24 Hours Daytona 2019 preview
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One of the highlights of 24 Hours of Daytona 2019, which will start next Saturday the 26th of January, is the participation of Fernando Alonso within the DPi category. This will be the second time that we see the Spaniard at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida after his debut last year. 

 

This will be the 52nd edition of the legendary race which officially opens this season’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with 179 pilots and 47 cars across its four categories. The most powerful type of prototype is the Daytona Prototype International (DPi), followed by the LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype).

There are also the GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD) vehicles which are similar to those used at the World Endurance Championship.

DPis: The toughest category

The Daytona Prototype International is the premier class on the grid at Daytona. There will be a total of eleven cars from manufacturers Cadillac, Mazda, Acura and Nissan competing in this category. 

Fernando Alonso will take the wheel of the Cadillac DPi-V.R. #10 of Wayne Taylor Racing, which he will share with his WEC co-drivers Kamui Kobayashi, Renger Van Der Zande and Jordan Taylor. As winners of the 2018 edition, theirs will be one of the most competitive teams in the category. 

Alonso arrives in Daytona a more experienced and confident driver after taking part last year on board an LMP2 of United Autosport. This time around he also brings to Florida the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2018 title under his belt. The Spaniard has a lot going for him but nevertheless, he will be competing against the toughest of rivals and will have to sweat the victory at 24 Hours of Daytona 2019. 
 
There are eight previous champions amongst his adversaries including the winners of 2018, the Ax Racing trio: Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque and Christian Fittipaldi, who will be behind the wheel of the Cadillac DPi-V.R #5. This year they have also signed Mike Conway, a brilliant Toyota driver in the WEC.
Juan Pablo Montoya and Rick Taylor will probably be in the top positions as well as long as the Acura proves to be reliable enough. They will be escorted by Alexander Rossi, Hélio Castroneves or by Simon Pagenaud from the Penske team #6. 

Also, to watch out for will be the winners of IMSA 2018, Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr who will team up with  Pipo Derani, winner at Daytona in 2016, in the Action Express Cadillac DPi #31.

Nissan is also among the favourites with the CORE Autosport #54 line-up formed by drivers Loïc Duval, Colin Braun and Romain Dumas. Finally, there is the Joest Mazda #77 of Timo Bernhard, Olivier Pla, Olivier Jarvis and René Rast.

LMP2 Prototypes 

There are only four different types of car in the LMP2 category. The DragonSpeed missil #81 with drivers such as Henrik Hedman, Ben Hanley, Micky Weckstrom and James Allen are the top favourites. 

Also in great competitive form are the Performance Tech team, formed by brothers Kyle Masson, Cameron Cassels, and Kris Wright, on board Oreca #38.

Finally, Enzo Guibbert, Mark Kvamme, Gabriel Aubry and Matt McMurry will compete aboard an Oreca #52 from the PR1 / Mathiasen squad.

The GT Le Mans

The GT Le Mans class (GTLM) has nine cars belonging to five different brands ready to fight it out on the US track. The current champions, the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team, return to the 24 Hours of Daytona 2019 to defend their 2018 title.

Sébastien Bourdais, Joey Hand and Dirk Muller are back at the wheel of Ford GT #66. Antonio García together with Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockefeller will try and repeat the IMSA 2018 feat on a Chevrolet Corvette C7R. #3. 

Miguel Molina will compete in Daytona for the third time on board the outstanding Ferrari 488 GTE #62 belonging to Risi Competizione, together with Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado.

Last but not least, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Team with their BMW M8 GTE #25 captained by Phillip Eng, will count amongst its ranks with the brave and talented Italian Alex Zanardi, as well as Chaz Mosterty and Augusto Farfus.

The other great German firm at the 24 Hours of Daytona 2019 is Porsche which remains committed to its human assets. Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor y Mathieu Jaminet with 911 RSR #912. and Patrick Pilet, Frédecir Makowiecki y Nick Tandy in the other German rocket: 911 RSR #911.

GT Daytona Class 

There will be a total of twenty-three cars from eight different manufacturers at the GT Daytona class. Representing the Spaniard will be Alex Riberas on board an Audi R8 LMS GT3 #19 from the Moorspeed squad together with team-mates Andrew Davis and Markus Winkelhock. 

Another favourite and Daytona veteran, the Briton Ryan Dalziel, will drive #8 rocket from Ingolstadt belonging to the StarWorks Motorsport Team.

He will nonetheless have to face the fearsome opponents of Lamborghini Huracán #11 of GRT Grasser, captained by Mirko Bortolotti. 

Bryan Sellers, the current GT Daytona champion in the IMSA, will sit in the other Hurricane,, #1 belonging to the Paul Miller Racing Team.

There are some very promising battles ahead of us at this edition of the 24h of Daytona, namely between the German giants (Mercedes and Audi) and the Italians (Ferrari).

Mercedes-P1 Motorposrts has brought Jeroen Bleekemolen, Maximilian Buhk and Luc Stolz (AMG GT3 #33), Audi-Land Motorsport R8 LMS #88, has Christopher Mies, Kelvin van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor in their line-up while the Ferrari-Spirit of Race will confront the German axis with the 488 GT3 #51 driven by Mathias Lauda, Daniel Serra, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana. 

Finally, we will also see on the American asphalt the all-female Meyer Shank Racing (Acura #57) team of Simona de Silvestro, Christina Nielsen, Ana Beatriz and Katherine Legge.

 Images of 24 Hours of Daytona 2019: IMSA

 

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