0
0
Third Year into New Formula, A Wave of Potential Long-Term Players Arrives
April 21, 2025
By Tony DiZinno
IMSA Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Every “era” of sports car racing has its iconic performers. In IMSA’s more than 50-year history, that’s broken down by top-class periods of who’s starred in prototypes.
With the reborn Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class now three years into the formula, there’s a pattern of stars starting to emerge. There are long-time prototype drivers who raced in the previous Daytona Prototype international (DPi) and Daytona Prototype and/or Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) iterations before GTP competing alongside those whose main top-class experience is focused on GTP.
Drivers north of 30 years old with more extensive experience include the Taylor brothers, Filipe Albuquerque, Earl Bamber, Nick Tandy, Colin Braun and Renger van der Zande. They all made their IMSA debuts more than a decade ago and have been regular race winners, Rolex 24 victors and/or IMSA champions in that time.
Where the baton may be passed is to the drivers in their mid-to-late-20s or early-30s, who are poised for longer-term success.
That group includes Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet, Jack Aitken, Louis Deletraz, Tom Blomqvist, Nick Yelloly, Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and all four BMW M Team RLL full-season drivers. Aside of Nasr, their IMSA debuts have come within the last decade, and most of their IMSA prototype racing appears set to occur in GTP machinery.
Nasr’s the most successful of this “newer” group, straddling the line well between DPi and GTP eras. After two years in Formula 1, Nasr arrived to the IMSA paddock full-time in 2018 (also won Sunoco Challenge in 2012 and raced that year’s Rolex 24 with Michael Shank Racing) and promptly won the championship in his first attempt, sharing the No. 31 Whelen-backed, Action Express Racing-prepared Cadillac DPi-V.R with Eric Curran.
Subsequent success included a second DPi title in 2021 alongside Pipo Derani, his first GTP title with Dane Cameron in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 last year and three Rolex 24 wins in the last four years (GTD PRO with Pfaff Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 R in 2022, then back-to-back Rolex 24 wins in 2024 and 2025).
The Brazilian is only 32, so he should have at least half a decade if not more ahead of him to add to his accolades of 14 wins achieved, including the first three races of 2025. In recent years, he’s been at the tip of the spear of Porsche Penske’s program development, and the success has followed.
“I was asked, ‘Why do you want to join the program?’ I said, ‘Well, I want to create history with you guys. I mean, you guys, look at all the statements you made. I want to continue history,’” Nasr reflected at Motul Petit Le Mans after winning the 2024 championship.
“Here we are. 2022 was the development. 2023 was a difficult season. Come ’24, we completely changed the pace of the program and finally getting everything done, winning all the championships possible. That’s exactly what I’m here for and representing such two big names in the sport like Porsche and Penske. For me as a driver and as a person, it’s a unique moment for sure to cherish.”
Teammates Jaminet and Campbell, both 30, are becoming a tandem to remember. They made occasional IMSA GT starts in the late 2010s but flourished as full-season co-drivers with Pfaff in 2022 in GTD PRO as part of a dominant championship run. Called up to GTP in 2023 as part of the Porsche Penske lineup, they’ve won races (they have 11 and 12 in their IMSA careers) and now are reunited in 2025.
“The opportunity came up to be together with Matt again. It just feels natural, not like a change,” Jaminet explained.
Aitken, 29, and Deletraz, turning 28 on Tuesday, have followed similar paths. Former Formula 2 drivers, with Aitken even securing a single stand-in Formula 1 start, they shifted to sports car racing and joined two of IMSA’s longest-standing prototype teams with Cadillac Whelen and Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing, respectively. Both served as third drivers before finding their way into full-time seats.
“The GTP level is extremely high, and it’s really nice to be part of it,” Deletraz said. “I joined IMSA and saw how it grew with all the manufacturers involved and how good the racing is. Of course, it also brings I think the best of myself. You want to win every time you’re out there and, I mean, some drivers have much more experience than me, but I think we’re on a level playing field here.”
Aitken added, “I’m enjoying it a lot. I think the talent is really stacked too, and the racing is a lot of fun over here as well, you know, even compared to the WEC where it’s very different. There’s a lot more sprint racing within the race, you need to be pretty on your guard, elbows out, to hold your position here.”
Blomqvist, now 31, had his star turn when he joined Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian. After a single season with BMW M Team RLL in GT Le Mans competition in 2019, a key test with MSR’s then-DPi program propelled him into the team’s ranks in 2022. Known for his speed and savvy, Blomqvist has become a barnstormer en route to two Rolex 24 wins, two Motul Petit Le Mans wins and a handful of Motul Pole Awards. His partnership with Braun, an IMSA regular for nearly two decades despite only being 37, has proven beneficial for both.
“We’ve done it for long enough that the egos are put aside,” Blomqvist said. “That’s kind of what endurance racing typically is all about. There’s always a tiny bit of compromise in there somewhere. You’ve got to be OK with that while maximizing it.”
Yelloly, 34, has a bit more experience in GT and only just moved to Acura MSR from BMW. He and van der Zande represent a unique blend in the category, both over 30, having raced with other manufacturers in the top-level class rather than ascending through a junior program. They scored their first podium together with Acura at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Gunn, 28, and De Angelis, 24, have developed their partnership over their rise through GT racing before rising with Aston Martin to the new Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie program in GTP. De Angelis has eschewed the path taken by most of his contemporaries to GTP, since his development has come most often through IMSA-sanctioned championships.
“A lot of drivers in WEC and IMSA have come from open wheel backgrounds or European backgrounds. I think I’m one of the few who have done it from random opportunities in my career, largely through the IMSA ladder. I’m a big advocate for IMSA,” said the Canadian.
Then there’s the BMW M Team RLL foursome of Philipp Eng, 35, Dries Vanthoor, who turned 27 on Sunday, Marco Wittmann, 35, and Sheldon van der Linde, 25, collectively the newest members of IMSA’s GTP class. Eng is the lone member with a full season’s IMSA experience, while the younger Vanthoor and van der Linde brothers are embarking on a cross-continent tour of IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Both have started strongly. Vanthoor has won the first three Motul Pole Awards of the season while Van der Linde appreciated a full year of primarily prototype racing ahead, rather than switching between cars.
“When you jump into the GT3 car, it always takes you a session or two to get back into the rhythm again,” van der Linde said. “Whereas now you jump straight back into the car and you’re on it from lap one and you know exactly what to expect. Just small things like the steering wheel buttons or whatever.”
This group of drivers in factory-supported prototype entries doesn’t include other young drivers who may emerge – Tijmen van der Helm in JDC-Miller MotorSports’ privateer Porsche 963 for instance – or others who may appear in selected races.
But for the rest of 2025 and potentially beyond as the GTP formula runs through the next several years (it’s currently ratified through 2029), these are the names to get to know. Teams and manufacturers have brought them into their fold, and look set to keep them around for a while.
