2019 Daytona 24 Hours entry list: 47 crews for 57th edition
Forty-seven cars will race at the 57th edition of Daytona 24 Hours, the greatest North American sports car endurance race that was established at Daytona International Speedway back in 1962 and it was held in the 24-hour format for the first time in 1966.
This year, between January 24 and January 27, the race is again the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, in a year when IMSA is celebrating its 50th anniversary, but it also attracts many drivers from all over the world who are not regulars in the IMSA Championship.
IMSA is celebrating its 50th anniversary
The greatest names among them are definitely last year’s Le Mans 24h winner and two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso and his Toyota teammate Kamui Kobayashi, who is the fastest man ever at the famous Le Mans circuit. Alonso and Kobayashi will join Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande in the #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi of Wayne Taylor Racing.
That car would be just one of eleven entries in the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) class, next to five more Cadillacs and five cars of Japanese brands – Mazda (two), Acura (two) and Nissan (one). According to new rules for 2019, DPi cars were divided from LMP2 cars that were represented by four entries. The GT grid is much bigger, with nine GTE cars in GTLM class and twenty-three GT3 entries in GTD class.
Fifteen prototypes and 32 GT cars will race at Daytona this weekend
All the winners from last year are again on the entry list. Last year’s overall winners Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi will share the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac again, with a help of fourth co-driver Mike Conway, who finished second in 2018.
In GTLM class, Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Scott Dixon will try to defend their last year’s win in the #67 Ford GT of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, fighting against the field of eight more GTE cars from five brands.
#67 Ford GT – could it win one more time?
The biggest fight is to expect in GTD class because of the most cars on the grid. GRT Grasser Racing Team took the GTD class victory in 2018 with the #11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The same car is again on the grid with three of four drivers from last year’s victorious race – Mirko Bortolotti, Rolf Ineichen and Rik Breukers. The fourth driver would be experienced Christian Engelhart.
Eight manufacturers are represented in GTD class, with more than 90 drivers listed. The crew which we will cheer up is the all-female crew in the #57 Acura NSX GT3, featuring Katherine Legge, Ana Beatriz, Simona de Silvestro and Christina Nielsen as drivers.
Four female racers will drive the #57 Acura NSX GT3
2019 Daytona 24 Hours entry list
| Class | Number | Team | Car | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DPi (Daytona Prototype International) | 5 | Action Express Racing/Mustang Sampling Racing | Cadillac DPi-V.R | Joao Barbosa, Mike Conway, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque |
| 6 | Acura Team Penske | Acura ARX-05 | Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron, Simon Pagenaud | |
| 7 | Acura Team Penske | Acura ARX-05 | Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves, Alexander Rossi | |
| 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing/Konica Minolta | Cadillac DPi-V.R | Jordan Taylor, Renger van der Zande, Fernando Alonso, Kamui Kobayashi | |
| 31 | Action Express Racing/Whelen Engineering Racing | Cadillac DPi-V.R | Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran, Pipo Derani | |
| 50 | Juncos Racing | Cadillac DPi-V.R | Will Owen, Rene Binder, Kyle Kaiser, Agustin Canapino | |
| 54 | CORE Autosport | Nissan Onroak DPi | Jon Bennett, Colin Braun, Roman Dumas, Loic Duval | |
| 55 | Mazda Team Joest | Mazda RT24-P | Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell, Olivier Pla | |
| 77 | Mazda Team Joest | Mazda RT24-P | Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez, Rene Rast, Timo Bernhard | |
| 84 | JDC-Miller Motorsports | Cadillac DPi-V.R | Stephen Simpson, Chris Miller, Simon Trummer, Juan Piedrahita | |
| 85 | JDC-Miller Motorsports | Cadillac DPi-V.R | Misha Goikhberg, Tristan Vautier, Delvin DeFrancesco, Rubens Barrichello | |
| LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype 2) | 18 | DragonSpeed | Oreca LMP2 | Roberto Gonzalez, Pastor Maldonado, Sebastian Saavedram Ryan Cullen |
| 38 | Performance Tech Motorsports | Oreca LMP2 | Kyle Masson, Robert Masson, Cameron Cassels, Kris Wright | |
| 52 | PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports | Oreca LMP2 | Matt McMurry, Gabriel Aubry, Mark Kvamme, Enzo Guibbert | |
| 81 | DragonSpeed | Oreca LMP2 | Henrik Hedman, Ben Hanley, Nicolas Lapierre, James Allen | |
| GTLM (GT Le Mans) | 3 | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia, Mike Rockenfeller |
| 4 | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Marcel Fassler | |
| 24 | BMW Team RLL | BMW M8 GTE | Jesse Krohn, John Edwards, Chaz Mostert, Alex Zanardi | |
| 25 | BMW Team RLL | BMW M8 GTE | Tom Blomqvist, Connor de Philippi, Philipp Eng, Colton Herta | |
| 62 | Risi Competizione | Ferrari 488 GTE | Davide Rigon, Miguel Molina, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado | |
| 66 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Ford GT | Joey Hand, Dirk Muller, Sebastien Bourdais | |
| 67 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Ford GT | Richard Westbrook, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon | |
| 911 | Porsche GT Team | Porsche 911 RSR | Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy, Frederic Makowiecki | |
| 912 | Porsche GT Team | Porsche 911 RSR | Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor, Mathieu Jaminet | |
| GTD (GT Daytona) | 8 | Starworks Motorsport | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Parker Chase, Ryan Dalziel, Ezequiel Perez Compans, Christopher Haase |
| 9 | Pfaff Motorsports | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Scott Hargrove, Zacharie Robichon, Lars Kern, Dennis Olsen | |
| 11 | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart, Rolf Ineichen, Rik Breukers | |
| 12 | AIM Vasser Sullivan | Lexus RC F GT3 | Frank Montecalvo, Townsend Bell, Aaron Telitz, Jeff Segal | |
| 13 | Via Italia Racing | Ferrari 488 GT3 | Chico Longo, Victor Franzoni, Marcos Gomes, Andrea Bertolini | |
| 14 | AIM Vasser Sullivan | Lexus RC F GT3 | Richard Heistand, Jack Hawksworth, Austin Cindric, Nick Cassidy | |
| 19 | Moorespeed | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Andrew Davis, Alex Riberas, Markus Winkelhock, Will Hardeman | |
| 29 | Montaplast by Land Motorsport | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Christopher Mies, Dries Vanthoor, Daniel Morad | |
| 33 | Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Luca Stolz, Felipe Fraga | |
| 44 | Magnus Racing | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, Marco Mapelli | |
| 46 | Ebimotors | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Fabio Babini, Emanuele Busnelli | |
| 47 | Precision Performanse Motorsports | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Steve Dunn, Linus Lundqvist, Miloš Pavlović, Don Yount | |
| 48 | Paul Miller Racing | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Bryan Sellers, Ryan Hardwick, Corey Lewis, Andrea Caldarelli | |
| 51 | Spirit of Race | Ferrari 488 GT3 | Paul dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda, Daniel Serra | |
| 57 | Heinricher Racing/Meyer Shank Racing | Acura NSX GT3 | Katherine Legge, Ana Beatriz, Simona de Silvestro, Christina Nielsen | |
| 63 | Scuderia Corsa | Ferrari 488 GT3 | Cooper MacNeil, Toni Vilander, Dominik Farnbacher, Jeff Westphal | |
| 71 | P1 Motorsports | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Maxi Buhk, Fabian Schiller, Dominik Baumann, JC Perez | |
| 73 | Park Place Motorsports | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Patrick Lindsey, Patrick Long, Matt Campbell, Nicolas Boulle | |
| 86 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Acura NSX GT3 | Mario Farnbacher, Trent Hindman, Justin Marks, AJ Allmendinger | |
| 88 | WRT Speedstar Audi Sport | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Frederic Vervisch, Kelvin van der Linde, Ian James, Roman DeAngelis | |
| 96 | Turner Motorsport | BMW M6 GT3 | Bill Auberlen, Robby Foley, Dillon Machavern, Jens Klingmann | |
| 99 | NGT Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Jurgen Haring, Klaus Bachler, Sven Muller, Steffen Gorig, Alfred Renauer | |
| 540 | Black Swan Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Timothy Pappas, Marco Seefried, Matteo Cairoli, Dirk Werner |
Photos: IMSA,
