The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layout, a 3.56-mile (5.73 km) combined road course that uses most of the tri-oval plus an infield road course. Held on the last weekend of January or first weekend of February as part of Speedweeks, it is the first major automobile race of the year in North America. The race is sanctioned by IMSA and is the first race of the season for the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), he created Dallara Automobili.
BMS Scuderia Italia SpA is an auto racing team founded in 1983 in Brescia by Italian businessman and motorsports enthusiast Giuseppe Lucchini. Originally named Brixia Motor Sport (BMS), the team initially competed in the World Touring Car Championship. The team's name was altered to BMS Scuderia Italia upon their entrance into Formula One in 1988. After departing Formula One in 1993, BMS Scuderia Italia has continued to be involved in other categories such as touring car racing and sports car racing.
Vincenzo Sospiri is an Italian former racing driver.
Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) is a sports car racing team that was founded in 2004 by racing driver Wayne Taylor. In 2023, the team began a partnership with Andretti Autosport that also saw them rebrand as Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport (WTRAndretti). The team currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, campaigning the No. 10 Konica Minolta-sponsored Acura ARX-06 for Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor and the No. 40 DEX Imaging-sponsored Acura ARX-06 for Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz in the GTP class, and the No. 45 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 for Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal in the GTD class, also sponsored by DEX Imaging.
Krohn Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Houston, Texas. The team competes in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype class, and has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup GTE-Amateur class; the American Le Mans Series GT2 class; and the Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype class.
Didier Maurice Theys is a Belgian sports car driver. He is a two-time overall winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona ; a winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring (1998); the Sports Racing Prototype driver champion of the Grand-American Road Racing Association (2002) and the winner of the 24 Hours of Spa. He was also the polesitter (1996) and a podium finisher at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The podium finish in 1999 was a third overall in the factory Audi R8R with co-drivers Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela. Theys' first appearance at Le Mans was in 1982, while his last start in the world's most famous endurance sports car race came 20 years later in 2002.
Wayne Taylor is a South African sports car racing driver and team owner. He won the 1996 and 2005 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 2005 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype drivers' championship. He drove for SunTrust Racing with Max Angelelli. He co-drove in the 2006 International Race of Champions in the United States with Angelelli. Taylor now owns and manages his own team competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Spice Engineering was a British racing team founded by driver Gordon Spice with Raymond Bellm in the early 1980s, later becoming a successful sports car constructor in 1986. They competed in the World Sportscar Championship in Europe as well as the IMSA GT Championship in North America, at times partnering with major manufacturers such as General Motors and Honda as well as race engine manufacturer Comptech.
The Dallara SP1, also known as the Chrysler LMP, was a Le Mans Prototype built by Italian firm Dallara. Initially used as part of Chrysler Corporation's attempt to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the cars were later sold to customers for use series such as the FIA Sportscar Championship and Le Mans Series.
IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States and occasionally in Canada.
The Nissan P35 was a planned Group C car built by Nissan Motors for competition in the World Sportscar Championship. Developed by Nissan Performance Technology Inc. (NPTI), which had formerly raced under the name Electramotive in the United States, the cars were intended to be completed by the middle of 1992, with competition starting in 1993. However economic troubles for Nissan led to the cancellation of the project soon after testing of the first cars had begun, meaning that the P35s never raced.
The Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo was a series of racing cars developed for Nissan Motors by Electramotive Engineering to compete in the IMSA GT Championship. Running from 1985 to 1990, they were known for being the first car to defeat the Porsche 962 which had dominated IMSA's premiere GTP category. This led to Nissan winning the constructor's championship and 12 Hours of Sebring in 1989 and 1990. During 1990, the GTP ZX-Turbo was replaced by the newer NPT-90.
The Nissan NPT-90 was a racing car developed in 1990 for Nissan Motors by Nissan Performance Technology Incorporated (NPTI), formerly known as Electramotive Engineering. It was a replacement for the highly successful GTP ZX-Turbo that had won the IMSA GT Championship in 1989. The NPT-90 would go on to win the championship in 1990 and 1991 before being retired by Nissan at the end of the 1992 season.
Truesports was an automobile racing team founded by Jim Trueman based in Hilliard, Ohio. The team is best known for winning the 1986 Indianapolis 500 and back-to-back CART championships in 1986 and 1987. The team won 19 points-paying Indy car races.
The Riley & Scott Mark III was a sports prototype auto racing car developed by Bob Riley, Bill Riley and Mark Scott of Riley & Scott Cars Inc. Initially designed in 1993, the car was created for the World Sports Car (WSC) category which was to debut in the North American IMSA GT Championship during their 1994 season. It was not until 1995 that the first Mk III was completed, but the construction of further cars allowed a variety of teams to campaign in several North American and European racing series, including competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Fredy Lienhard, Sr. is a Swiss racing driver.
Robert Richard "Rob" Dyson is a retired American sports car racing driver and owner of Dyson Racing.
Tony Southgate is an English engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was responsible for the chassis design of Ford's RS200 Group B rally car. Southgate was employed as chief designer or technical director for many Formula One teams for over twenty years. These teams included BRM, Shadow and Arrows. Southgate retired after producing the Audi R8C, which was a major influence in the Bentley Speed 8, which won Le Mans in 2003. He continues to be a regular visitor to current and historic race meetings.
The Mazda GTP is an IMSA GTP race car that was built by Pierre Honegger in 1981. Based on a Mazda RX-7, the car initially competed in the GTX category as the Mazda RX-7 GTP, before it was rebuilt for the IMSA GTP category in 1983. Throughout its career, the car used a Mazda 13B Wankel rotary engine, similar to that used in the production RX-7s. Although the rotary-engined sports prototypes generally had a reputation of being very reliable, the Mazda GTP frequently failed to finish races, and was never able to better the eighth place achieved at the 1983 24 Hours of Daytona. In 1986, one car was purchased by Erie Scientific Racing, and rebuilt to become the Badger BB. This car was no more successful or reliable than its predecessor, and was last used in 1989, by which point it was owned by Jack Engelhardt. The other car, meanwhile, was rebuilt by Honegger into the Denali Speedcar, which was used with moderate success in 1986 and 1987.
