DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A great many talented drivers who have contended in a great number of fast cars have arrived at Daytona International Speedway for this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Rolex 24 At Daytona hoping to hoist their first Daytona trophy and claim their first winner’s bespoke Rolex timepiece in this classic American sports car season opener.
For some, it’s been a multi-year theme.
Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports driver and reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) champion Alexander Sims’ car led 21 hours of the 24-hour race in 2021, only to finish second in the former GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. To the team’s other car.
Veteran Earl Bamber has 12 Rolex 24 starts in multiple classes for multiple race teams. His best finish was runner-up in the 2020 GTLM class. The driver of the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R this weekend, has a top finish of fourth in that GTP marquee class coming three years ago.
“I sort of see it as I can stay around this race for a long time, so eventually it should happen,” Bamber said smiling, acknowledging he’s in good company at Daytona.
A Bamber overall win would match longtime teammate Nick Tandy as a winner of global sports car racing’s “grand slam” of endurance racing majors – Daytona, Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps and the Nurburgring.
Longtime competitor, Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley – one of IMSA’s star Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class drivers – has nine Rolex 24 starts and no trophies at home. The perpetual championship contending Turner team, BMW Motorsport’s longest serving customer team, is somehow 0-fer at Daytona.
Kyle Kirkwood can relate. The IndyCar standout has driven Lexus cars for the mighty Vasser Sullivan Racing two-car team for five of the eight years the team has raced at Daytona. And despite solid qualifying, a star driver lineup and stellar driving, that organization is also still seeking its first Rolex.
“The years I’ve come here and I’m thinking we deserve [to win] are usually the years we don’t have something good happen,” Kirkwood said smiling. “A lot of people may say, they deserve a win or this car deserves us a win or the team deserves a win – which all might be true – but this place just kind of decides the winner.”
When it comes to the Rolex 24. … these drivers and these organizations have to feel it’s perpetually “just a matter of time.”
“It’s Daytona,” the 35-year-old New Zealander Bamber said. “That’s all you need to say, right. You drive past the speedway, you drive in here and you look at the place, the high banking. It’s one of those places everyone wants to win at.
“To be honest, I’ve had a bit of a brutal run here though with the prototypes, like with mechanicals and stuff like that. But I feel this year we’re really well-prepared on our side with the Whelen car. Great driver lineup, same great crew and same people. We feel good but at the same time there’s a lot of other cars that are good as well.”
Sims, 37, obviously is eager to win at Daytona as well, claiming the 2025 GTD PRO title last year after an incredible season where he podiumed six times and hoisted a trophy at Virginia International Raceway. Although he’d obviously love the Rolex winner’s watch, he maintains a big picture view. The race is one of 11 toward the title. He’s already in a good spot to start 2026, having qualified the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R he shares with Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhoefer on the GTD PRO pole position.
Remarkably, he is the only one on the six-driver Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller lineup this weekend that hasn’t won at Daytona.
“I generally approach it looking at the whole year as our main aim is to win the championship so it’s always nice to just get a good result at Daytona to kickstart the points-scoring,” the British driver said.
“As to any specific emotions of not winning it, I don’t think it changes a huge amount. It’s a massive event in global motorsports but for me in doing my job, it scores the same points as every other race and so I try not to associate any added emotional pressure to it.”
He knows what the podium looks like at least, even if it’s not been the right spot yet.
“One race doesn’t define you and coming in second doesn’t come by chance either,” Sims said. “It’s a very good result as well, but there obviously is a big difference between standing in the middle of the podium and standing on the side.
“And,” he added with a smile, “Thankfully they started giving out Rolexes [watches] for winning the championship, so I got my first last year.”
As is the case this year with his Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class No. 14 Lexus, Kirkwood has long been a part of all-star Daytona driver rosters. He’ll team with Brits Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat, the 2023 class champions, on the weekend.
The team’s GTD entry, the No. 12 of Aaron Telitz, Benjamin Pedersen, Frankie Montecalvo and Esteban Masson, is also looking to deliver a Rolex win for team co-owners James “Sulli” Sullivan and Jimmy Vasser, Lexus and the armada of partners the team has.
“This race is so hard, but seems so simple on paper,” Kirkwood said. “It seems like ‘just survive the race for 24 hours,’ but that’s what it used to be like. Now it’s gotten to the point, where it’s like, okay now you have to survive, but you really have to beat like 15 cars that are still on the lead lap and are incredibly good.
“It’s so hard here and this has turned into one of the hardest races of the year for me. I think the losses you have at this place make you appreciate the win that much more. We’ve had a lot of good opportunities here but nothing has panned out for us. So hopefully this is the year. I’ve got my fingers crossed.”
The 2023 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Grand Sport X (GSX) champion Francis Selldorff, Foley’s teammate on the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO, is making his Rolex 24 debut and will compete in all the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races with the team this season.
“Our teammate Patrick [Gallagher) keeps joking with me that he hopes I win my first Rolex 24 and I say, I hope you do too,” Selldorff said smiling.
“My interpretation is that it’s kind of like the Indy 500 or the Kentucky Derby where so many people have a shot to win. But you don’t really know what’s going to happen until you’re there in that position. I’ve watched this race so many times and saw cars you thought were fast but in the end, they’re gone [from contention].
“I think if we just do our jobs we’ll be in a good spot. I’m in the perfect situation to learn from three really experienced teammates and a great team, so I can’t wait.’’
That’s the upside of the downside. So many drivers and teams have strong cases for Rolex 24 At Daytona victory and the eternal optimism that keeps it all so interesting.
“We feel good but at the same time there’s a lot of other cars that are good as well,” Bamber said. “We’ve just got to see what the racing gods bring our way and how things shape up in the final two to three hours of the race.”
“We’re all sort of ready to get into it. We want to win Daytona but we also want to win the championship.”
