2015 Rolex 24 HRS of Daytona

The 53rd running of the venerable Rolex 24 at Daytona starts today at 14:00 hrs. This is an endurance race second only to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and was one of my favorite races while studying in the US. The atmosphere created in the infield section of the Daytona International Raceway is quite unique, for the racing action is literally all around you. And as if that wasn't enough, around midnight you can easily sneak away by driving through the tunnel and go and clubbing at the hottest bars and night clubs in Florida. Afterwards, just drive back to the track and continue watching the racing as the sun rises in the East. For more on this great race, click here.

Should you not have access to Fox Sports, then watch it via live stream by clicking here for: raceday live streaming, in-car cameras, live IMSA radio, timing and scoring, minute by minute updates, and session results.

Top 5 Qualifyers Report:
1. Honda Ligier, Drivers: Oswaldo Negri, John Pew, AJ Allmendinger, Matt McMurry, click here for the flying lap video
2. Ford Riley, Drivers: Scot Pruett, Joey hand, Charlie Kimball, Sage Karam,
3. Ford Riley, Drivers: Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray,
4. Corvette DP, Joao Barbossa, Christian Fitipaldi, Sebastien Bourdais
5. DeltaWing Racing, Memo Rojas, Katherine Legge, Gabby Chaves, Andy Meyrick.
** For the complete list of teams and drivers, click here.

The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship features two styles of cars, the prototype and GT, each with two classes. Each class has two types, Pro (RED) and Pro-Am (BLUE) meaning that are four classes of cars on the track racing together. The Pro Classes (RED) typically feature professional drivers, while the Pro-Am (BLUE) features a pair of professional drivers with an amateur.


Class Specs:
PROTOTYPE: features the fastest and most technologically advances cars in North America. Top speed around 190 mph.

PROTOTYPE CHALLENGE: features open-cockpit race cars and technology such as carbon fibre chassis , carbon brakes, and sequential gearbox. Top speed around 175 mph.

GT LE MANS: features the most elite and fastest GT cars on the track. They are based on production models and are engineered to extract the maximum performance possible.

GT DAYTONA: are enhanced but not defined by technology. They're also based on production model cars but so not have the same level of aerodynamics or power than the GTLM class cars. The GTD class consists of Grand-Am GT, ALMS GTC Classes, and FIA GT3-spec cars.

For more on car classes, click here.
So try to set some time aside to follow the 24 hour endurance race, which ends on Sunday at 14:00 pm et. Last year the finish was quite interesting to say the least.

Source: IMSA, Wikipedia.
Photo credit: IMSA, Motorsport.com, the cheackered flag.com.uk