After a long winter, America's first major motorsports event of 2024 takes the green flag this Saturday.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona, the first and longest event in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, features some of the world's best drivers across the best series together on Daytona International Speedway's Road Course.

This year's race will feature at least a dozen IndyCar Series drivers, including last year's Indianapolis 500 and series champions, and a Formula One world champion.

Twin Checkers is here to preview the race for motorsports fans new and old, highlighting names you need to know, key storylines and what to look for once the clock begins its day-long countdown.

GTP Preview

In its second year, GTP will continue to feature a fierce manufacturer-funded battle for America's most prestigious endurance crown: overall Daytona 24 champion. Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche return with some of the most complex racing machines on the planet, and additional privateer teams will take the same cars and compete with the factory-backed outlets in the same class. Barring an act of God, the overall winner of the race will come from this class.

In qualifying last weekend, Brazilian driver Pipo Derani set a track record to put the defending GTP series champions, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing team, on pole position. The No. 31 led multiple laps last year during the night, but lengthy suspension damage repairs left them 5th and 12 laps down when the clock ran out. Co-driver Jack Aitken returns, and Tom Blomqvist, a Rolex champion last year with Meyer Shank Racing, will try to keep the 31 car up front this year.

Cadillac's other entry from Chip Ganassi Racing will start second. The runner-up lap by Sebastian Bourdais completes the U.S. manufacturer's sweep of the front row. Multi-time IMSA race winner Renger van der Zande will join Alex Palou and Scott Dixon, last year's IndyCar Series champion and runner-up, in the No. 01 car.

Last year's Daytona 24 winner, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura, is not on the grid this year. Cheating — manipulation of tire pressure data, meaning the team could run lower-pressure tires and gain a competitive advantage — led to a fine and points penalty following the No. 60's victory last year. A story earlier this month in Racer.com tied the scandal to the pause in MSR's IMSA effort. Mike Shank also wants to return to the IMSA grid, reportedly discussing options with other manufacturers.

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti added a second car for this year, ensuring Acura will have two prototypes on the grid. With a star studded lineup including Jordan and Ricky Taylor (arguably IMSA's most successful brothers), Andretti's IndyCar stars Colton Herta and Marcus Ericsson, and 2009 Formula One champion Jensen Button, WTR+A will try to move up from fifth and sixth on the grid to bring Acura its fourth consecutive Daytona 24 overall victory.

Porsche Penske Motorsport returns with two cars. Car No. 7 includes last year's Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden. Felipe Nasr qualified the car third, and co-pilots Dane Cameron and Matt Campbell will look to get past the Cadillacs and control the race as quickly as possible. Car No. 6 includes Kévin Estre and Andre Lotterer, who spent much of last year piloting the European-spec model of the Porsche 963 prototype in the World Endurance Championship, including the 24 Hours of LeMans. They're joined by Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor, who won with the No. 6 at Indianapolis and Long Beach last IMSA season. They'll start 7th Saturday.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's BMW prototypes were a handful last season at Daytona, but the team rebounded later in the year to win the six hour race at Watkins Glen. With car No. 25 starting fourth and No. 24 starting eighth, the BMWs will have to keep themselves out of trouble starting further back in the prototype field, but should have plenty of opportunities to make their way forward and contend for a win.

The two privateer cars, entered by teams not supported by car manufacturers, paced the fourth practice session last weekend, proving there's pace in the cars in race trim. JDC-Miller MotorSports and Proton Competition's Porsche 963s could not replicate that speed in qualifying, and they'll round out the GTP field in ninth and tenth respectively. In fact, the Proton car didn't take part in qualifying at all after a crash before the session.

Every prototype to complete qualifying was within 1 second of the No. 31's first-place lap. Keeping in the race and fighting mechanical gremlins are most important, especially with the complex hybrid energy systems each car in GTP has. Knowing when to push and back out as these fast cars carve through slower traffic in the LMP2 and GT3 fields will be key, and the teams might not even have a clear picture of who will be up front at the end until the halfway point or later.

It's a long race, and the only way to guarantee you won't win is not make it to the end.

LMP2 Preview

In LMP2, a slower and more strictly regulated prototype class, United Autosports driver Ben Keating set the pace with a 1:38.501 second lap. His co-drivers include journeyman Ben Hanley, Nico Pino, and Arrow McLaren IndyCar star Pato O'Ward.

With last year's LMP2 champions Proton Competition fielding a GTP this year, there will not be a repeat winner in the class. With the elimination of the LMP3 class, five more entries were accepted in LMP2, meaning a robust 13 car field will fight for the win this year — including former Formula One star Felipe Massa in the No. 74 Riley car, and seven total IndyCar drivers.

Last year's LMP2 finish was one of the best motorsports moments of the year. The top two cars were nose-to-tail entering the final corners, and by using the draft on the high speed oval corners from the leading LMP3 car, the Proton vaulted forward at the last second to grab a victory.

GTD Pro/GTD Preview

The largest group of cars in the field is the GT3-spec cars, which are most closely derived from road-going vehicles. Acura, Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Mercedes Benz and Porsche will do battle in this class. If you can't find a favorite car, you might be following the wrong sport.

The GT3 field is split by driver rating level, and international rating set by the FIA. Pro teams are allowed to have more Gold and Platinum drivers, or drivers that are experienced and excel at motorsports. GTD teams must balance stricter ratings limitations, sometimes including an amateur driver that may only race on the side.

In GTD Pro, new Mustang and Corvette models will compete in GT3 spec for the first time. Accomplished driver lineups will try to put the American brands on top, or at least besting the other one.

In GTD, the Iron Dames team, made up of four women, will try to best their finish last year where they ran into mechanical issues. The team of  Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Doriane Pin return with more experience, and a GT class win in WEC's 8 Hours of Bahrain at the end of last year.

In all, 59 teams and xxx drivers will hit the high banks at Daytona this weekend. I can't preview every story out there, and there are plenty to tell (besides, this is already over 1,000 words), so I'll wrap it up.

The race starts at 1:40 p.m. ET Saturday on NBC, and ends — you guessed it — 1:40 p.m. ET Sunday, also on NBC. The entire race is available to stream via Peacock.

IndyCar Drivers in the Rolex 24 Field

GTP

• Scott Dixon — 01 Cadillac Racing (Chip Ganassi Racing) Cadillac V-Series.R
• Alex Palou — 01 Cadillac Racing (Chip Ganassi Racing) Cadillac V-Series.R
• Josef Newgarden — 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963
• Marcus Ericsson — 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06
• Tom Blomqvist — 31 Action Express Racing (Whelen Engineering) Cadillac V-Series.R
• Colton Herta — 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06

LMP2

• Pato O'Ward — 2 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson
• Scott McLaughlin — 8 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07-Gibson
• Christian Rasmussen — 18 Era Motorsport Oreca 07-Gibson
• Felix Rosenqvist — 22 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson
• Kyffin Simpson — 81 DragonSpeed Oreca 07-Gibson

GTDPRO

• Alexander Rossi — 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo (with James Hinchcliffe)
• Kyle Kirkwood — 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3
• Romain Grosjean — 60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2