By RaceCanada
January 6, 2015

The entry list for this weekend's IMSA TUDOR Championship Roar Before The 24 is out and while it is encouraging to see a total of fifty-three (53) entries, we are most certainly saddened to see a very small contingent of Canadians in the race.

To give you a quick breakdown of the class numbers there are sixteen (16) Prototype, eight (8) Prototype Challenge, ten (10) GT LeMans and fifteen (15) GT Daytona entries. The numbers look to be pretty typical of overall entries for the 2014 season – although GTD looks a bit light. There are also three teams entered (one P – Deltawing / two GTD – Muehlner Motorsport) with drivers listed as T.B.A. Of course it is possible there will be additional cars for the Rolex 24 in a couple of weeks, but The Roar entry list pretty much covers the final car count.

Right off the top we are sad to see the omission of AIM Autosport from the GTD ranks. This championship-winning team was pretty much left standing at the altar at the end of the 2014 season and when changes happen that late, it is difficult to come up with a plan that will get you to the show. Also affected by some late-season decisions, 2014 GT LeMans Champion Kuno Wittmer is also knocked off the list with Dodge cancelling the SRT race program. This has left us with no Canadian teams entered (Vancouver's Bullet Racing pulled out a couple of years ago) in any class and just six Canadian drivers in the entire field.

Michael Valiante (Vancouver, BC) returns with VisitFlorida Racing in the #90 Corvette DP (Prototype) with teammate Richard Westbrook (UK). They will be joined by Mike Rockenfeller (Germany). Sylvain Tremblay (Montreal, QC) is listed as driver in both the #70 and #07 Speedsource Mazda Prototypes. No mention of Hinchcliffe making a return appearance.

That leaves four Canadians, all competing in Prototype Challenge. Chris Cumming (Vancouver, BC) will team with Jack Hawskworth, Bruno Junqueira and a fourth driver to be named in the #11 RSR Racing Oreca. David Ostella (Maple, ON) is back in the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca teamed with James French, Jerome Mee and Dalton Sargent. Mark Wilkins (Palgrave, ON) once again joins Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and James Gue for a one-off in the #54 CORE Autosports Oreca. Making his TUDOR debut is 2014 IMSA Lites Champion Mikhail Goikhberg (Vancouver, BC). He is teamed with Stephen Simpson (UK) in the #85 JDC/Miller Motorsports Oreca. There are no additional drivers listed for this car.

The Roar Before The 24 is a final shakedown for most of the teams – although quite a few have already been testing new cars and making adjustments to new regulations. We expect by the end of the weekend everyone will be posting some race-ready times. The action gets underway this Friday (9th) and we will be following the action. Note that the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series will also be on hand. We have yet to see the entry list for CTSC but expect a bit more Canadian content.

What we will be looking at down the road is the shakeout following The 24 in a few weeks. While the entries look good considering there are a couple of missing teams, there are also a number of teams which compete only in The 24 and then move on. Having said that, we will fill you in on RaceCanada's plans for coverage of the various series we follow in the next couple of weeks.

Until then, watch for updates this weekend on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/RaceCanada.ca) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/RaceCanada_ca)