The Roar Before the 24, the traditional event that includes testing and qualifying for the 24 Hours at Daytona, opens the 2024 international motorsport season. Ferrari will line up for the American round with five 296 GT3s and seven official Prancing Horse drivers. Held in Florida between Friday 19 and Sunday 21 January, the Roar is the prelude to the 24 Hours – round one of the IMSA SportsCar Championship – now in its 62nd year, which will start on Saturday 28 January at 1.40 p.m. (local time).
Risi Competizione will field an all-factory driver lineup in GTD Pro, beginning its quest for the IMSA Endurance Cup. Conquest Racing kicks off Ferrari’s first full-season GTD effort in several seasons in the class for pro-am driver lineups, while AF Corse, Triarsi Competizione and Cetilar will compete in the expanded five-race Endurance Cup, which in 2024 adds a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in addition to the classics at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta.
GTD Pro. Risi Competizione returns with the lone Ferrari in GTD Pro, the No. 62 Pennzoil Ferrari 296 GT3 for the all-factory driver lineup of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra in the class for GT3 machinery using all-pro driver lineups.
In 2022, the Houston-based team ran a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 in GTD Pro, missing the top step of the podium by only two seconds after 24 hours of racing. Serra and Rigon went on to take top honors in the IMSA Endurance Championship, finishing second in the six-hour classic at Watkins Glen.
GTD. Full-season drivers Manny Franco and Albert Costa will join Cédric Sbirrazzouli and Alessandro Balzan in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. AF Corse will have the No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 for factory pilot Miguel Molina, who will be joined by Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Kei Cozzolino.
Triarsi Competizione will race in the Daytona 24 for the second time, with the No. 023 Ferrari 296 GT3. Factory driver Alessio Rovera joins Onofrio Triarsi, Charlie Scardina and Riccardo Agostini. Last year, the Orlando-based team led the Ferrari contingent at Daytona, taking 10th in GTD in its IMSA debut.
Factory driver Antonio Fuoco teams with Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Eddie Cheever III in the blue Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. The team took the GTD victory in the 2022 12 Hours of Sebring.
The schedule. The Roar opens with a pair of sessions on Friday, Jan. 19, from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 4:15-6 p.m. (all times ET). Saturday has practice from 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. and 3:10-4:10 p.m., followed by two-hour night practice beginning at 6:30 p.m. Sunday’s lone activity will be a 20-minute qualifying session for both GTD Pro and GTD, beginning at 1:55 p.m. The session will set the grid for the 62nd running of the Daytona 24 Hours, which begins at 1:40 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27.