DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The 24 Hours of Daytona mark the traditional season opener of the North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The 59th edition takes place on Jan. 25-26 at the Daytona Int’l Speedway. Four Porsche 963 will be on the grid: the two hybrid prototypes from Porsche Penske Motorsport and the Proton Competition car as well as the 963 from customer team JDC-Miller MotorSports.
Formula E World Champion Pascal Wehrlein from Germany will be celebrating his Daytona debut in the cockpit of this GTP car. The Porsche works driver shares the No. 85 with Dutchman Tijmen van der Helm and American Bryce Aron.
The No. 7 Porsche 963 from the factory team won the race in January this year and extended the German sports car manufacturer’s Daytona record to 19 overall victories.
“I’ve always wanted to drive sports cars – that’s one of my goals as a racing driver,” says the world champion. “Now I have the opportunity to prove myself there too. I’m very happy about that! The test drives with JDC-Miller MotorSports in mid-November went well. The Porsche 963 reminded me of the DTM cars of my time – I felt comfortable. I’m currently recovering from my accident in São Paulo. But I want to get back to full speed in January.”
Wehrlein already got to know the 963 in Sebring in October 2022. In November of this year, he was able to gain further experience at the wheel of the Porsche 963 from JDC-Miller MotorSports during test drives in Daytona.
Wehrlein’s Porsche teammate from Formula E, António Félix da Costa, will also take to the track at the same venue. The Portuguese driver takes the wheel of an LMP2 racing car for the Inter Europol Competition team.
“I’m very happy to finally be able to attack at the 24 Hours of Daytona again – especially with the LMP2 championship-winning team from the last IMSA season. Inter Europol has achieved great things in recent years. The team is therefore perfect for my return to the LMP2 class,” said a delighted da Costa. “I can hardly wait to finally get started and work with the team and my teammates.”
António Félix da Costa has a lot of experience from endurance racing. The Portuguese Porsche works driver has already contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times with Team Jota: three times in an Oreca car in the LMP2 class and in the 2023 season at the wheel of a Porsche 963 from the British privateer team.