2014 Rolex 24 + Preseason Testing

The 2014 "Roar Before the 24" is underway and there's been a lot of major news stories coming from the test.

Prototype Entry List
0 - Meyrick/Legge/Rossi - DeltaWing - DeltaWing
1 - Daizel/Sharp/Brabham - Extreme Speed Motorsports - Honda ARX 03b
2 - Brown/van Overbeek/Pagenaud/Lazzaro - Extreme Speed Motorsports - Honda ARX 03b
5 - Barbosa/Fittapaldi/Bourdais - Action Express Racing - Corvette DP
6 - Graf/Luhr/Brundle/Dyer - Muscle Milk Pickett Racing - Oreca 03
9 - Giroux/Johansson/Burt Frisselle/Brian Frisselle/Martin - Action Express Racing/Delta ADR - ???
01 - Pruett/Rojas/Karam/McMurry - Chip Ganassi Racing - Ford Riley
02 - Kanaan/M. Franchitti/Larson/Dixon - Chip Ganassi Racing - Ford Riley
07 - Nunez/J. Miller/Vaultier - SpeedSource - Mazda Skyactiv-D SDR14
10 - R. Taylor/J. Taylor/Angelelli/W. Taylor - Wayne Taylor Racing - Corvette DP
31 - Curran/Said/Papis/Smith - Marsh Racing - Corvette DP
42 - Pla/Rusinov/Yacaman - Oak Racing - Morgan Nissan
50 - ??? - Highway to Help - BMW Riley
60 - Negri/Pew/Wilson/Allmendinger - Michael Shank Racing - Ford Riley
70 - Tremblay/Long - SpeedSource - Mazda Skyactiv-D SDR 14
90 - Valiante/Westbrook/Rockenfeller - Spirit of Daytona - Corvette DP
99 - Fogarty/Gurney/Gidley/Law - Bob Stallings Racing - Corvette DP


For GT Le Mans the Entry List is:
3 - Garcia/Magnussen/Briscoe - Corvette Racing - Corvette C7-R
4 - Gavin/Milner/Liddell - Corvette Racing - Corvette C7-R
55 - Prialux/Auberlan/Hand/Maxime Martin - BMW Rahal Letterman Racing - BMW Z4
56 - Muller/Edwards/Werner/Rahal - BMW Rahal Letterman Racing - BMW Z4
57 - Krohn/Jonsson/Bertolini/Dumbreck - Krohn Racing - Ferrari 458 Italia
62 - ??? - Risi Competizone - Ferrari 458 Italia
91 - Farnbacher/Goossens/Hunter Reay - SRT Motorsports - SRT Viper GTS-R
93 - Wittmer/Bomarito/Bell - SRT Motorsports - SRT Viper GTS-R
97 - Turner/Mucke/Lamy/Stanaway/Dalla Lana - Aston Martin Racing - Aston Martin V8 Vantage
911 - Lietz/Tandy/Pilet - Porsche North America/Core Autosport - Porsche 911 RSR
912 - Christenson/Long/Bergmeister - Porsche North America/Core Autosport - Porsche 911 RSR

Falkan is skipping Daytona.

I don't have time to type out the other entry lists but they are available here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_United_SportsCar_Championship_season

Notable entrants from GTD
- The TRG Astons finally appear.
- Flying Lizard is running Audis now, as is Paul Miller Racing
- Shane van Gisbergen is driving for Alex Job Racing, who has returned to Porsche
- There's a pseudo-factory Viper with Jeroen Bleekemolen, Ben Keating, Sebastian Bleekemolen, and Emmanuel Collard.
- Pierregiuseppe Perrazini is in the race with Gianluca Roda (I misread that at first) as his co-driver.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112104

IndyCar driver Graham Rahal will race a BMW for his father's team in the Rolex 24.

Entry list has been released.

http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/races/entry_lists/Daytona%20Entry%20List%201-15.pdf

Gabe Newell (yes THE Gabe Newell) is backing Team Seattle (aka The Heart of Racing) for the 2014 season. 

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/gabe-newell-reddit/

Another reason for me to like Gabe Newell.

Entry List Notes
Drivers From Other Series:
- Sebastien Bourdais for Action Express Racing
- Alexander Rossi in the DeltaQWing
- Jamie McMurry, Sage Karam, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, and Kyle Larson are getting runs for Ganassi
- Mike Shank Racing has AJ Allmendinger and Justin Wilson
- Simon Pagenaud is in the Extreme Speed (Patron) Car #2.
- SpeedSource has James Hinchcliffe and Tristan Vaultier
- Rob Huff (from WTCC) is driving the 8Star Motorsports car in LMPC.
- Graham Rahal is driving one of the factory BMWs
- Ryan Briscoe is driving for Corvette Racing
- Ryan Hunter Reay is driving a factory Viper.
- DTM driver Augusto Farfus is driving the Turner Motorsports BMW
- Shane van Gisbergen is driving for Alex Job (and he might do more than just Daytona)

Other Notes
- Paul Dalla Lana is listed in both the #97 Aston Martin and the Turner Motorsports BMW. Huh?
- Wayne Taylor is coming back from retirement to join his sons and Max Angelelli

Alpineopossum wrote:Entry List Notes
Drivers From Other Series:
- DTM driver Augusto Farfus is driving the Turner Motorsports BMW

YES  . I didn't know that Turner would run with SportsCars

EDIT: There'll be a full Brazilian team in the Daytona 24hrs:

Scuderia Corsa: The team will race with the following drivers:

Francisco Longo: He's the official representative of Ferrari and Maserati here on Brazil.
Xande Negrão: Drives on StockCar Brasil. Races part-time on FIA GT1
Marcos Gomes: Also StockCar Driver, is the son of the first champion of the series.
Daniel Serra: Another StockCar driver. Runner-up in the 2013 season. Also races part-time on FIA GT1

Fisi will move from AF Corse in the WEC to Risi in the USCC too, after having been bumped to the second AF Corse car in the Bahrain 6 Hours last year losing him the title to his original co-driver Gimmi Bruni.

Alpineopossum wrote:- Shane van Gisbergen is driving for Alex Job (and he might do more than just Daytona)i

He's doing the Bathurst 12 Hour.

I don't know why this is a thing, but IMSA has just announced a driver rankings list which will determine what cars a driver can and cannot compete in. This uses a system based off of a drivers experience and is used by the FIA. Here's a basic rundown of the system.

Spoiler: