Get to Know Them All before the Season OpenerJanuary 21, 2022IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The wait is over. The 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season has arrived, beginning with this weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24.The three days of action on the Daytona International Speedway road course include four vitally important test sessions, a qualifying session and the all-important 100-minute race on Sunday that determines the starting order for the 60th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 29-30. A packed field of 61 cars is entered, the most in eight years. To help familiarize you with them all, IMSA.com has compiled a team-by-team capsule list broken down by each class. The first edition today features the prototype classes. On Saturday, we’ll break down the GT classes. Daytona Prototype international (DPi) EntriesCompiled by Jeff Olson No. 01 Cadillac V-Performance AcademyCadillac DPi V.RRenger van der Zande/Sebastien Bourdais/Scott Dixon/ Alex Palou Van der Zande returns to the No. 01 Ganassi Cadillac a year after a heartbreaking end to the 2021 Rolex 24 At Daytona. He was leading when a flat tire forced him to the pits with less than eight minutes remaining in the 24-hour race. This time, van der Zande will team with four-time IndyCar champion Bourdais, six-time IndyCar champion Dixon and reigning IndyCar champion Palou. Bourdais returns to Chip Ganassi Racing, which hired him to drive for its GT Le Mans (GTLM) program from 2016 through 2019, including a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016. Bourdais has driven a Cadillac DPi-V.R the past two seasons for JDC-Miller MotorSports, earning a victory at Sebring last year.Dixon is tied for seventh place all time for Rolex overall wins with three (2006, 2015 and 2020). Dixon also helped Ganassi win the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class at the Rolex in 2018. Van der Zande, a two-time Rolex 24 winner, teamed with Jordan Taylor, Fernando Alonso and Kamui Kobayashi to win the 2019 race for Wayne Taylor Racing. In 2020, he won it with Dixon, Kobayashi and Ryan Briscoe. It will be the first Rolex 24 for Palou. Chip Ganassi Racing has eight Rolex 24 victories, including three in a row in 2006, 2007 and 2008. No. 02 Cadillac AccessoriesCadillac DPi V.REarl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Marcus Ericsson/Kevin Magnussen Chip Ganassi Racing has added a second DPi entry for the Rolex 24 and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for 2022, with veteran racers Bamber and Lynn sharing the fulltime driving duties and former Formula One drivers Ericsson and Magnussen sharing the endurance roles. Lynn is a Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring winner in a Cadillac DPi in 2017 with Wayne Taylor Racing. He was the GP3 Series champion in 2014 and the British Formula Renault champion in 2010 and 2011. Bamber, who co-drove the No. 01 Cadillac in the 2021 season finale, is a two-time overall winner at Le Mans as part of the Porsche LMP1 program. He also won the 2019 WeatherTech Championship GTLM title. Magnussen, the son of former Formula One driver and IMSA great Jan Magnussen, moved from Formula One to IMSA last year. He has 35 top-10 finishes in 119 F1 races. Ericsson, who has 97 F1 starts on his resume and won two IndyCar races last year for CGR, is making his IMSA debut. No. 5 Mustang Sampling/JDC-Miller MotorSportsCadillac DPi V.RTristan Vautier/Richard Westbrook/Loic Duval/Ben Keating Minnesota-based JDC-Miller MotorSports returns to the Rolex 24 with Westbrook joining returning driver Vautier as full-season drivers and Duval and Keating joining in endurance roles. The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac recorded two podium finishes in 2021, including a victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts. “It’s great to have Loic and Tristan back for 2022, and we welcome Richard and Ben to the program,” said John Church, managing partner of JDC-Miller MotorSports. “2021 was a challenging year for us. We were super competitive at Daytona until we had contact, then we bounced back and won the race at Sebring. But after that we got a little unlucky at several of the races. We know we had the speed but just never got the results.” Vautier, who joined JDC-Miller in 2018, has five IMSA podiums to his credit, including last year’s Sebring triumph. Westbrook won the GTLM class at the Rolex 24 in 2018 in a Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT with Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe. Keating is IMSA’s reigning Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) champion and will also be driving in that class in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports entry. No. 10 Konica Minolta/Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05Ricky Taylor/Filipe Albuquerque/Alexander Rossi/Will Stevens The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 claimed the class and overall Rolex 24 victory a year ago, and three of its drivers –Albuquerque, Taylor and Rossi – are back along with newcomer Stevens. Taylor, son of team owner Wayne Taylor, returned to the No. 10 team last year after a three-year run with Acura Team Penske. Ricky Taylor’s WeatherTech Championship résumé includes 27 victories, 23 pole positions and 64 podium finishes, including wins at IMSA’s marquee endurance events – the Rolex 24, Twelve Hours of Sebring, Six Hours of the Glen and Motul Petit Le Mans. Albuquerque, a multiple race winner last year in the FIA World Endurance Championship, is the 2020 European Le Mans Series champion and LMP2 WEC champion. He helped WTR win three WeatherTech Championship races in 2021, including the Rolex 24 and a runner-up in a championship battle that came down to the final turn of the final lap in Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in November. Rossi, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner, helped WTR claim the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup in his role as the team’s parttime endurance specialist. Stevens, Rossi’s former teammate in Formula One, is an F1 test driver for McLaren and a standout in the WEC and ELMS. WTR has won the past three consecutive Rolex 24s and four of the past five. The team’s Rolex history includes 12 top-five finishes and nine podium finishes. No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Action Express RacingCadillac DPi-V.RPipo Derani/Tristan Nunez/Mike Conway After Derani and Felipe Nasr teamed to win the WeatherTech Championship DPi championship with the Whelen Engineering car in November, Nasr moved on to Team Penske’s new entry in the FIA World Endurance Championship as well as an endurance driving role with Pfaff Motorsports’ GTD PRO class Porsche in the WeatherTech Championship. He will be replaced in the No. 31 by Nunez, with Conway returning to his role as the team’s endurance specialist. Derani, the only Brazilian driver to win the Rolex 24 and Twelve Hours of Sebring in the same season (2016), has 11 victories during his eight IMSA seasons. The 2021 DPi championship was Action Express’ fourth since 2014. It also has six Michelin Endurance Cup championships. A former Mazda factory driver, Nunez joined WIN Autosport last season, claiming the LMP2 victory in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. In 2020, he helped Mazda take the overall and DPi class victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Conway, a veteran of British Formula 3, GP2 and IndyCar, helped Toyota Gazoo Racing win titles in WEC in 2020 and 2021. He also won the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans with co-drivers Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi, who also are in this year’s Rolex 24 field. No. 48 Ally/Action Express RacingCadillac DPi-V.RMike Rockenfeller/Kamui Kobayashi/Jimmie Johnson/Jose Maria Lopez Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Johnson will share the duties with two-time Rolex 24 winner Kobayashi, former Corvette Racing and Audi prototype driver Rockenfeller, and Lopez, who has won WEC titles the past two seasons. Kobayashi and Lopez also combined to win last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with teammate Mike Conway. For the second straight year, the No. 48 Cadillac will compete in the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds of the WeatherTech Championship schedule. Johnson also is competing in the IndyCar Series with Chip Ganassi Racing this season. He won 83 NASCAR races, including two Daytona 500s, during his 20-year career. Kobayashi’s career includes 76 F1 starts, the LMP1 victory in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the WEC championship. Rockenfeller is an Audi factory driver competing in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM). He has two class wins at Le Mans. “The Rolex 24 At Daytona is one of the marquee races in the world,” Johnson said last year before his first attempt at the race. “It’s such a challenging event for both team and driver and requires such a high level of concentration throughout. It’s just such a fun and unique race to compete in.” No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-05Oliver Jarvis/Tom Blomqvist/Helio Castroneves/Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing revamped its Rolex 24 lineup for its 19th season in the WeatherTech Championship with a return to the series’ top class. Jarvis and Blomqvist share the fulltime duties, while IndyCar drivers Castroneves and Pagenaud take over the endurance roles. Jarvis moves from his position with Mazda’s now-defunct DPi program to the Meyer Shank Acura. He has three LMP1 podium finishes at Le Mans and claimed the LMP2 class victory there in 2017. Jarvis has been a fulltime participant in DPi since 2018 and helped Mazda win its farewell to the class at Motul Petit Le Mans in November. Blomqvist, who was added to the MSR lineup in November, has experience in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMP2 class, with a victory in the 2018 24 Hours of Spa to his credit. He previously raced in the WeatherTech Championship as part of the BMW Team RLL program. Castroneves and Pagenaud were longtime teammates in Team Penske’s IndyCar program, and both continue there this season with Meyer Shank. Castroneves won the Indy 500 last May, the record-tying fourth of his career. Pagenaud won the Indy 500 in 2019 and was the 2016 IndyCar Series champion. Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) EntriesCompiled by Mark Robinson No. 8 Tower MotorsportORECA LMP2 07John Farano/Louis Delatraz/Rui Andrade/Ferdinand Habsburg Tower Motorsport, winner of the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class the past two years at the Motul Petit Le Mans, is back for a third season of competition in the WeatherTech Championship. Team principal Farano, part of both Petit Le Mans wins who finished third in the 2021 LMP2 standings, returns as a fulltime driver in the No. 8 ORECA LMP2 07. Delatraz, the 2021 LMP2 champion in the European Le Mans Series, will drive the entire season with Farano, beginning with the Rolex 24. Andrade, the 2021 ELMS ProAm champion, will join them for the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races, with Habsburg the fourth driver for the Rolex 24. The No. 8 ORECA finished second in last year’s Rolex 24, with Farano the only returning driver from that lineup. No. 11 PR1 Mathiasen MotorsportsORECA LMP2 07Steven Thomas/Jonathan Bomarito/Josh Pierson/Harry Tincknell The No. 11 ORECA will be co-driven by Thomas and Bomarito for the full season, with American teenager Pierson expected for the endurance races. Tincknell rounds out the No. 11’s lineup for the Rolex 24. Thomas finished second in last year’s LMP2 championship driving for WIN Autosport, with a win at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and three other podium finishes. Bomarito was the endurance driver for Mazda Motorsports in the DPi class, helping the No. 55 post victories at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and the Motul Petit Le Mans in the final season for the Mazda program. Pierson will make his WeatherTech Championship debut in the Rolex 24 after spending the past two years in junior open-wheel series. Tincknell, a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, finished third in the DPi standings driving the full season in the No. 55 Mazda. No. 18 Era MotorsportORECA LMP2 07Dwight Merriman/Ryan Dalziel/Kyle Tilley/Paul-Loup Chatin Era Motorsport is back to defend its 2021 Rolex 24 win with the exact same driver lineup. The No. 18 also won at Road America last year on its way to third place in the LMP2 championship. Merriman and Dalziel will be the full-season drivers, while team owner Tilley will serve as the endurance driver in the four IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races and Chatin returns for the 60th running of the Rolex 24 in January. Dalziel has been an IMSA driver since 2005 and boasts 12 career wins, including a Rolex 24 At Daytona overall victory in 2010. “Our third season in IMSA promises to be one of our biggest challenges yet,” Tilley said. “With an influx of teams to IMSA LMP2 competition, the level has certainly been raised.” No. 20 High Class RacingORECA LMP2 07Dennis Andersen/Anders Fjordbach/Fabio Scherer/Nico Mueller After making its WeatherTech Championship debut in only the Rolex 24 last year, the Danish team is in for the entire 2022 season in LMP2. Fjordbach and Andersen will be the full-season drivers and were part of the Rolex 24 effort that finished ninth in class last year and included ex-Formula One driver Robert Kubica. Fjordbach was the 2019 LMP2 runner-up in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts when he drove for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. Scherer had two wins in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 last year. Mueller drove in Formula E in 2019 and ’20, and also has years of touring car and GT experience. No. 22 United AutosportsORECA LMP2 07James McGuire/Guy Smith/Phil Hanson/Will Owen After competing in the final three Michelin Endurance Cup races last season, United Autosports is in for all four in 2022. McGuire and Smith return from a season ago when their best finish was third at Watkins Glen. Hanson, who last drove in the WeatherTech Championship in 2018 in a United Autosports LMP2, is back for the full endurance slate. Owen, who drove a Juncos Racing DPi for eight races in 2019, joins for the Rolex 24. No. 29 Racing Team NederlandORECA LMP2 07Fritz van Eerd/Giedo van der Garde/Dylan Murry/Rinus VeeKay After capturing the LMP2 ProAm title in the WEC last year, the Dutch team is prepared to tackle the Michelin Endurance Cup races in the WeatherTech Championship in ’22. The team made its IMSA debut in last year’s Rolex 24, finishing eighth in class. Van Eerd and van der Garde return from that effort and are joined by IndyCar driver and fellow Dutchman Rinus VeeKay. Rising American driver Dylan Murry rounds out the roster. No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen MotorsportsORECA LMP2 07Ben Keating/Mikkel Jensen/Scott Huffaker/Nicolas Lapierre The three-time reigning LMP2 champions return their lineup intact for the Rolex 24, one of the few races that slipped away in 2021. The No. 52 ORECA retired early seventh in class at the Rolex 24 but went on to win three other races and take home both the season and Michelin Endurance Cup crowns. Keating, Jensen and Huffaker will drive the car in this year’s endurance events, but a different lineup will be used for the two sprint races. Last year’s championship was the first for the 50-year-old Keating, an IMSA regular since 2013 with 16 career wins. One of those victories came in the 2015 Rolex 24 in the GT Daytona (GTD) class. No. 68 G-Drive Racing by APRORECA LMP2 07Rene Rast/Ed Jones/Francois Heriau/Oliver Rasmussen The successful European LMP2 team is making its Rolex 24 debut with a two-car effort. Two-time Rolex 24 winner Rene Rast (GT in 2012, GTD in 2016) heads the lineup for the No. 68 ORECA. IndyCar driver Ed Jones, who made his Rolex 24 debut a year ago in GTD, will make his first prototype start alongside Rast. Heriau has driven prototypes since 2016 in the Le Mans series in both Europe and Asia, winning the Gulf 12 Hours in 2017 in a Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3). Rasmussen, 21, is making his sports car debut. No. 69 G-Drive Racing by APRORECA LMP2 07John Falb/James Allen/Luca Ghiotto/Tijmen van der Helm Falb is racing in the WeatherTech Championship for the first time since 2018. He was part of the winning Prototype Challenge team at the 2017 Motul Petit Le Mans. Allen returns to the Rolex 24 for the first time since 2019, when he finished third in LMP2 with DragonSpeed. Ghiotto comes from a mainly open-wheel background and is making his WeatherTech Championship debut. Van der Helm, who turns 18 on Jan. 26, is also making his series debut but did drive an LMP3 in two Michelin Le Mans Series races last year. No. 81 DragonSpeed USAORECA LMP2 07Colton Herta/Pato O’Ward/Eric Lux/Devlin DeFrancesco This one-off effort features a trio of young IndyCar drivers in Herta, O’Ward and DeFrancesco, as DragonSpeed will feature an entirely different driver lineup for the remainder of the season. A six-time race winner in the IndyCar Series, Herta also was victorious in his first WeatherTech Championship race – the 2019 Rolex 24 when he was part of the BMW Team RLL entry that won the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. O’Ward was also a winner his first time out at the Rolex 24, in the Prototype Challenge class in 2017 when he won seven of eight races. The two have been teammates and rivals since their days in Indy Lights. DeFrancesco will be Herta’s IndyCar teammate at Andretti Autosport this year for his rookie season. The Canadian also has four previous WeatherTech Championship starts, all in prototypes, including a third-place LMP2 finish in last year’s Rolex 24 with DragonSpeed. Herta, O’Ward and DeFrancesco are all 22 or younger. Lux is the veteran of the group, at age 33, driving in his first IMSA race when his three teammates were 5 or younger. Lux has six career wins and was the 2011 Prototype Challenge season champion. Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) EntriesCompiled by Godwin Kelly No. 6 Muehlner Motorsports AmericaDuqueine D08Moritz Kranz/Ayrton Ori/Joel Miller This team is based in DeLand, Florida, just a 30-minute drive west of Daytona International Speedway. MMA has 40 years of experience in motorsports worldwide, including the participation in 42 24-hour races. Kranz made his WeatherTech Championship debut last year with MMA, finishing third in LMP3 at the Rolex 24. He also finished second in the IMSA Prototype Challenge standings with three wins in the LMP3 development series. Ori made his LMP3 debut in last year’s Rolex 24 with Performance Tech Motorsports. He has a formula race car background. This year’s Rolex 24 will be Miller’s first start at Daytona since 2018. No. 7 Forty7 MotorsportsDuqueine D08Mark Kvamme/Austin McCusker/Trenton Estep Garrett Kletjian owns the team, which is headquartered in Millville, New Jersey. Kvamme has made at least one IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start in the last eight years. The 60-year-old driver has scored three podiums, including a career-high second-place run in 2017 at Road America, in 24 starts. He also won the 2021 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America LB Cup championship with co-driver Terry Olson. McCusker, 24, made his first Rolex 24 start last year while Estep — who won the 2019 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama title — will be making his third consecutive start in the twice-around-the-clock endurance race. No. 13 AWADuqueine D08Orey Fidani/Kuno Wittmer/Lars Kern/Matthew Bell This team got to know the ways of IMSA by running in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge in 2021 and is now making the jump into WeatherTech Championship LMP3. “It’s great to stay in IMSA and be with AWA,” Kern said on the team’s Facebook page. “The team did a tremendous job in the Michelin Pilot Challenge, and it will be exciting to see their transition to the WeatherTech Championship.” Wittmer finished fifth in the Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) standings last year with a pair of wins with AWA. He was the 2014 WeatherTech Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) champion. Fidani, who won the 2020 Canadian Touring Car Championship/GT Sport Class, made nine starts in last year’s Michelin Pilot Challenge, scoring a win with AWA and Wittmer at Daytona. Bell drove in three LMP2 races last season. No. 26 Muehlner Motorsports AmericaDuqueine D08Cameron Shields/C.R. Crews/Ugo de Wilde The second MMA entry features the young Australian, Shields, making his WeatherTech Championship debut after spending the past three years in the IndyCar junior ranks. Crews has been making LMP3 starts in Europe and Asia the past two years, as well as one IMSA Prototype Challenge start last season. This will be his first Rolex 24 since 2008. De Wilde, the 19-year-old German, has also competed in LMP3 races around the world, with 17 career wins in various series. He drove for MMA in the final two Prototype Challenge races last year, collecting a win at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. No. 33 Sean Creech MotorsportLigier JS P320Joao Barbosa/Seb Priaulx/Lance Willsey/Malthe Jakobsen The team returns to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship action in 2022 for a full-season campaign and will be led by four-time Rolex 24 winner Joao Barbosa, who will be joined by Dr. Lance Willsey for the full season. Willsey will be making his 12th Rolex 24 start. He scored his first podium finish in last year’s race, when the No. 33 finished second. Jakobsen, 18, and Priaulx, 20, are set to make their Rolex 24 debuts. Priaulx was champion of the inaugural season of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America in 2021. “The team did such a good job last year, so I think there’s huge potential for this year,” said Barbosa, who is set for his 20th Rolex 24 start. “We finished second last year and we want to do as good or better. With Malthe and Sebastian, it’s a young and strong team to face the challenge of the LMP3 class.” No. 36 Andretti AutosportLigier JS P320Jarett Andretti/Josh Burdon/Rasmus Lindh/Gabby Chaves After starting the 2021 season in the IMSA Prototype Challenge, the No. 36 moved up to the WeatherTech Championship in the third race of the season and finished fifth in the championship. Andretti, son of the late John Andretti who was the 1989 Rolex 24 overall winner, is in charge of this program. Jarett has driven a multitude of cars over the years, including midgets, sprints and GT cars before turning to LMP3 last year. Chaves was the 2020 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge co-champion in the Touring Car (TCR) class. Lindh finished fifth in the 2021 LMP3 standings on the strength of two runner-up finishes. Burdon, who has raced in NASCAR’s Whelen Euro Series, joined the team for the 2021 season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. No. 38 Performance Tech MotorsportsLigier JS P320Dan Goldburg/Hikaru Abe/Garett Grist This team is based in Deerfield Beach, Florida and heading into its second year of LMP3 competition.Goldburg, 43, enjoyed sitting on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP3 pole position at Sebring and Road America in 2021. While he didn’t nab a win, he did score second-place LMP3 finishes for Performance Tech at Mid-Ohio and Road America. Abe is a 34-year-old driver from Japan who came up through the formula car ranks. Grist has five WeatherTech Championship starts and scored a victory in the 2017 Motul Petit Le Mans in the Prototype Challenge class. No. 54 CORE autosportLigier JS P320Jon Bennett/Colin Braun/George Kurtz/Nic Jonsson CORE autosport returns to the WeatherTech Championship for 2022 and continues its quest for the LMP3 title. Bennett and Braun will team up for the full season with Kurtz back to aid in the Michelin Endurance Cup races. Jonsson will be the fourth driver at the Rolex 24. In 2021, the team won races at Sebring and Road America and came up just short of winning the class championship. This will be Bennett and Braun’s 10th year of IMSA competition as teammates. Together, they have won 17 races. Kurtz returns for his second year with CORE and was part of the Twelve Hours of Sebring winning effort. No. 74 Riley MotorsportsLigier JS P320Gar Robinson/Felipe Fraga/Kay van Berlo/Michael Cooper This team and Robinson made history by winning the LMP3 championship last year in the first year of WeatherTech Championship competition for the class. It started with a victory in the Rolex 24 and included four more wins along the way. Robinson co-drove the Ligier to all five victories last season. Fraga was onboard with Robinson for the four victories after the Rolex 24. They will be joined for this year’s Rolex 24 by two new faces – van Berlo, who finished second in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America championship, and Cooper, who scored back-to-back (2019-20) championships in the Pirelli GT4 America Sprint. |
