Formula 1 veteran Felipe Massa will make his first start at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January as part of Riley Motorsports’ new LMP2 program.
The Brazilian, who won 11 F1 world championship races while driving for Ferrari, will partner with countryman Felipe Fraga, Texan Gar Robinson — IMSA’s 2023 LMP3 champion — and Australian Josh Burdon.
Although his open-wheel career ended in 2020 after spending two seasons in Formula E, the 42-year-old has kept busy in recent years as a marquee name in the Brazilian Stock Car series, which should make the transition to racing with a roof over his head in an ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2 car less of an abrupt adjustment.
“I’m here to announce that I will race 24 Hours of Daytona,” Massa said in a social media post. “I always try to do one of these races in my career and it will be the first time that I will race Daytona with Riley Motorsports, a very great and important team here in the U.S. Thank you very much to Gar for the invitation.”
Massa joins a growing list of all-star drivers, including 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button and 2023 Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden, who will take part in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.
“The opportunity came up and the ability to be able to share a car with a legend like Felipe Massa and my brother Felipe Fraga,” Robinson said. “It checks all the cool boxes on every box.”
