The 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season may have ended only a month ago, but preparations for 2025 begin this weekend.
IMSA has moved its annual pre-season test at Daytona International Speedway to November from the early December date that the three days of track time has occupied for the last few years. Thirty-one cars are registered for the test, including all of the 12 GTP entries that are expected to contest the full or endurance schedules in 2025.
While it’s an opportunity for teams with new cars and new drivers, and teams new to the series, to get acclimated, those that are carrying forward into the new season relatively unchanged still have much to work on.
“We have two cars there, and they’re going to be on different testing programs,” explained Porsche Penske Motorsport Managing Director Jonathan. Diuguid. ”Part of the testing program is going to be testing future development tires for Michelin, which all LMDh manufacturers are going to be exposed to with on one or some of their cars. So one car will be working through a tire development program.”
For Porsche Penske Motorsports, though, there is more to be discovered. The Porsche 963 is getting a big ‘joker’ update for next season that includes a revised front suspension. All three 963s running at Daytona this weekend, including JDC-Miller MotorSports’ No. 85 slated to be driven by Tijmen van der Helm, Gianmaria Bruni and Chris Miller, will have the updates.
“Both cars are going to be trying to understand how the updates that we’re bringing can be utilized to improve performance at Daytona,” said Diuguid. “It’s not a small update, it’s a substantial one, and so we’re just trying to understand how we can utilize those new tools the engineers and the mechanics and the drivers have to make the cars go faster.”
It’s easy to say that all the teams have a massive amount of track time before the Rolex 24 at Daytona, between the Roar before the 24 and the 34 Hour weekend itself, to get things dialed in. But there’s not time to fully analyze the data, to really understand the impact of different changes beyond driver feel. Plus, the November test, unlike the competition weekends, aren’t tire limited.
For the GTD PRO and GTD teams, the test will provide experience with the torque sensors that will be in use on the GT3 cars for the 2025 season. The torque sensors have been used on the LMDh cars in the GTP class from the beginning, as well as being introduced into the LMGT3 class in WEC, but are new for the GT cars in the WeatherTech Championship. The torque sensors give the series real-time power output to help with setting Balance of Performance.
Several teams have new cars to learn as well, not the least of which is Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing team as they continue to test the Valkyrie Hypercar / GTP car that will make its competition debut next season. HoR regulars Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis are slated to do the testing this weekend.
Paul Miller Racing has a new EVO version of the BMW M4 GT3 to dial in. While Iron Lynx/Iron Dames has some experience with the Porsche 911 GT3 R elsewhere, the car is new to the team in IMSA, and Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, Rahel Frey and Karen Gaillard are listed on the Iron Dames driver roster.
There are broad question marks over the future of the global Lamborghini Iron Lynx program, but the team will be on track at Daytona this week. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
As it makes the move from Michelin Pilot Challenge to WeatherTech Championship GTD, van der Steur Racing will be getting its first mileage in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. In addition to Rory van der Steur and Valentin Hasse-Clot, Eric Filgueiras, Maxime Robin and Brady Behrman are scheduled for time in the car.
Other items of note in the entry list IMSA released today include:
* BMW M Team RLL has the same four-man roster of Philipp Eng, Robin Frijns, Marco Wittmann and Max Hesse in both the Nos. 24 and 25 M Hybrid V8s. Only Eng drove for the team in 2024, while Frijns and Wittmann were doing duty for the manufacturer in WEC with BMW M Team WRT. BMW M factory driver Hesse recently went through the WEC rookie test in an M Hybrid V8 with Valentino Rossi.
* Despite some uncertainty about the Lamborghini SC63 program’s future, Lamborghini Iron Lynx will have its car at Daytona, with Andrea Caldarelli and Romain Grosjean penciled in to drive.
* CrowdStrike Racing by APR is back in action, Toby Sowery and Malthe Jakobsen joining George Kurtz in the No. 04 ORECA LMP2. Other notables in LMP2 include Bronze driver Phil Fayer in the No. 2 United Autosports car instead of Ben Keating, and Dane Cameron driving the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA with PJ Hyett.
* Speaking of AO Racing, Klaus Bachler and Tom Sargent are listed in the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R GTD PRO entry.
* Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ driver roster includes Mike Rockenfeller, Seb Priaulx and Ben Barker in the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3, and Dennis Olsen, Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch in the No. 65.
* Freshly-crowned Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion Loek Hartog will join Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.
* DXDT Racing has an interesting addition to the trio it announced earlier in the week – two time IMSA champion Pipo Derani is listed in addition to Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood and Alec Udell.
Testing gets underway with prototypes only on Friday, with all groups taking to the track on Saturday and Sunday being reserved for GTD PRO and GTD only. Unlike last year when IMSA ran Balance of Performance tests on the GT cars at the December test, that task will be performed during the Roar Before the 24 in January.
