The 2026 24 Hours of Daytona was the 64th Daytona 24 hours endurance sports car race sanctioned by International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), taking place from 24 to January 25, 2026, at the Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida. The race was the opening round of the 2026 IMSA SportsCar Championship season. The overall winner and winner of the GTP class was the #7 Penske Porsche, by 1.5 seconds over the #31 Whelen Cadillac. This was both Penske Porsche’s and driver Felipe Nasr’s third consecutive overall win in the Rolex 24. The LMP2 class was won by the #04 CrowdStrike ORECA. The GTD Pro class was won by the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW. The GTD class was won by the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes.

Background

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NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., who built Daytona International Speedway in 1959, conceived the 24 Hours of Daytona to attract European sports-car endurance racing to the United States and provide international exposure to the speedway. It is informally considered part of the Triple Crown of Endurance Racing, with the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was a part of the 2026 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in March 2025. It will be the thirteenth consecutive year it was a part of the IMSA SCC, and the 64th 24 Hours of Daytona. The 24 Hours of Daytona is the first of eleven scheduled sports car endurance races by IMSA, and the first of five races of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC). The race will take place at the 12-turn Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida from January 24 to 25.

Entry list Entrant Car Driver 1 Driver 2 Driver 3 Driver 4 GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) (11 entries) 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 Matt Campbell Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 Julien Andlauer Laurin Heinrich Felipe Nasr 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R Filipe Albuquerque Will Stevens Ricky Taylor 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Aston Martin Valkyrie Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn Alex Riberas Marco Sørensen 24 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 Robin Frijns René Rast Sheldon van der Linde Dries Vanthoor 25 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 Philipp Eng Kevin Magnussen Raffaele Marciello Marco Wittmann 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R Jack Aitken Earl Bamber Frederik Vesti Connor Zilisch 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R Louis Delétraz Colton Herta Jordan Taylor 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 A. J. Allmendinger Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun Scott Dixon 85 JDC–Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 Kaylen Frederick Tijmen van der Helm Nico Pino 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 Kakunoshin Ohta Álex Palou Nick Yelloly Renger van der Zande LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype 2) (13 entries) 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 07-Gibson Malthe Jakobsen George Kurtz Alex Quinn Toby Sowery 2 United Autosports USA Oreca 07-Gibson Phil Fayer Ben Hanley Mikkel Jensen Hunter McElrea 8 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07-Gibson Sebastián Álvarez Sébastien Bourdais John Farano Kyffin Simpson 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson Mathias Beche David Heinemeier Hansson Tobias Lütke Charles Milesi 18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07-Gibson Jacob Abel Ferdinand Habsburg Naveen Rao Logan Sargeant 22 United Autosports USA Oreca 07-Gibson Paul di Resta Dan Goldburg Rasmus Lindh Grégoire Saucy 37 Intersport Racing Oreca 07-Gibson Jon Field Oliver Jarvis Seth Lucas Job van Uitert 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07-Gibson Jeremy Clarke Tom Dillmann António Félix da Costa Bijoy Garg 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson Misha Goikhberg Ben Keating Parker Thompson Harry Tincknell 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports Oreca 07-Gibson Chris Cumming Manuel Espírito Santo Enzo Fittipaldi Pietro Fittipaldi 83 AF Corse USA Oreca 07-Gibson Dylan Murry Nicklas Nielsen François Perrodo Matthieu Vaxivière 99 AO Racing Oreca 07-Gibson Dane Cameron Jonny Edgar P. J. Hyett Christian Rasmussen 343 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07-Gibson Nick Cassidy Georgios Kolovos Nolan Siegel Jakub Śmiechowski GTD Pro (GT Daytona Pro) (15 entries) 033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo Riccardo Agostini James Calado Miguel Molina Alessio Rovera 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo Connor De Phillippi Dan Harper Max Hesse Neil Verhagen 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R Antonio García Marvin Kirchhöfer Alexander Sims 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R Nicky Catsburg Tommy Milner Nico Varrone 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 Mirko Bortolotti Andrea Caldarelli James Hinchcliffe Sandy Mitchell 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Ben Barnicoat Jack Hawksworth Kyle Kirkwood 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Jason Hart Maxime Martin Scott Noble Luca Stolz 59 RLL Team McLaren McLaren 720S GT3 Evo Max Esterson Nikita Johnson Dean MacDonald Jüri Vips 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo Alessandro Pier Guidi Davide Rigon Daniel Serra 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 Evo Ben Barker Dennis Olsen Mike Rockenfeller 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 Evo Christopher Mies Sebastian Priaulx Frédéric Vervisch 69 Bartone Bros with GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Anthony Bartone Maximilian Götz Jules Gounon Fabian Schiller 75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Maro Engel Kenny Habul Chaz Mostert Will Power 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) Harry King Alessio Picariello Nick Tandy 911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) Klaus Bachler Ricardo Feller Ayhancan Güven Thomas Preining GTD (GT Daytona) (21 entries) 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo Kenton Koch Robert Megennis Onofrio Triarsi Yifei Ye 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Esteban Masson Frankie Montecalvo Benjamin Pedersen Aaron Telitz 13 13 Autosport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R Matt Bell Orey Fidani Ben Green Lars Kern 16 Myers Riley Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 Evo Jenson Altzman Felipe Fraga Romain Grosjean Sheena Monk 19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo Sébastien Baud Carl Bennett Valentin Hasse-Clot Rory van der Steur 21 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo Antonio Fuoco Simon Mann Tommaso Mosca Lilou Wadoux 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo Eduardo Barrichello Mattia Drudi Tom Gamble Zacharie Robichon 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) Jan Heylen Dillon Machavern Sven Müller Eric Zitza 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo Albert Costa Manny Franco Lorenzo Patrese Thierry Vermeulen 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R Charlie Eastwood Mason Filippi Scott McLaughlin Salih Yoluç 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo John Potter Spencer Pumpelly Madison Snow Nicki Thiim 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 Graham Doyle Marcus Ericsson Danny Formal Trent Hindman 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Lucas Auer Indy Dontje Philip Ellis Russell Ward 66 Gradient Racing Ford Mustang GT3 Evo Till Bechtolsheimer Joey Hand Corey Lewis Jake Walker 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo David Fumanelli Brendan Iribe Ollie Millroy Frederik Schandorff 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Scott Andrews Ralf Aron Lin Hodenius James Roe 81 DragonSpeed Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R Giacomo Altoè Matteo Cairoli Henrik Hedman Casper Stevenson 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo Robby Foley Patrick Gallagher Jens Klingmann Francis Selldorff 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) Adam Adelson Callum Ilott Tom Sargent Elliott Skeer 123 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) Peter Ludwig Dave Musial Dave Musial Jr. Ryan Yardley 912 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) Ryan Hardwick Riccardo Pera Richard Lietz Morris Schuring Source:

Testing The Roar Before the 24 Tests occurred from January 16 to 18, 2026, with all cars participating in the test. The first session on Friday morning saw Felipe Nasr top the times in the No. 7 PPM Porsche 963 with a time of 1:36.327, 0.004 seconds faster than Nico Pino's No. 85 JDC Porsche. Charles Milesi's No. 11 TDS Racing car topped LMP2 with a 1-minute, 38.935 second lap. Dean MacDonald was fastest in GTD Pro while Spencer Pumpelly set the fastest time amongst all GTD cars. The second session on Friday afternoon saw BMW move to the top when Sheldon van der Linde, driving the No. 24 car for BMW M Team WRT, turned a 1:36.742 lap. van der Helm's JDC Porsche was second and Laurin Heinrich was third for Porsche Penske Motorsport. Ben Hanley led LMP2 with a time of 1:39.136, ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi's No. 73 Pratt Miller car and Tom Dillmann's No. 43 Inter Europol entry. Mercedes-AMG led GTD Pro with Chaz Mostert's lap of 1 minute, 47.625 seconds, followed by Christopher Mies' No. 65 Ford and Alexander Sims' No. 3 Corvette. Corey Lewis' No. 66 Ford led GTD from Danny Formal's WTR Lamborghini.

Laurens Vanthoor set the fastest lap (1:36.549) on the second day; Filipe Albuquerque's No. 10 WTR Cadillac was second and Heinrich's No. 7 Porsche was third. Mikkel Jensen led in LMP2, at 1:39.770 driving United Autosport's No. 2 car. Power's No. 75 Mercedes-AMG led in GTD Pro with a 1:47.612 lap during the morning session while Romain Grosjean's No. 16 Ford set the fastest time amongst all GTD cars.

Pino's No. 85 JDC Porsche set the fastest time on the final day of testing with a 1-minute, 37.099 seconds lap. Estre was second fastest in the No. 6 Penske ahead of teammate Nasr in the sister No.7 Porsche. Hanley topped LMP2 for United Autosports with a 1-minute 40.1010 seconds lap. Habul's No. 75 Mercedes-AMG topped GTD Pro while Joey Hand's No. 66 Ford led GTD.

Practice There were three practice sessions scheduled preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Thursday and one on Friday. The first 90-minute session was on Thursday morning while the second session on Thursday night ran for 90 minutes. The third on Friday morning lasted 75 minutes.

Qualifying Thursday's afternoon qualifying was broken into four sessions, with one session for the GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro, and GTD classes each. The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am LMP2 class requiring a Bronze rated driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put GTPs ahead of the LMP2, GTD Pro, and GTD cars.

The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac was the fastest car in the qualifying session. However, the car failed post-qualifying technical inspection and was moved to the rear of the GTP grid. As a result, the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura was promoted to pole position and would start first for the race.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and with .