It’s been a long off-season, but we’re finally back to racing! This past weekend was the star-studded Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona featuring premier sports car racing, and, boy, was it a doozy. Perfect weather in Daytona Beach, Fla., provided spectacular racing conditions for IMSA drivers and teams.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Highlights

• Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Cadillac DPi’s team looks a little different this year. With Fernando Alonso not returning for 2020 and Wayne’s son Jordan Taylor moving to Corvette Racing, WTR had to add a little star power. NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ reigning Champion, Scott Dixon, joined the team alongside Ryan Briscoe and were able to capture the overall win - WTR’s second-straight and its fourth time overall.
• Winners in each class were as follows: 
• DPi - No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R
• Drivers: Briscoe, Dixon, Kamui Kobayashi and Renger van der Zande
• LMP2 - No. 81 DragonSpeedUSA ORECA LMP2 07
• Drivers: Colin Braun, Ben Hanley, Henrik Hedman and Harrison Newey
• GTLM - No. 24 BMW Team RLL M8 GTE
• Drivers: John Edwards, Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Chaz Mostert
• GTD - No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3
• Drivers: Andrea Caldarelli, Corey Lewis, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow
• In a remarkable feat, the Team Penske No. 7 Acura DPi finished 8th overall after crashing not once but twice, 22 laps behind the No.10 entry. Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor were joined by Alexander Rossi this year. 
• Also, in the top DPi class, Sebastien Bourdais joined the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing/JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R and placed 3rd; Simon Pagenaud piloted Team Penske’s No. 6 Acura DPi along with Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya, last year’s Acura Sports Car Challenge winners at Mid-Ohio, finishing 4th, while Ryan Hunter-Reay returned to the No. 55 Mazda Team Joest Mazda RT-24P ending in 7th place. 
• Reigning NASCAR Cup Champion Kyle Busch joined the No.14 Lexus RC F GT3 entry placing 9th in the GTD class after 24 hours.

Michelin Pilot Challenge Highlights

• The No. 35 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 started the season off right with a big win at Daytona. Drivers Jeroen Bleekemolen, Jim Cox and Dylan Murry were able to keep the two Winward Racing cars at bay by 1.193 seconds to take the top of the podium in the 110-lap race.
• In TCR, the No. 61 Audi RS3 LMS of Road Shagger Racing got an early lead on the rest of the class to kick off the 2020 season standings. Drivers Gavin Ernstone and Jonathan Morley worked their way up through the field from the 11th spot on the grid to take the win under yellow flag conditions.
• Other notable drivers, ARCA rising star and 18-year-old Hailie Deegan made her debut at Daytona alongside Chase Briscoe. The No. 22 Ford Mustang GT4 of Multimatic Motorsports ran into mechanical issues. Austin Cindric and Seb Priaulx piloted the team’s No. 15 sister car as the two driver tandems finished in 29th and 30th, respectively, in the GS class. 

Next Up

NASCAR Cup Series:  Busch Class at Daytona - February 9

NASCAR Xfinity Series: NASCAR Racing Experience 300 - February 15

NTT INDYCAR SERIES: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - March 13-15

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring - March 18-21