Racing Team Turkey will enter the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January 2023.
The Turkish team, which is run by TF Sport, will enter an LMP2 in the 24 hours classic, for the very first time.
TF Sport has previously entered the 24 hours race with a GT car, and will do so again in 2023, but they haven’t done a long run with an LMP2 car on the oval circuit, with the twisty infield.
It will be a mix of well-known drivers, and two who have never worn the red Racing Team Turkey colors. Salih Yoluc is naturally the root of the team, and he will bring along Charlie Eastwood, who has been his teammate for the past many years in both GTE and LMP2 runnings.
Juan Manuel Correa is a new driver to the team. Correa made his LMP2 debut at Spa Francorchamps in September for Prema Racing in the European Le Mans Series, and won at the very first go, and helped teammates Louis Deletraz and Ferdinand Habsburg to the overall title in the series.
Photo: JJ Media
Phil Hanson wears a different pair of overalls, for the very first time since 2017. Well, not that he has worn the exact same suit for the past years – but there have been United Autosports logos on them ever since. That was also the team for him, at his first two Daytona outings. He raced the 2018 edition of the race alongside none other than Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris as teammates, while the 2022 edition had Guy Smith, Will Owen and Jim McGuire sharing the car. So he will be the experienced driver in the car – just like in ELMS, where he has been the team leader for the last few seasons, despite his young age, where he often has been the one with the most LMP2 experience in the car.
This is the only scheduled IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race for the team for now, but this is the most prestigious of them all.
There is however another race one and a half months later in Florida at Sebring, so who knows if the team will do an extra race in the states, before returning to the European circuits.
The 24 hours race at Daytona International Speedway will be run on 28-29 January 2023.
