Strong Entries for 2015 Classic 24 Daytona

A great selection of endurance racers and drivers are entered for the 2015 Classic 24 Hour, scheduled for November 12–15 at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway. This year’s Classic 24 Daytona will feature 174 race cars, a current tally of 300 drivers and teams from 15 different countries on four continents.

“We have gone on record recently in saying that the entry list for the second edition of the Classic 24 Hour at Daytona presented by IMSA exceeded even our expectations and hopefully the motorsports world will agree,” said HSR President David Hinton.“The caliber of the historic race cars and the massive mix of legendary stars and historic sports car racing drivers is second to none. This is truly an amazing representation of historic sports car racing machines and the men and women who compete in them and we can’t wait to get back to Daytona in just a few short weeks.”

The drivers participating at the 2015 Classic 24 Hour include Jochen Mass; Bobby Rahal; Danny Sullivan; Gijs Van Lennep; Jurgen Barth; Andy Wallace; Elliott Forbes-Robinson; Eric Curran; Leh Keen; Scott Sharp; Jim Pace; Gunnar Jeanette; Dieter Quester; Didier Andre; Jean Marc Gounon; Jules Gounon; Zak Brown; Richard Dean; Jeff Zwart; Cooper MacNeil; Shane Lewis; Jack Baldwin and Mike Skeen; among others.

The 2015 Classic 24 Daytona will feature six period-correct run groups rotating through a full 24 hours of racing on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course. The run groups, which include various classes of similar-era race cars, each take to the track four times throughout the 24 hours. The competitors in each group covering the most total distance in the shortest amount of time in their group’s four sessions will be the Classic 24 at Daytona champions.

2015 Classic 24 Hour at Daytona – Class List

• Group A – 1960 to 1972: The oldest division, Group A features such race cars as the Ford GT40, Lola T70, Chevron B8, Ferrari 365 GTB, Lotus Elan, Alfa Romeo GT Junior, several 1960s-era Corvettes and Mustangs, including a Shelby GT350, and a field of early Porsche 911s. Another entry not frequently seen in the United States will be the French-built Matra MS630.
• Group B – 1973 to 1982: With a little more turbocharged power and wide-body aerodynamics, Group B has attracted four Porsche 935s, six BMW CSLs, two Greenwood Corvettes, a Dekon Monza, several Porsche 911 RSRs and Carreras and big-bore Mustangs, Camaros and Corvettes. This group also features several of the ultra-quick and classic Chevron, Lola and March open-cockpit sports prototype race cars.
• Group C – 1983 to 1993: The GTP and Group C era is at the heart of this run group. A lineup of six Porsche 962s will share the spotlight with two Jaguar XJR-5s, a Jaguar XJR-7 and a Porsche Fabcar. Several production-based race cars are also in Group C as is the Aston Martin AMR-1 prototype that raced at Le Mans.
• Group D – 1994 to 2002: The highlight machines in Group D include several Riley and Scott Mk IIIs and Daytona Prototypes, a Lola B2K, Crawford DP03 and GT Porsches, Corvettes, Vipers and a TVR T400R. A debuting entry of note is the Saleen S7R GT1.
• Group E – 2003 to 2012: This group lets ALMS and Le Mans prototypes that couldn’t race at Daytona in their day a chance to take to the high banks. Two Audi R8s, a pair of Pescarolo 01 LMPs and a Porsche RS Spyder highlight the group that also includes three Oreca FLM09s and several different Daytona Prototypes. GT cars are plentiful too and include several Porsche 996, 997 and 991 models, two LMS Audi R8s and a Camaro, Ferrari F430 and Nissan GTR. Another entry not frequently seen will be the BMW Alpina B6 GT3.
• Group F – HSR Cars: This group produced some of the closest and most competitive racing in last year’s inaugural Classic 24 at Daytona. Home to HSR classes that are not represented in the other five other groups, Group F also lets competitors with race cars that were never eligible to compete at Daytona a chance on the track in the Classic 24. Offering a mix of machinery from six different decades, this group is also home to the oldest car in the Classic 24, a 1962 Lotus Super 7.

To see the complete entry list for the 2015 HSR Classic 24 Hour at Daytona, visit Classic 24 Hour.

[Source: HSR; photo: Michael DiPleco]