61 cars have been entered into the Rolex at Daytona, the largest entry grid since the 2014 edition.
The field is split into five classes. Seven cars have been entered into DPi, ten into LMP2, nine into LMP3, thirteen into the new-for-2022 GTD Pro class and an impressive 22 cars set to hit the track in GTD.
“The racing world turns its eyes to the Rolex 24 every year since it typically kicks off the season for everyone in the industry and draws such an immense amount of international driver and team talent together,” IMSA President John Doonan said.
“That’s even truer in 2022 with more cars on the grid than we’ve seen at Daytona in the last eight years. It shows that the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and sports car racing around the world continues to grow and thrive.”
“We’re very excited for what should be a memorable 60th Rolex 24 At Daytona and the season ahead.”
DPi consists of five Cadillacs (two from Action Express, two from Chip Ganassi Racing and one from JDC-Miller Motorsports) and two Acuras from Meyer Shank Racing and three-time defending champions Wayne Taylor Racing.
LMP2 has seen the number of entries from the 2021 edition (ten) retained. A significant number of teams make the journey across the Atlantic from Europe. These include High Class Racing, United Autosports, Racing Team Nederland (one car each) and G-Drive Racing by APR (two cars).
They join single-car efforts from championship regulars Tower Motorsport, DragonSpeed and Era Motorsport and the previously announced two-car entry from 2021 LMP2 champions PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.
The LMP3 grid grows from six cars in 2021 to nine cars in 2022. The #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 is back to defend its crown with Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Kay van Berlo and Michael Cooper. Riley’s #91 car, which contested the full season last year, is not on the list.
The same goes for JR III Racing, which had previously announced an intention to compete in the event, but is also not on the entry list.
Most of the protagonists from last year’s LMP3 race make a return to the grid this month. These include Muehlner Motorsports, Forty7 Motorsports, Sean Creecn Motorsport, Performance Tech Motorsports and CORE Autosport.
Andretti Autosports also makes a return, with Jarett Andretti and Josh Burdon joined by Rasmus Lindh and former IndyCar driver Gabby Chaves.
AWA is a new addition to the grid with its Duqueine D08, piloted by Orey Fidani, former BMW GTLM driver Kuno Wittmer, Porsche specialist Lars Kern and Matt Bell.
GTD Pro has attracted a strong, thirteen-car field for its class debut. Eight manufacturers are represented: Porsche, Corvette, Lexus, Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Mercedes-AMG.
While all of the entries in the class had their line-ups confirmed beforehand, the entry list does confirm that the second WeatherTech-backed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for Dirk Mueller, Patrick Assenheimer and Austin Cindric will be operated under the Proton USA banner.
Finally, GTD features by far the biggest number of cars at 22 – three more than in 2021.
Like with most of the other classes, the vast majorities of entries and line-ups have been confirmed prior to the entry list’s release.
A previously unannounced addition is that of the #34 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R for Kyle Washington, James Sofronas, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Klaus Bachler.
A few teams have had their full line-ups confirmed. Sandy Mitchell and Corey Lewis complete the line-up for the #39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Lamborghini, while Spencer Pumpelly and Jonny Adam join the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
The #98 NorthWest AMR Aston Martin will see David Pittard, Nicki Thiim and Charlie Eastwood team up with Paul Dalla Lana.
Misha Goikhberg, previously confirmed aboard the #71 T3 Motorsports Lamborghini, has fallen off the entry list. A number of other drivers, although previously confirmed by their teams, remains listed as ‘TBD’ on the entry list.
The full entry list can be found by clicking here.
