DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship officially opened its 2017 season when cars took the track on the morning of Friday, Jan. 6 for the first of three days of the Roar Before the Rolex 24.
The Roar, as it is known, is the first public test for the teams planning to contest the Rolex 24 at Daytona a few weeks hence.
This year’s Roar has attracted 55 cars: twelve in the restructured Prototype class, five Prototype Challenge cars, eleven in GT Le Mans, and 27—yes, more than two dozen—in GT Daytona.
The list includes teams coming over from Europe to run the Rolex as preparation for over the World Endurance Challenge or ELMS, plus teams contesting the four-race North American Endurance Cup (NAEC)mini-series, plus one-off entries from teams which just want a shot at the prestige of winning one of the world’s most important 24-hour races.
Make no mistake: the Rolex has regained its status as an important endurance race, status it earned in the 1960s but surrendered after the turn of the century when North American sports car racing split into the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sportscar Series.
