined
by Frankie Montecalvo, Gunnar Jeanette – who won the 2011 PC title with CORE –
and Asian Le Mans Series champion David Cheng.
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| Conor Daly will make his sportscar debut in the one-make LMPC category. |
The
ambitious 8-Star Motorsport squad enters its second season of competition after
a successful first year produced the team’s championship in the GTE-Am category
of the WEC, and has reunited 2012 Le Mans winning pairing Tom Kimber-Smith and owner-driver
Enzo Potolicchio in a bid for a further success. Mike Marsal and 2012 WTCC
champion Rob Huff complete the lineup.
GTLM
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| The mean-looking new Corvette CR.7 will be competitive straight out of the box in the capable hands of Magnussen. |
Having signed off the venerable CR.6 with a second
successive manufacturer’s crown, the Pratt & Miller squad will look to hit
the ground running in pursuit of three in a row in 2014 as Ryan Briscoe joins
reigning champions Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia in no. 3 and Robin Liddell
partners Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in no. 4. Corvette will be sure to face stiff
competition from the Porsche North America team, which will field last year’s
Le Mans-winner for Britain’s Nick Tandy, Richard Leitz and Patrick Pilet, with
Pat Long, Michael Christensen and Jorg Bergmeister campaigning a second car.
Aston Martin will put all their eggs in one basket at
Daytona, with five drivers fielded in the no. 97. Darren Turner and Stefan
Mucke were perennial bridesmades in last year’s WEC, just missing out on
victory at Le Mans to Porsche after a race-long duel, and lost their chance at
the title with a final-round retirement, so look out for a resurgence from
Aston at Daytona, as Pedro Lamy, Richie Stanaway and Paul Dalla Lana also come
on board.
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| Rumour has it that the go-faster stripes are worth a few tenths per lap. |
Their chief rivals in the WEC last year, Ferrari, are also well
represented; ex-Formula One star Giancarlo Fisichella moves across from the WEC
to join Matteo Malucelli at Risi Competizione for the full season with WEC
champion Gianmaria Bruni and Olivier Beretta also on board for Daytona, while
Tracy Krohn’s customer team will benefit from the considerable talents of
Andrea Bertolini and Peter Dumbreck, who will share with owner Krohn and
regular partner Nic Jonsson.
After taking the title fight to Corvette to the final round
last year, Bobby Rahal’s fleet of BMW Z4s are back in 2014 with a beefed-up
driver lineup, with DTM regulars Joey Hand and Maxime Martin joining Bill
Auberlin and triple WTCC champion Andy Prialux, who switches to sportscars full
time in no. 55, and Dirk Muller and John Edwards sharing the no. 56 with IndyCar
star Graham Rahal and Dirk Werner. Meanwhile
over at Viper, Rahal’s regular IndyCar sparring partner 2012 champion Ryan
Hunter-Reay, has signed to partner Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goosens, with
Kuno Wittner, Jonathan Bomarito and Rob Bell in a second car. SRT will also run its brand-new GT3-spec
Viper in GTD for Jeroen Bleekemolen, his brother Sebastiaan, Emmanuel Collard
and Ben Keating.
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| After a promising development year, year two is time to deliver for SRT. |
GTD
The GTD class for GT3-based machinery has a monster 29 car
field for Daytona, with the GTC Porsche field from the ALMS mixed with the
Grand-Am GT field.
Winners in GT at Daytona and
ALMS GTC champions in 2013, Alex Job Racing are strong favourites to run away
with GTD honours, the no. 23 Porsche of V8 Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen,
Cooper MacNeil, Leh Keen, LP Dumoulin and
Shane Lewis having shown impressive pace in
testing. But they won’t have it all their own way; fellow Porsche outfit
Magnus Racing took the spoils at Daytona in 2012 and only lost their chance at
the Rolex GT title when they were involved in an incident in the final round
last season; team owner John Potter and Andy Lally will be looking to make
amends and are joined in the no. 44 by Porsche factory racer Wolf Henzler and
Dumoulin, pulling double-duty in the AJB Porsche.
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| Can Flying Lizard defend their 2013 win? |
After years running Porsches,
Flying Lizard Motorsports switches to Audi for 2014 and will have high hopes
for defending winners Dion von Moltke and Filipe Alburquerque – newly promoted
to Audi’s LMP1 lineup – and Seth Neiman and Allesandro Latif in the no. 35, and
Spencer Pumpelly, Markus Winkelhock, Tim Pappas and Nelson Canache Jr.,
in no. 45. Elsewhere,
the Paul Miller Audi of Bryce Miller and Matt Bell will certainly be a
contender for victory with factory drivers Rene Rast and Christopher Haase on
board, while Fall Line Motorsport’s British axis of James Walker and Oliver
Jarvis – who joined von Moltke and Alburquerque in the winning AJB Audi last
year – should ensure the Charlie Putman and Charles Esplenaub’s regular mount
will be there or there abouts come the finish.
After their surprise victory in the Dubai 24 Hours, Konrad
Racing Porsche trio Christian Engelhart , Klaus Bachler and Rolf Ineichen
will be viewed with a new respect at Daytona, but will do well to receive the
attention reserved for Hollywood actor Patrick Dempsey in the sister no. 27
Dempsey Racing Porsche. Dempsey, who will share with Joe Foster, Andrew Davies
and factory ringer Marc Lieb, finished a credible fourth on his second visit to
Le Mans last year and is no pushover at this level.
In an emotional subplot, following the tragic death of
runaway Porsche Supercup leader Sean Edwards coaching in Australia, the
unchallenged eventual champion Nicki Thiim will share with Edwards’ former
partner Henrique
Cisneros in the NGT Porsche, which could yet spring a surprise with Kuba
Giermaziak and Christina Nielsen completing the lineup.
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| Scott Tucker's Level 5 outfit make the switch to the GT ranks. |
Finally, the no. 94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4 package looks terrific on paper, with DTM star Augusto Farfus joining rapid Team Sahlen-refugee Dane Cameron, experienced BMW hand Markus Paltalla and team regular Paul Dalla Lana, but will be reliant on a performance break for the Bimmer to show its true potential.
The full entry list is available below.
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| A new era of sportscar racing starts on Saturday. |
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