The Rolex 24 acts as the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, a North American sports car series. It is sim💮ilar to the global FIA World Endurance Championship, with a number of its entrants also appearing at the 🎐24 Hours of Le Mans each year.

The Daytona race has been a🌼 staple of the sports car racing calendar since its first running in 1962, back when it was a three-hour event and was first won by Dan Gurney. The race became a 24-hour race in 1966 before moving to a six-hour format for 1972 due to an energy cr🐷isis, only to return to its twice-around-the-clock format one year later.

Since 1991, Rolex has enjoyed title sponsorship of the 24 Hours of Daytona (hence i🦋t being called the Rolex 24), with the winning drivers in every class receiving a steel Rolex Daytona watch.

Notable previous winners of the race include Pedro Rodriguez, Juan Pablo Montoya, A. J. Foyt, Al🦄 Unser Jr., Scott Dixon, Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx.

The Rolex 24 is identified🔯 as being one of three endurance ‘classics’ through the sports car🌠 racing season, linking up with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring to form an unofficial ‘triple crown’ (similar to the one Alonso is chasing).