This weekend marks the start of the North American racing season with the 59th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

This year's race sees 9 Canadian's taking part, with 3 drivers in the LMP 2 class, one on LMP 3, one in GTLM and 4 in GTD.

Devlin DeFranceso and Garrett Grist are both racing with DragonSpeed Motorsports, with Grist in the 81 and DeFranceso in the 82. Both cars should be a threat to win the class.

Also running in LMP2 is John Farano in the #8 Tower Motorsports car. All 3 Canadians are in Gibson powered ORECA 07's.

Canadian businessman Cameron Cassels from British Columbia is the lone Canadian competing in the LMP3 class in the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier.

2012 DTM Champion Bruno Spengler is the only Canadian in the GTLM class, back in the #25 Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan factory BMW M8 GTE. BMW Team RLL are the defending Rolex 24 at Daytona GTLM champions and should be in the mix again this year.

The GTD category is probably the most hotly-contested class, and4 Canadians will be in the fight for the class win.

Zacharie Robichon returns to the Pfaff Motorsport team, pole-sitter in last years race, and the #9 Porsche 911 GT3.R The Pfaff team is always strong and should be in contention for the win.

After a 3rd place finish with WRT Speedstar and their Audi R8 last year, Morad moves back to familiar surroundings with Alegra Motorsports, with whom he won the 2016 Porsche GT3 Cup Canada title. This year, Morad will be in the #28 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

After an early crash and DNF in last years race, 2019 Porsche GT3 Cup Canada & USA champion Roman De Angelis returns to the Heart of Racing Aston Martin and the #23 Vantage GT3.

After missing a couple of years, Mikael Grenier returns with Sun 1 energy, the team he finished 8th with on 2018. Grenier will be piloting the #75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

In the Friday Michelin Pilot Cup Challenge support race, there will be 6 Canadians, 4 in the top Grand Sports (GS) class and 2 in the TCR class.

Leading the way is the all-Canadian teaming of Orey Fidnai and Kuno Wittmer in the McLaren 570S GT4.

James Vance returns with FastMD Racing, with whom he drove last season in TCR, stepping up to the GS class in the #83 Audi R8 LMS GT4. The team was fast last season in TCR, and the addition of Alex Papadopulos should keep the car up from in Daytona.

Kyle Marcelli is always a threat, no matter what he drives, and returns to the GS class with KohR Motorsport, and a return to the Ford Mustang, after a season with Aston Martin. Marcelli will definitely be among the favourites on Friday.

In the TCR class, Mark Wilkins returns for another season with in the Brian Herta Autosport Hyundai Veloster N TCR team, the team he won the 2019 TCR championship with, and will be one of the favourites in the TCR class at Daytona, and all season long.

Denis Dupont makes his Daytona debut in the #19 Van der Steur Racing Hyundai Veloster N TCR.

In Canada, the Michelin Pilot Cup Challenge race can be streamed on IMSA.tv starting Friday from 1:30pm to 5:35pm, eastern time.

Coverage for the Rolex 24 at Daytona gets under way Saturday at 3:30pm and wraps up at 4:00pm on Sunday. The race can be seen in it's entirety, from start to finish, on Discovery Velocity.

For RaceCanada's 2021 Rolex 24 at Daytona Viewer's Guide, click here: