IMSA
Rast reunites with G-Drive Racing for Rolex 24 at Daytona
Three-time DTM champion Rene Rast will return to prototype competition in the 2022 Rolex 24 at Daytona with G-Drive Racing by APR.
James Newbold
Edited: Dec 20, 2021, 9:23 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Russian entrant, continuing its partnership with Algarve Pro Racing, will make its debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener as part of its preparations for a return to the FIA World Endurance Championship with a single Oreca 07 LMP2 next season.
It will run two Orecas in the LMP2 class at Daytona, with Rast joined in its #26 entry by former IndyCar racer Ed Jones, FIA Formula 3 graduate Oliver Rasmussen and bronze-rated Francois Heria.
The second car will be shared by Formula 2 veteran Luca Ghiotto, European Le Mans Series race-winner James Allen, 17-year-old FIA F3 racer Tijmen van der Helm and team regular Jon Falb, who won the LMP2 Pro-Am title in the ELMS with G-Drive by APR this season.
Rast, 35, is set to make his first outing in a prototype since Daytona 2019 with Mazda, ahead of his role in leading development on Audi's upcoming 2023 LMDh racer.
A class-winner at Daytona in 2016 with Magnus Racing's Audi R8 in the GT Daytona class, Rast finished third outright in 2017 in a Spirit of Daytona Racing-run Riley.
He was a G-Drive regular during the 2016 WEC season, taking a single victory in Bahrain.
G-Drive team principal Roman Rusinov will not be competing at Daytona, but welcomed Rast's addition to the team.
“G-Drive Racing has been the most successful team in the LMP2 class over the last decade so the interest in our first participation in the Daytona 24 hours was very high,” he said.
“As always, we carefully approached the choice of drivers, and I think we have assembled the best possible team, which is a mix of youth and experience.
“I am especially glad that my friend Rene Rast has returned to our team. His speed, experience, and past success at Daytona make him extremely valuable for the team and I’m sure we have all ingredients for victory in this iconic event.”
WEC outfits United Autosports, DragonSpeed, Racing Team Nederland and High Class Racing have already committed to entering LMP2 cars Daytona, with the latter trio all planning full-season IMSA campaigns.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Stevens confident he can help WTR find continued success
Next article Muller added to High Class LMP2 line-up for Rolex 24
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
James Newbold
Did Audi ‘give up’ on GT3 too soon?
GT
Did Audi ‘give up’ on GT3 too soon?
Alex Zanardi’s top 10 moments
IndyCar
Alex Zanardi’s top 10 moments
More from
René Rast
"Would have ended very differently": Luck for van der Linde in horror crash
DTM
DTM
Norisring
3 mo
"Would have ended very differently": Luck for van der Linde in horror crash
Rene Rast announces DTM exit on eve of 2025 finale
DTM
DTM
Hockenheim
1 y
Rene Rast announces DTM exit on eve of 2025 finale
Two penalties cost Rast DTM points lead heading into season finale
DTM
DTM
Red Bull Ring
1 y
Two penalties cost Rast DTM points lead heading into season finale
More from
G-Drive Racing
G-Drive withdraws from WEC, Le Mans over FIA’s Russia code of conduct
WEC
WEC Mar 6, 2022
G-Drive withdraws from WEC, Le Mans over FIA’s Russia code of conduct
Ex-F1 racer Kvyat joins G-Drive for 2022 WEC season
WEC
WEC Feb 14, 2022
Ex-F1 racer Kvyat joins G-Drive for 2022 WEC season
Menezes joins G-Drive for final two ELMS races of 2021
European Le Mans
European Le Mans
Spa
Sep 14, 2021
Menezes joins G-Drive for final two ELMS races of 2021
Latest news
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
11 min
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 27 min
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
31 min
Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
3 h
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe