Over the years, the 24 Hours of Daytona has become one of the highlights of the endurance racing calendar. Before the 24-hour format was introduced in 1966, however, endurance races at Daytona International Speedway were contested over three hours (1962, ’63), and then 2000 kilometres (1964, ’65). Three Le Mans winners tasted victory during this period: Dan Gurney (1962), Pedro Rodriguez (1963, ’64) and Phil Hill (also in 1964). In 1972, Daytona staged a six-hour race which saw six-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx claim victory with Mario Andretti in a Ferrari.

Twenty-one drivers have triumphed in the 24 Hours of both Le Mans and Daytona: Chris Amon, Mauro Baldi, Lorenzo Bandini, Derek Bell, Timo Bernhard, Christophe Bouchut, Martin Brundle, AJ Foyt, Hurley Haywood, Hans Herrmann, Al Holbert, Davy Jones, Jan Lammers, John Nielsen, Jackie Oliver, Henri Pescarolo, Pedro Rodriguez, Mike Rockenfeller, Andy Wallace, Marco Werner and John Winter.

In 1967, the first former Le Mans winners to add the 24 Hours of Daytona title to their list of achievements were Italian Lorenzo Bandini and Chris Amon of New Zealand. Bandini and Amon, who had respectively triumphed in the French marathon in 1963 and 1966, spearheaded a remarkable 1-2-3 for Ferrari in Daytona. A noteworthy fact is that Davy Jones, who drove a Jaguar to Daytona glory in 1990, is also the last American to win Le Mans outright. That was in 1996 when he partnered Manuel Reuter of Germany and Austrian Alexander Wurz in a TWR-Porsche.

Only four of the 21 drivers managed to win both races the same year: Haywood (1977), Bell and Holbert (1986 and ’87), and Rockenfeller (2010). Haywood is joint-holder of the record number of Daytona victories (five) with fellow American Scott Pruett and, in 13 Le Mans appearances between 1977 and 1994, boasts three successes spread over three different decades: 1977, 1983 and 1994. In 2010, a few months after his Florida triumph, Rockenfeller chalked up a new distance record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (5410 kilometres at an average speed of 225 kph) with fellow German Timo Bernhard and Frenchman Romain Dumas.

While Pescarolo and Bouchut remain the only French drivers to win both twice-round-the-clock races outright, Frank Fréon and Le Mans-born Sébastien Bourdais have recorded class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (in LMP2 for Fréon in 1996, and in LMGTE Pro for Bourdais in 2016) in addition to their overall Daytona titles (in 2001 and 2014 respectively). Although Bob Wollek never tasted victory at Le Mans, he did win Daytona four times (1983, ’85, ’89, ’91) – more than any other Frenchman.

Reinhold Joest, the most successful team owner in Le Mans history with 15 wins, also triumphed at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1980, at the wheel of a Porsche 935 shared with Rolf Stommelen and Volkert Merl. Partnered by Jacky Ickx, Joest was runner-up at Le Mans the same year – his best result in the iconic French race as a driver.

Should Fernando Alonso win the 24 Hours of Daytona on Sunday, the Spaniard can have high hopes of following in the footsteps of Haywood, Bell, Holbert and Rockenfeller, and becoming the fifth driver to pull off the Le Mans-Daytona double the same calendar year.

Photo (©ACO archives): Of the 21 drivers who have won both 24-hour races, Derek Bell is the most successful with five Le Mans wins (1975, ’81, ’82, ’86, ’87) and three more in Florida (1986, ’87, ’89). He is pictured at the wheel of the Gulf-Mirage, shared with Jacky Ickx, in which he claimed his first Le Mans title in 1975.