DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – This weekend’s IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway provides competitors in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship their first chance to work with new equipment or personnel as they begin preparations for the 2025 season.
Major changes in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class include Wayne Taylor Racing’s move to Cadillac; the return of Acura Meyer Shank Racing to the WeatherTech Championship after a year’s break; modified driver lineups at Porsche Penske Motorsport and Cadillac Whelen; and the first IMSA appearance for the Aston Martin THOR Team Aston Martin Valkyrie built to FIA Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) specifications.
Meyer Shank Racing regrouped and reorganized their IMSA racing team in 2024. Now, back in partnership with Acura and Honda Racing Corporation USA, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian is re-energized for a two-car attack on the GTP class.
“Being here makes the world come right again,” co-owner Michael Shank said Friday during a break at Daytona. “The earth is on the right axis. I was convinced at the end of 2022 we had the right group to do this. I know we still do, and they’re all here with us.”
Shank’s team was extremely successful with its 2023 driver duo of Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist, but lost out on the GTP championship due to circumstances both within and outside the organization’s control. Shank saw enough promise in that pairing to call the decision to bring them back to drive Acura MSR’s No. 60 Acura ARX-06 for 2025 “a no brainer.” Renger van der Zande moves from Cadillac Racing to the new Acura MSR No. 93 car, joined by former BMW factory driver Nick Yelloly.
Blomqvist paced Friday’s action at Daytona in the No. 60 Acura, lapping the 3.56-mile road course in 1 minute, 35.905 seconds (133.632 mph) in the afternoon session.
This marks the first time MSR has fielded two full-time entries in IMSA’s top prototype class. As part of a new arrangement, HRC US is supplying staff to race engineer the No. 93 car, while the engineering of the No. 60 car remains in-house.
“Certainly, Tom and Colin deserve a real run at the championship,” Shank said. “David Salters (HRC US President) and I talked and we really liked Nick, and Renger is plug-and-play.
“It’s tricky,” he laughed. “One car seems like a vacation right now. Running two cars ramps things up exponentially. You’re continually trying to keep the two groups talking and communicating,” said Shank. “It’s a unique way of doing things and different than anyone else in the paddock, but I love it.”
Wayne Taylor Racing was one happy family when Wayne’s sons Ricky and Jordan drove a Cadillac to IMSA’s Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class championship in 2017. Much has changed since then.
Both of the junior Taylors joined factory programs and won additional IMSA titles (Ricky shared the 2020 DPi crown with Helio Castroneves and Acura Team Penske, while Jordan won consecutive Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) crowns in 2020 and ’21 with Antonio Garcia and Corvette). Ricky returned to the home team in 2021 and when WTR expanded its technical capability and fielded a pair of GTP-class Acuras in 2023, Jordan followed.
Now thanks to its renewed association with Cadillac and an increased emphasis on sports car racing at General Motors, Wayne Taylor Racing is a full-fledged factory team, with an all-star driver lineup of IMSA champions that includes Filipe Albuquerque (teamed with Ricky in the No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R) and Louis Deletraz (co-driver with Jordan in the No. 40).
There’s also change at Cadillac Whelen as Earl Bamber, who drove for Cadillac in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) the last two years, joins Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R run by Action Express Racing in the WeatherTech Championship.
“I’m really excited, and it’s great to be back in the IMSA paddock,” Bamber said. “Action Express is an understated team, but you just have to look at the back of the hauler to see how many IMSA championships they have won. That shows the pedigree. They won the (GTP) championship in 2023 and it’s almost forgotten, but they’re a world-class organization.
“I love the series, and it’s great to see what the top prototype class has grown into,” he added. “The numbers and the level of competition between the manufacturers is phenomenal. I think it’s a golden era of motorsport and sports car racing in America, and I’m eager to sink my teeth into it.”
One car attracting plenty of attention at the Daytona test is the No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie prepared by Aston Martin Heart of Racing Team.
If the car looks a bit different than the other eleven GTP class prototypes present at the test, that’s because it’s built to FIA Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) specifications, rather than the customary-in-IMSA Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh) platform. The Valkyrie is the first LMH-spec vehicle to participate in IMSA-sanctioned activity. Through Balance of Performance adjustments, both LMDh and LMH platforms are eligible to compete in the WeatherTech Championship and the WEC.
The Heart of Racing is no stranger to IMSA, as the team has competed for several years in the GTD and GTD PRO classes, claiming the 2022 GTD championship with driver Roman De Angelis and coming up coming up just four points shy of this year’s GTD PRO title with driver Ross Gunn.
“It’s an incredibly proud moment for everybody at The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin to see the car out here in the first official capacity for the IMSA series,” said Heart of Racing team principal (and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup driver) Ian James. “Just seeing it coming by on the high Daytona banking put a big smile on my face. It’s been a lot of hard work, I won’t deny that. But this has been the realization of a dream. Thanks to Gabe Newell’s vision, we’re here today. We couldn’t be more excited to go into 2025, not only continuing to be a part of IMSA, but also in the top class.”
Aston Martin and Heart of Racing have not announced when the Valkyrie will make its IMSA and worldwide race debut during the 2025 season.
“We’ve done some durability testing and a little bit of development testing into the performance testing,” James said. “But now we’re also trying to integrate all the IMSA-specific requirements onto the car and running systems checks. We’ll start to look for a bit more speed as these two days go on and as the season progresses.”
The Aston Martin completed 96 laps on the day, including 65 in the afternoon session. The car’s lap times generally improved by a tenth or two with every run in the afternoon, ending with a cumulative 1.1-second gain over the morning.
“It’s pretty hard to get track time at Daytona,” said James. “It’s important to be out here with everybody else for the first time in the car with any traffic – we’ll be with the GT classes tomorrow – just to get a better read on what we need out of the car.”