Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Josef Newgarden among notable champions, winners in Rolex 24
A race of champions that routinely draws the best drives from the world, the Rolex 24 at Daytona will feature another global all-star roster for its 62nd running (which will take place Jan. 27-28 on NBC, USA and Peacock).
HOW TO WATCH THE ROLEX 24: TV information, schedules, start times and entry lists
Though four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves will miss the race and a shot at four consecutive Rolex 24 overall wins, there are many other crossovers who could land on the top step of the 2024 podium.
Here are several of the champions and winners from IndyCar, Formula One and many other series who will be among more than 200 drivers racing in 59 cars this year on Daytona International Speedway's 12-turn, 3.56-mile road course:
Jenson Button
Team: No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti Acura ARX-06 in Grand Touring Prototype
Age: 44
Hometown: Frome, England
Notable: A 15-time Formula One winner, he was crowned world champion with six victories in 2009. … Made his first laps at Daytona last year in the Garage 56 Camaro that raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. … His IMSA debut was in the 2023 Petit Le Mans season finale, finishing fifth in the JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche. … Will be full time in the World Endurance Championship this year.
Quotable: “I know Daytona is fast. I’ve watched the Daytona 500 many times, and I’m good friends with Jimmie Johnson. But I’ve also watched the Rolex 24. I love endurance racing and that team rapport and that team atmosphere. This track is very unforgiving, quite old school, very like a British racetrack. I know quite a bit of the history of this place. It’s lovely to get my first experience of racing here with 59 other cars. It’s actually the first time I’ve drove such severe banking. It was a massive shock getting onto that banking. You don’t know where to look. Which is fine on your own, but in a pack of cars, it’s definitely an experience, but you get used to it. … Garage 56 definitely made me realize I need to race more endurance and sink my teeth into a full championship. Sports cars are in such a great place right now with so many manufacturers involved but also great teams involved in the sport.”
Scott Dixon
Team: No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R in Grand Touring Prototype
Age: 43
Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand
Notable: The six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion has 56 victories (including the 2008 Indy 500) since entering the series more than two decades ago. … Has four Rolex 24 at Daytona victories (three overall) and a victory in the 2020 Petit Le Mans. …. Making his 20th start at Daytona.
Quotable: “This race is extremely difficult to win. Our driver lineup is definitely stout, but it doesn’t guarantee anything. It’s huge to win this race. It’s one of the marquee events in the world and a race that everybody wants to win. It’s why I try to get it on the calendar every year to get to have the chance to win here. The history of the race, the people, teams and manufacturers that have won it, I’d love nothing more than winning this race again.”
Marcus Ericsson
Team: No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti Acura ARX-06 in Grand Touring Prototype
Age: 33
Hometown: Kumla, Sweden
Notable: The 2022 Indy 500 winner has four victories in the NTT IndyCar Series, finishing sixth in the series points standings for three consecutive seasons. … Made his sports car debut in the 2022 Rolex 24 at Daytona with Chip Ganassi Racing, his IndyCar team from 2020-23.
Quotable: It’s definitely one of the big races in the world. It’s a very historic and prestigious race. Very cool to be part of it. This race kicks off the racing season and is a perfect way to start the season. It would mean a ton (to win). Having won the 500 and be able to win the Daytona 24 Hours, that would be, I would imagine not a lot of people have done that. It’s definitely a goal of mine and would be a huge accomplishment.
Colton Herta
Team: No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti Acura ARX-06 in Grand Touring Prototype
Age: 23
Hometown: Valencia, California
Notable: Became the youngest winner in NTT IndyCar Series history at 18 with his March 24, 2019 victory at Circuit of the Americas in his third start. … He has seven IndyCar victories and a best points finish of third in 2020. … A two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner in GTLM with BMW in 2019 and in LMP2 in 2022. … Drove both of the BMW’s BMW M Hybrid V8s in last year’s Rolex 24.
Quotable: “I’ve had close ties with Acura and Honda, so it just made sense (to move to Acura). Getting to know everyone with Wayne Taylor now makes me feel like I made the right choice. I really enjoy working with the team from the little stuff so far. They’ve won multiple championships, the Rolex, Sebring, Petit Le Mans. To be able be part of that is super cool to me, and I’m glad I got the chance. You definitely understand why they have the track record when you start working with them. They’re very organized and very on top of everything. They know everything they want from every part of the race and car. You have that confidence, and it makes our job a lot easier. You know you’re going to have a good chance at win. The culture is very different from the past sports car racing working with BMW or other teams. I haven’t worked with Americans much, which is something I enjoy doing. It’s great to be back with Americans.”
Kyle Kirkwood
Team: No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in GTD Pro
Age: 25
Hometown: Jupiter, Florida
Notable: Earned his first NTT IndyCar Series victory last year, winning from the pole position of the Long Beach Grand Prix. Added a second win at Nashville in the Music City Grand Prix. … Has made 13 IMSA starts with Vasser Sullivan since 2020, winning the 2022 GTD race from the pole at Belle Isle. … Best class finish at Daytona was a fourth in 2022.
Quotable: “The 24 of Daytona has been on my bucket list since I was a child. I’ve always watched this race, and this will be my fifth year competing, and I’ve always been somewhat close to winning. Fingers crossed, we’ve got another good shot at it. It would just kick off the 2024 season on the right step.”
Felipe Massa
Team: No. 74 Riley 74 Ranch Resort ORECA in LMP2
Age: 42
Hometown: Botucatu, Brazil
Notable: An 11-time Formula One winner. … Finished second by a point to Lewis Hamilton in the 2008 world championship after winning the season finale in his native Brazil. … Also has raced in Formula E; currently racing stock cars in Brazil. … Made his first visit to Daytona in 2018 to watch drafting practice for the Rolex 24. … Co-driver Felipe Fraga, a fellow Brazilian, recruited Massa to the team.
Quotable: “It was really impressive to see the track and how big it is. The first lap was really strange how big the banking is, but then I got used to that. It’s a different experience and really challenging. Daytona is a famous race. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is definitely the most famous race of 24 hours, and Daytona is the next one. You see the level of drivers, the level of teams and how competitive and difficult it is. It’s really cool to drive the car. The challenge is not to go quick. It’s to understand the pace of the race and traffic. This is definitely a new challenge for me and not part of my experience in my career in Formula One. That’s also why I like this new challenge.”
Scott McLaughlin
Team: No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA in LMP2
Age: 30
Hometown: Christchurch, New Zealand
Notable: Three-time Supercars champion in Australia before joining IndyCar in 2021. … Has four poles and four victories over the past two IndyCar seasons. … Making his fourth IMSA start after making his Rolex 24 debut a year ago. Was an LMP2 class winner with Tower Motorsports in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in 2023.
Quotable: “It was great to win at Sebring together in 2023, and it was certainly a big highlight, but I definitely feel like we have unfinished business at Daytona. We had tremendous pace in the car and an outstanding strategy from the team in 2023 and I have full faith that this will be the case once again in 2024 as we aim to compete for the win. That’s truly what it’s all about; winning one of the biggest sportscar endurance races in the world.”
Josef Newgarden
Team: No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in Grand Touring Prototype
Age: 33
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Notable: Two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion with 29 career victories in 198 starts from 2012-23. … Won the 2023 Indianapolis 500 in his 12th attempt, tying the record for most Indy 500 starts before his first victory. … Made his Rolex 24 debut last year and his first GTP start with Porsche Penske Motorsport in the 2023 Petit Le Mans season finale.
Quotable: “I’m incredibly excited to be a part of this program. The most exciting part is the history. Porsche is such an iconic manufacturer. Their product is one of the best you can buy in the world. The relationship between Porsche and Penske is so iconic to me because of the history. They’ve been paired together many times over the years. It’s an iconic brand and duo and I love being a part of it just to have the opportunity to be here in this system to thrive … It’s a big-time trophy that you’re hoping to win. I’d put it right up there with any other major auto racing event around the world. When you look at the big-time shows, the 24 Hours of Daytona is right up there. It’s one of those trophies that you hope you have an opportunity to compete for and ultimately can succeed at winning. But just because you want to win it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. I think it’s very similar to the Indianapolis 500 in a lot of respects. Most importantly that it doesn’t matter if you’re the person that should win the race. If you had the fastest car on the day, that doesn’t guarantee a victory. In a lot of ways, everything has to go perfectly. You’ve got to be at the right place at the right time. You have to capitalize on a perfect moment. We’re trying to build something where we put ourselves in position, and if we’re in position, we’ve got to capitalize, and hopefully we can win it. … The Indianapolis 500 is life-changing in so many ways. It’s hard to describe it. It’s something you don’t fully realize until you’re able to win it. Everything you go through and the impact that you see it has. Your respect for that event and the history of the Indianapolis 500 goes up 10X, regardless of how many years you’ve been there and how much respect you had for it before. It just changes you personally.”
Pato O’Ward
Team: No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA in LMP2
Age: 24
Hometown: Monterrey, Mexico
Notable: Four-time winner in the NTT IndyCar Series. … Earned first victory in 2021 at Texas Motor Speedway. … Finished fourth in the 2023 points standings. … Making his fourth start in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, where he earned class victories as a rookie in 2017 and again in 2022 (as a teammate to Colton Herta). … This will be his 12th start in IMSA, where he has eight class wins.
Quotable: “It’s the best way to start your year. It’s known worldwide. You get a shiny watch if you win. I’ve never been a big watch guy, but after I won this once, then I started looking into watches a little bit more. I was 17 years old, and I had no idea what I had just won. I’m on the podium and they hand you this watch. I couldn’t quite grasp what it meant. Every year, I get hungrier to win it again and again. I’ve been very lucky to win it twice, and when you do that, you start the year on the right foot. It’s just an awesome event to be part of it. One of the best trophies in motorsports, a huge tradition and everybody looks forward to this race.”
Alex Palou
Team: No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R in Grand Touring Prototype
Age: 26
Hometown: Barcelona, Spain
Notable: Reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion has won two of the past three championships. … Has nine victories and three pole positions since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021. … Made his sports car debut with the 2022 Rolex 24; this will mark his second IMSA start. … He will be teamed with Sebastien Bourdais (four championships) and Dixon (six) for a combined total of 12 IndyCar titles on the No. 01 entry.
Quotable: “It’s a prime lineup. Couldn’t ask for better teammates, starting with Dixon. Then Bourdais and Renger (van der Zande) are amazing. I had the opportunity to share teams with them in Daytona 2022 with DPi, and it was an amazing experience. … It’s a race I love watching but prefer to be part of it. It's not one of the races you put on the calendar for a year, you put it on for life. It’s one of the most important motorsport races that exists, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the Indy 500. Those iconic races that you don’t only want to be a part of, but you also want to win it at least once in your lifetime.”
Alexander Rossi
Team: No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 EVO in GTD Pro
Age: 32
Hometown: Nevada City, California
Notable: After a brief career in Formula One, he won the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2016. … Has eight NTT IndyCar Series victories while finishing second in the 2018 points standings and third in 2019. … This will be his sixth Rolex 24 start but first in the GT category. … He was part of the 2021 overall winner with Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti. … He will be teamed this year with NBC Sports analyst James Hinchcliffe, his former IndyCar teammate at Andretti.
Quotable: “James’ driving style is very precise. He would have been phenomenal in a Formula one car. His inputs are very smooth. He doesn’t ask too much of the car. He’s kind of an engineer’s dream in a lot of standpoints. His data, it's very clear what the car balance is doing because he’s not really affecting it with bad habits. That part of it is impressive to watch. … Winning the 24 Hours and getting a Rolex with my best friend would be pretty amazing. Just to share one of motorsports greatest accomplishments. Having gotten to do this race several times, the bond you build with your teammates over the couple of weeks you’re here is unlike a lot of other motorsport events. You’re doing everything together whether meals, your meetings, sharing buses. It’s very much three to four guys becoming one unit. The motivation is as much for yourself as the guys you’re sharing the car with, so to have that opportunity would be a special occasion to win it. Winning this event is one of five that every single race car driver wants to win. It’s one of the most coveted prizes in motorsports. To have it in your house to say you’re one of the few that has an original watch is very cool. It’s the second favorite trophy in my house.”
