24h Le Mans
As many as five past winners at the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take the start of the 54th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, which will serve as the kickoff for the 2016 season of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, new name of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, this coming weekend.
Though the presence of Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy, official Porsche drivers, makes sense, that of Marcel Fässler, Mike Rockenfeller and Alexander Wurz may be a bit of a surprise. Indeed, the first two - who along with Nico Hülkenberg helped Porsche beat its own win-record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year - will race in the GTLM class like last year in the American championship. The trio only competed at the 6 Hours of Spa and Le Mans in the head class, the only races in which the German manufacturer had entered a third 919 Hybrid.
Racing in GT, the New Zealander and the Brit have only a slim chance to win overall at Daytona. Though the latter achieved the exploit of winning in a GT at Petit Le Mans last year, he was greatly helped by abysmal weather conditions that were unfavourable to prototypes. An identical situation for Marcel Fässler, three-time winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Audi, and for Mike Rockenfeller, victorious in 2010 with Audi, who will race as the third drivers with the official Corvette Racing team. Though it will be a first for the German, it's a homecoming for the Swiss driver who reached the second step on the podium in the class with the American outfit at the 2009 12 Hours of Sebring.
Alexander Wurz, two-time winner at Le Mans, is therefore the only representative of the former winners to be a contender for overall victory in the Corvette DP of Chip Ganassi Racing. A win in Florida would allow the Austrian, who retired from competition at the end of last season. to add the Rolex 24 at Dayton to his record after Le Mans, Petit Le Mans and Sebring.
Around 20 past class winners at Le Mans will take the start at Daytona, including Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor, winners in the LM GTE Pro class last year with Corvette Racing.
The start of the Rolex 24 at Daytona will be given Saturday, January 30th at 2:40 p.m. (7:40 p.m. in the U.K.).
Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), PLACE DE LA REPUBLIQUE, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SUNDAY JUNE 7 2015, SCRUTINEERING. Marcel Fässler, an Audi driver at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will take the start of the Rolex 24 at Daytona in an official Corvette C7.R.
