The 61st Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona International Speedway starts at 13:40 ET on Saturday, January 28. Sixty-one cars will take the green flag in America’s biggest sportscar race of the year, which kicks off the IMSA season.
New for 2023 is the GTP class – prototype sportscars from Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche – that feature electrical hybrid systems, as IMSA embraces a new era.
Subsidiary classes are for LMP2 and LMP3 prototypes, featuring an array of professional and amateur drivers. The GTD ranks are for production-based cars, and these are divided into two separate classes – one for all-pro driver lineups and one for pro-am.
Click here for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona entry list
Qualifying was held on Sunday, and here is what happened.
How can I watch the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona?
From Saturday afternoon, live TV coverage is available on NBC’s Peacock streaming service for the full 24-hour cycle, while network NBC will provide 10 minutes of build-up and then the first 50 minutes of the race, and then the final 1hr40mins and 20mins of post-race.
In the meantime, USA Network will cover 13.5 hours of the race.
- Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, will broadcast all 24 hours in the USA
- IMSA TV, available at imsa.com, will broadcast all 24 hours outside of the USA
- Saturday, January 28, 1:30-2:30pm – NBC
- Saturday, 2:30-8:00pm – USA network
- Saturday, 10:00-11:59pm – USA network
- Sunday, January 29, 6:00am-12:00pm – USA network
- Sunday, 12:00-2:00pm – NBC
- Tandy didn’t do “too much damage” in Porsche Rolex 24 qualifying shunt
- BMW bullish for Rolex 24 despite subduded qualifying
- Mercedes drivers elated by GTD pole sweep for Rolex 24 at Daytona
What type of track is Daytona?
The Daytona International Speedway road course is a 3.56-mile layout that incorporates all three turns of the banked tri-oval but inserts a fiddly infield section and a ‘Bus Stop’ chicane to create a total of 12 turns.
#10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Louis Deletraz, Brendon Hartley, #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac V-LMDh Cadillac V- LMDh: Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, Jack Aitken
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
What’s the average fastest lap speed?
Driving a Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R last year, the 2021 IndyCar champion Alex Palou set a new race lap record around the course of 1min33.724sec, an average speed of 136.74mph.
IMSA at Daytona schedule (all times in ET)
Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona | |
Wednesday, Jan. 25 | |
1.45-2.30pm | Mazda MX-5 Cup practice 1 |
2.45-3.45pm | Michelin Pilot Challenge practice 1 |
Thursday, Jan. 26 | |
9.00-9.30am | Mazda MX-5 Cup practice 2 |
9.45-10.45am | Michelin Pilot Challenge practice 2 |
11.05am-12.35pm | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice 1 |
12.55-1.10pm | Mazda MX-5 Cup qualifying |
2.25-3.00pm | Michelin Pilot Challenge qualifying |
3.20-5.05pm | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice 2 |
5.30-6.15pm | Mazda MX-5 Cup RACE 1 |
7.15-9.00pm | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice 3 |
Friday, Jan. 27 | |
9.25-9.55am | Michelin Pilot Challenge practice 3 |
10.15-11.00am | Mazda MX-5 Cup RACE 2 |
11.20pm-12.20pm | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice 4 |
1.45-5.45pm | Michelin Pilot BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona RACE |
6.25-6.45pm | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice 4 (GTP class only) |
Saturday, Jan. 28 | |
1.40pm | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona RACE starts |
Sunday, Jan. 29 | |
1.40pm | IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona RACE finishes |