This weekend sees the first big race of the 2021 Endurance Racing season, the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in Florida (30/31 January).
The 49 strong entry includes an impressive list of eleven reigning or past driver champions from the European Le Mans Series.
The no10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 DPi features reigning LMP2 ELMS champion Filipe Albuquerque, the Portuguese driver challenging for the overall victory alongside his American and Brazilian teammates. 2016 ELMS LMP2 champion Harry Tincknell will also be going for that coveted overall victory at Daytona, the British driver competing in the no55 Mazda Motorsports DPi alongside fellow Brit Oliver Jarvis and American Jonathan Bomarito.
The entry list for the LMP2 category at Daytona will feature no less than five ELMS champions and current or former ELMS teams – High Class Racing, Racing Team Nederland, Team Cetilar Racing and DragonSpeed.
Three-time ELMS champion Paul Loup Chatin will be competing in the no18 Era Motorsport Oreca-Gibson. 2016 ELMS LMP2 Champion Giedo Van Der Garde will be joined in the no29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca by 2018 LMP3 Champion and 2020 LMP2 Vice Champion Job Van Uitert.
The no8 Tower Motorsport Oreca-Gibson will feature 2018 LMP3 Champion John Farano alongside WEC and ELMS regulars Gabriel Aubry, Timothe Buret and Matthieu Vaxivière.The no52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca has 2019 LMP3 Champion Mikkel Jensen alongside four time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, Nico Lapierre.
In the LMP3 class, reigning ELMS LMP3 drivers champion Wayne Boyd will be racing at Daytona in the no33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P320-VK.
In GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, 2019 ELMS and 2017 World GTE Drivers Champion Alessandro Pier Guidi will be competing in the no62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F488 GTE.
The GT Daytona (GTD) class includes 2019 ELMS LMGTE Champion Nicklas Nielsen in the no21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3, while the no23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 will be driven by 2016 ELMS LMGTE Champion Darren Turner alongside ELMS and WEC regular Ross Gunn.
In addition to all of these ELMS champions, the entry for the Rolex 24 at Daytona also includes two Michelin Le Mans Cup Champions. The no6 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine 08-VK will be driven by 2019 and 2020 MLMC Drivers Champion Laurents Hörr, while 2016 MLMC GT3 Team Champions TF Sport have entered an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the GTD class.
We would like to wish our champions and other ELMS / MLMC drivers the very best of luck this weekend in Florida.
