Several new cars eligible to participate in the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition will make their official on-track debut tomorrow, as part of a two-day test at Daytona International Speedway.
The test will provide a first look at the all-new Ford GT, with Ford Performance Chip Ganassi Racing entering the #66 and #67 cars in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. No drivers have been named by Ford and for many of the teams participating in the session, which runs from 9a.m. through 5p.m. ET on both days.
Also making its GT Le Mans class debut will be BMW Team RLL’s #25 BMW M6 GTLM, joined by a pair of updated Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs fielded by Corvette Racing.
GT Daytona (GTD) action will include new cars from Audi, BMW, Porsche, Lamborghini and Mercedes, joined by the Dodge Viper and Aston Martin models that competed last season.
Mercedes will have the #190 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 fielded by the Mercedes-AMG Test Team, joined by a pair of similar cars fielded by DragonSpeed. Turner Motorsport will have the #97 BMW M6 GT3, while Autometrics Motorsports will have a Porsche 997 GT3 R. Audi Sport Customer Racing will test the #76 Audi R8 LMS GT3, while Change Racing will have the #16 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 that will make its GTD debut next year.
Teams entering the test with cars from last season include Riley Motorsports, with the #33 Viper Exchange Dodge Viper GT3-R, and TRG-AMR with the #007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage.
In the Prototype class, VisitFlorida.com Racing will debut its 2016 lineup, with Marc Goossens and Ryan Dalziel testing the #90 Corvette DP. Other Prototype entries include a pair of Corvette DPs for the defending two-time class champion Action Express Racing; the #60 Honda HPD Ligier JS P2 with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver AJ Allmendinger joining John Pew and Ozz Negri; the gasoline-powered No. 70 Mazda Motorsports Mazda Prototype; and the #0 Claro/ TracFone DeltaWing DWC 13.
At least three Prototype Challenge (PC) cars are expected, with defending two-time champions Jon Bennett and Colin Braun in the #54 CORE autosport ORECA FLM09 joined by entries from BAR1 Motorsports with drivers Johnny Mowlem and Ryan Eversley, and JDC-Miller Motorsports.
Following the two-day test, the next official WeatherTech Championship session will be the Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Jan. 8-10, 2016.
