Daytona Rising is ready for its public debut and what a grand event weekend the motorsports stadium has in store for race fans.

The Rolex 24 At Daytona will kick off the professional racing season when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Champion takes to Daytona International Speedway's 3.56-mile road course at 2:40 p.m. Saturday to begin the twice-around-the-clock classic.

The racing and festivities officially start Thursday when IMSA's four classes of sports cars — Prototypes, Prototype Challenge, GT Le Mans and GT Daytona — roar off for practice that begins at 9:25 a.m.

The cars that comprise the Rolex 24 field will share track time with IMSA's Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and Ferrari Challenge, which has two races scheduled.

The marquee cars take to the track for qualifying Thursday afternoon, topped off by the top-gun class Prototypes at 5:15 p.m. Once the lineup is set, the cars return for an all-important night practice, which starts at 6:30 p.m.

The Ferrari Challenge, Race 1 will go off at 11:45 a.m. Friday, followed by the BMW Performance 200 for the Continental Challenge cars.

The Ferrari Challenge, Race 2 will be staged at 9:30 a.m. Saturday as the warm-up act to the Rolex 24. The starting time of America's most prestigious road course is 2:40 p.m. Saturday.

Once the green flag is displayed, the 50-plus car field will turn laps for the next 24 hours before a champion is crowned Jan. 31. The Speedway expects a big crowd in its new stadium for the start of the race.

Construction on Daytona Rising began July 8, 2013. Since then, the Speedway grandstand has slowly turned into a one-of-a-kind motorsports stadium.

The stadium, which stretches nearly a mile long on International Speedway Boulevard, features five primary entrances. The steel-core structure stands 150-feet high and boasts 101,500 seats.

The Speedway received its certificate of occupancy Jan. 12 from the City of Daytona Beach building department.

The final grandstand seat was bolted into place by International Speedway Corp. chairman Jim France, with assistance from a long-time ticketholder, on Jan. 19.

As part of the redesign, fans will no longer have to trudge to their seats. Each entrance, or so-called “fan injector,” has escalators and elevators to whisk fans up to their seat area in one of three levels.

At each level there is a concourse area with new concessions, bathrooms and “neighborhoods,” which feature tables and chairs and flat-screen televisions in every direction.

Fans will also have access to free Wi-Fi while in the concourse areas.

There are numerous racing storylines, such as Ford's return to the GT class.

The Ford GT will make its debut run as a Le Mans GT-class car in the Rolex 24. While it races under the Ganassi Racing banner, it is a factory effort. Ford wants to showcase its engineering and design to the world.

“This is the only class where all the drivers are professional,” said Ford GT pilot Richard Westbrook, who drove for Daytona Beach-based Visit Florida Racing last season. “There are no gentlemen drivers or semi-pros. All the cars have factory support. This is THE class right now.”

With the gang from the “Blue Oval” back in the game, the Rolex 24 will pit Ford directly against Chevrolet's Corvette C7, a long anticipated battle in the sports-car ranks.

But the overall winner will more than likely come from the Prototype class, where some of the most sophisticated racing equipment in the world is utilized to make these cars fast and durable.

Chip Ganassi found funding to bring his two-car Prototype effort back to attempt to defend its Rolex 24 championship.

The No. 02 Riley Ford, powered by virtually the same engine in the Ford GT sedan, will reunite 2015 champions Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan likely for the last time. They will be joined by the No. 01 sister car.

Ganassi has won this race six times since 2006, including late year's victory with the entry dubbed by the media as the “star car.”

“I'm super pumped up about being here,” McMurray said during a recent IMSA test session. “Historically, Chip's cars have run well here, so we'll have a chance for sure. It's all about making it to the end.”

Meanwhile, Scott Pruett, who has five overall Rolex 24 victories and is tied with Hurley Haywood atop the all-time list of most wins in this race, has switched teams.

Pruett, who drove for Ganassi last season, moves over to the No. 5 Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype, which won the 2014 Rolex 24 and has captured the last two series' championships.

The No. 5 Action Express Racing DP is owned by Daytona Beach businessman Bob Johnson, who has two championship trophies and Rolex 24 trophies in his office.

In addition to racing, there will be plenty going on in the infield including live entertainment, a midway full of vendors and carnival rides featuring a wild-looking Ferris wheel.

The popular Taste of the 24 event is a go. It has moved from the backstretch suites, which no longer exist, to the Daytona Rising stadium midway suites.

 

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