Eleven Full-Time Teams and a Slew of Big-Name Drivers Will Race This SeasonJanuary 9, 2024By Mark RobinsonIMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A fortuitous confluence of circumstances has made Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) a place to be and a class to watch in the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. A look at the stellar list of teams and all-star driving talent signed up for the Rolex 24 At Daytona and beyond bears that out.LMP2 has grown from seven full-season entries last year to 11 in 2024, with 13 cars set for the Rolex 24 season opener later this month. The influx comes from within and abroad. Two teams – Riley and Sean Creech Motorsport – are moving to LMP2 from the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class that’s no longer part of the WeatherTech Championship. United Autosports, which has dabbled in the WeatherTech Championship in recent years while competing full-time in Europe, has established a U.S. base and will run a two-car full-year effort here following the FIA World Endurance Championship decision to eliminate LMP2 from its full-season roster.Those additions come on top of a stacked roster of returning WeatherTech Championship LMP2 teams that saw a three-way, tooth-and-nail battle to the 2023 championship. But there have been changes within even that trio of teams that makes 2024 prognostications more difficult. The No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 snatched the class crown last season, but both full-season drivers – Ben Keating and Paul-Loup Chatin – have moved to different teams. PR1 Mathiasen has aligned with the Inter Europol team this year and features 2017 Rolex 24 Prototype Challenge class winner Nick Boulle among its lineup.Keating, the versatile Bronze-rated driver who has won at least one race in every IMSA season but one since 2013, has moved into a United Autosports entry and will pair with Ben Hanley, the 2020 Rolex 24 LMP2 winner who along with George Kurtz finished second in the ’23 LMP2 standings in the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA. Kurtz, who still secured the Jim Trueman Award and invite to race an LMP2 in June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, has filled the co-driver opening in the No. 04 with one of the best in the business. Colin Braun is a three-time IMSA class champion and has accumulated 25 victories, including three with Meyer Shank Racing last season in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class.The No. 11 TDS Racing lineup that finished third in points last season returns intact with Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen back for the full season after winning twice in 2023. John Farano, the 2022 LMP2 champion and 2023 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring winner who missed most of last season with an injury, is eager to regain his standing in the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA.  And Chatin, who shared the ’23 driver title with Keating, has joined new team AO Racing where he’ll drive the full season with team principal PJ Hyett in the freshly unveiled No. 99 “Spike the Dragon” ORECA.Era Motorsport returns with the same full-season drivers in Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel, who won the class at the 2021 Rolex 24 together. Following a year away, DragonSpeed – winner of three of the past five Rolex 24 LMP2 races – is back for the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events.Riley and Bronze driver Gar Robinson seek to take the success that saw them capture two LMP3 titles in three seasons and shift it into LMP2. Robinson will be surrounded by familiar and talented co-drivers in Felipe Fraga (full season) and Josh Burdon (Michelin Endurance Cup races).Sean Creech Motorsport also makes the jump from LMP3, retaining Lance Willsey and two-time WeatherTech Championship Daytona Prototype (DP) champion Joao Barbosa for the season. The No. 33 entry will be the only Ligier chassis. Following a December test at Daytona International Speedway, Willsey admitted they’re playing catch-up as they prepare to race amongst a sea of ORECAs with years of LMP2 race data in their toolkit.“I don’t think it’s an insurmountable gap,” Willsey said, “but we certainly have a lot of work to do and a lot of things to figure out. Thankfully, the car ran perfectly (at the test) so we got a lot of run time in and generated a great deal of data. … While there’s still a very large gap we need to close, I’m quite optimistic we’ll close it.”The LMP2 class will boast its share of star power in 2024 as well, starting with the Rolex 24. Riley has signed Felipe Massa, the 11-time Formula 1 race winner, to join Robinson, Fraga and Burdon in the No. 74 ORECA at Daytona. Another former F1 driver, Paul di Resta, will drive the full season in the No. 22 United Autosports ORECA.A trio of IndyCar Series standouts will also race at the Rolex 24. United Autosports co-owner Zak Brown is bringing a pair of his McLaren IndyCar team drivers in Pato O’Ward (in the No. 2 with Keating, Hanley and Nico Pino) and Felix Rosenqvist (in the No. 22 with di Resta, Daniel Goldburg and Bijoy Garg). Scott McLaughlin from Team Penske’s IndyCar outfit rejoins Farano in the No. 8 Tower Motorsports entry in a reunion of the 2023 Sebring winners.There’s also a stash of rising young stars on tap, including reigning VP Racing SportsCar Challenge LMP3 champion Garg, Connor Zilisch, Nolan Siegel, Kyffin Simpson, Pino and James Allen – the latter of which won a drag race to the finish line in last year’s Rolex 24 to capture the LMP2 victory by 0.016 seconds.“It sure looks like LMP2 is going to be stacked with tough competitors,” said Crowdstrike’s Braun, once one of those up-and-comers who’s now targeting his 20th consecutive Rolex 24, “but we are ready for the challenge. IMSA racing is really special, and I look forward to another season.” |
