DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Four experienced Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams will field five Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries across two IMSA GT classes this weekend in the 64th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 22 – 25, at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). Two-time and reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series GT Daytona (GTD) Champions Winward Racing fields an expanded two-car Mercedes-AMG GT3 team while single entries return for 75 Express, Bartone Bros. Racing with Team GetSpeed and Lone Star Racing. The teams collectively ran a combined 981 laps on the 3.56-mile DIS road course in the Roar’s seven on-track sessions for an impressive 3,492 miles, which is enough for a trip from New York City to London with a few miles to spare.
Last year’s top Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Rolex 24 results were delivered by the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with a comeback fourth-place finish in GTD and a North American race-debut fifth-place GTD Pro showing for the No. 69 Bartone Bros. Racing with Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Winward’s near-podium recovery proved to be the springboard to the team’s second-straight IMSA WeatherTech GTD team and driver championships, a rebound that saw the team spend half the race making up seven laps after an early technical issue. Last year’s no-quit lineup is back intact with full-season and two-time GTD champions Russell Ward and Philip Ellis once again joined by their endurance race teammates Indy Dontje and Lucas Auer.
The Bartone/GetSpeed team is back for its second Rolex 24 in GTD Pro with returning drivers Anthony Bartone and Fabian Schiller, who will be joined this year by 2023 GTD Pro winning co-driver Jules Gounon and Maximilian Götz.
Winward also gets in on the GTD Pro action this year with the team’s first two-car IMSA WeatherTech Championship program. Debuting with the team at the Rolex 24 At Daytona is the No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Scott Noble and Jason Hart, who will be joined by endurance race teammates Luca Stolz and Maxime Martin – who raced last year in the Bartone No. 69 – for their first Rolex 24 At Daytona together and first race in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The third GTD Pro Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing team is the returning No. 75 Express SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Kenny Habul, Maro Engel, Chaz Mostert and IndyCar standout Will Power, who makes his Rolex 24 debut.
The SunEnergy1 squad finished a close second in GTD when Winward Racing won its first of two Rolex 24s in 2021 and hopes to recapture that same competitive form again this weekend. Now competing in GTD Pro, the No. 75 has traditionally been on pace in recent Rolex 24s only to be hampered by setbacks. A turnaround is in the cards this weekend after a strong showing at the Roar.
Lone Star Racing joins the Winward No. 57 in the GTD class as it makes its third Rolex 24 start to kickoff its third IMEC season. Returning team drivers Scott Andrews, Lin Hodenius and Ralf Aron will be joined by experienced team newcomer Jame Roe Jr. in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The Lone Star Racing team, with Andrews among the drivers, led at three different periods in its 2024 debut before taking the checkered flag in eighth place after some typical final-hour endurance race drama. A highlight of the team’s 2025 season was an impressive third-place qualifying effort at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) by Hodenius in his across-the-board debuts in IMSA, at IMS and with Lone Star Racing. He then charged to the lead at the race start, pacing the GTD field for the first 44 laps for more than an hour on the IMS road course.
In addition to the five Mercedes-AMG GT3 Rolex 24 contenders, Winward Racing and Murillo Racing field Mercedes-AMG GT4 entries in Friday’s season-opening IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge four-hour race.
Russell Ward’s father, Bryce Ward, is back in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 and will be joined by Daytona-debuting Daan Arrow.
Murillo Racing returns to Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) competition in partnership with the P1 Motor Club and racing’s newest high-speed power couple Aurora Straus and Kenny Murillo co-driving. Straus and Murillo, who married on New Year’s Eve, co-drive the No. 24 Murillo Racing P1 Motor Club Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The 64th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona begins with practice and qualifying this Thursday and a final practice Friday. The green flag is set to wave at 1:40 p.m. EST this Saturday.
Coverage of all 24 race hours of the race will stream in the United States on NBC’s Peacock and internationally on IMSA.TV and the official IMSA YouTube channel. The flagship NBC network will broadcast the start at 1:30 p.m. EST on Saturday and returns for the final two hours beginning at noon EST on Sunday.
Indy Dontje, Driver – No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I love Daytona. It will be my fifth time returning to the Rolex 24, and I’m super excited for that. Two weeks ago, somebody asked me, a Dutch guy and friend, ‘hey, are you ready for the race? Are you thinking you’re going to win or are you talking about going for the win?’ And then I said, ‘to be honest with you, every year we are in the mix, and we have a chance to win, a chance for the podium.’ I think we have never had a year where we didn’t fight for that. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to the race again after last weekend’s Roar. I even feel more confident we have a good car.”
Will Power, Driver – No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3: “The Rolex 24 is a very big event that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. So, really happy to be here, and doing it with Kenny Habul. You know, we raced against each other years ago in Australia, in Formula Ford and Formula 3. We’ve talked about it actually for a while, and a couple of times it fell through because of situations, but I like it. I am having a lot of fun. It’s a different style of racing. Dealing with cars motoring by you, having to navigate a lot of traffic and being very aware of what is going on around you. It’s fun, and I am looking forward to getting in the car again for the race.”
Ralf Aron, Driver – No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “Well, first of all, I’m super happy to be here for the second time, although I just went to the new driver briefing just to refresh everything because I don’t do IMSA all of the time. The team is very well prepared. They were well prepared last year as well, but I think they’ve taken another step this year. The torque sensors aren’t the new thing this year, so that made the Roar a lot easier already. We could focus more on procedures and on a proper test, just the pure car setup. So, I feel very prepared. We didn’t get a chance to fight at the end, unfortunately, last year, although I think the car was very capable and quick. The focus this year is to keep it clean until the end and be there to fight for it.”
Anthony Bartone, Driver – No. 69 Bartone Bros. Racing with Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3: “It was nice to be back in the car after a month off from our winning weekend at Sepang in the Asian Le Mans Series. This is my biggest race of the year, so it was great to start with three strong days of practice at the Roar. We are building off last year’s fifth-place finish to make the next step in performance. We completed our entire technical plan, and everyone feels good about the effort going into the race. The team completed all items on its test checklist and confirmed the car’s setup on Daytona’s high-banked oval sections. Thanks to my Dad, Tony, the GetSpeed team and the RealTime crew for their work.”
Maximilian Götz, Driver – No. 69 Bartone Bros. Racing with Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I think we made good progress over the three days at the Roar. We’ve changed the setup quite a bit, which was the target, and we are still learning about the tires. In the end, it was productive, and we have a good car. This is my sixth Rolex 24, so I have many laps here for comparison. It is a great way to kick off the season.”
Jason Hart, Driver – No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “The car showed up really good off the truck, and then we got very particular about a few nuances in specific corners. The team has created kind of a nice basket of changes that we ran through at the Roar, and now we have decided which direction we actually want to go, when does the car need to be best, which, of course, is the last few hours. But the overall drive of the car, the function, and how docile it is, how nice it is to drive, is quite good. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 is probably the most driver-friendly and easy to acclimate to of all of the GT3 cars. The nuances of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 exhibits are easy to get your head around, whereas other cars can be a little bit trickier. A good feeling for all of us this Sunday would be to be on the lead lap when the sun comes up. From there, good luck to our competitors because we feel we have a fantastic team and crazy fast closing drivers. We’re ready.”
