IMSA: Capacity grid expected for 2023 Rolex 24

IMSA is expecting to have a capacity field for January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, with the possibility of having to turn away entries for the first time since the launch year of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2014.

“It’s a nice problem to have, frankly,” said IMSA President John Doonan of the interest in the race.

“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of momentum for the sport – for IMSA and all the fans of IMSA – and I think 2023 is not going to be any different.

“Even compared to a year ago at this time, we’ve had another lift in interest from competitors wanting to run the Rolex 24 and the WeatherTech Championship season as a whole. New cars aside, it’s a really special time for the sport.”

“The good news is not one class can be singled out in terms of the momentum and the growth we’re seeing,” Doonan said.

“LMP2 has seen a lot of interest in the last couple seasons, in particular some teams that have traditionally competed in Europe are interested in coming to the North American market for corporate partnership reasons.

“LMP3, in a similar manner, has attracted an entry number that’s in sort of a sweet spot. You add up all of those, and that’s probably half of your Rolex grid, with the other 50 percent GT cars.

“The momentum around the GT classes is significant, and around the corner in 2024 comes a Ford Mustang program and the availability of a customer Corvette.

“We’re real pleased with how GTD Pro came off as a category in its first season, and I think you’ll see consistent numbers similar to what you saw in 2022 for that segment of the grid. So, we are in a very fortunate position of having this much interest.”

“You can’t create more square footage at a lot of our tracks, and one of the things we need to look at in the case of Daytona entries is the number of garages, the paddock space and, of course, pit lane,” Doonan said.

“There are only so many boxes you can fit safely on pit lane. Last year, we had 61 cars, which was tight. With the new GTP cars, obviously there are some items that surround those cars and the hybrid technology that may require us to give them just a bit more space.

“Again, it’s a good problem to have.”