Which NASCAR Engine Manufacturer Prevails at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona?

The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona has been running annually since 1962, except for 1972 and 1974. It may not be as prestigious as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it has its significance in endurance racing history. Hence, many prominent manufacturers are competing in this race, like Porsche, Cadillac, Acura, and more. Among them are Chevrolet, Toyota, and Ford, who also compete in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Each of these three manufacturers has enjoyed some success in this race. However, of the trio, Ford has been the most successful, having won two editions in the Grand Touring Prototype division. Other divisions are the GT3 and the GX Class, and they have won in the GTLM class as well. Focusing on the main division though, Ford won the 1965 and 1966 editions of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Meanwhile, Toyota and Chevrolet have one each, in 1993 and 2001 respectively.

There is NASCAR representation at the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona

This season, only Chevrolet and Ford are being represented, albeit in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and GTD Pro divisions. For the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, 230 odd drivers will be divided among 59 cars. Out of those, four of them are Chevrolet cars, though they are Corvettes instead of Camaros. Since this is endurance racing, one car has three or four drivers piloting it in turns.

Corvette Racing is fielding two cars, one driven by Antonio Garcia, Daniel Juncadella, and Alexander Sims. Meanwhile, Earl Bamber, Nicky Catsburg, and Tommy Milner will be driving the other Corvette Racing car. The other Chevy team is Canadian-based AWA, who are also running two cars. Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern, and Alex Lynn are sharing driving duties in one car. On the other side of the garage, Charlie Eastwood, Anthony Mantella, Thomas Merrill, and Nicolas Varrone, are competing.

On the Ford front, they outnumber Chevy, three to two. First up is the Proton Competition outfit, where Ryan Hardwick, Giammarco Levorato, Corey Lewis, and Dennis Olsen are driving Ford Mustangs. There is also Ford Multimatic Motorsports, who are fielding two cars. Among the drivers is a familiar face in NASCAR, namely Mike Rockenfeller, who partners with Christopher Mies and Harry Tincknell. In the other car is another familiar NASCAR name, Joey Hand partners Dirk Muller and Frederic Vervisch in the other Mustang.

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It will be a much-anticipated return for Ford to this particular racing competition

Ford is returning to the Rolex 24 Daytona after a while

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2024 marks the return of Ford after a 5-year absence, and the 2019 edition witnessed two Ford cars. At that time, Ford had partnered with Chip Ganassi and was running the Ford GT. Prior to that, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing actually managed to win the 2017 24 Hours of Daytona. They repeated the feat in 2018, even going as far as to snatch a 1-2. But in 2021, Chip Ganassi Racing switched to Cadillac, in what would be their final season for now.

Coming back to the 2024 edition, there are a number of strong competitors. Among them are Cadillac, Proton Competition, Porsche Penske, United Autosports, DragonSpeed, Iron Lynx, Iron Dames, and many more. The race takes place on January 25-28, 2024.

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