Rolex 24 at Daytona set to launch newly merged sports-car series
A new chapter in American sports-car racing opens Saturday with the 52nd running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race.
The 24-hour race at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway is the first of 12 races on the calendar for the newly formed Tudor United SportsCar Championship series.
The series, whose sanctioning body is the International Motor Sports Assn., was created by a merger of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series.
Four classes of cars will compete in the new series, including two divisions of exotic prototype cars and two divisions of GT cars, such as Audis, Ferraris, Porsches, Corvettes and BMWs.
The schedule for the new series includes a race April 12 on the streets of Long Beach, part of a weekend schedule that’s capped by the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, an IndyCar Series race.
Other tracks on the Tudor United SportsCar Championship calendar include Watkins Glen, N.Y.; the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.; and Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
The Rolex 24 starts at 11:10 a.m. PST on Saturday.
The favorites in the prototype class include the two cars of the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team, whose drivers include Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.
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