Felipe Massa prepares for his debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona

The press has already dubbed Felipe Massa’s attempts to protest the results of the 2008 World Championship ‘Nonsense of the Year’, but the ex-Formula 1 driver’s activity is not limited to this strange lawsuit. He continues to race, this year competing on the Stock Car Pro circuit in his home country in a Chevrolet Cruze and sitting 12th in the individual standings one round before the end of the season.

But at the same time, Felipe is preparing for his debut in the US IMSA Championship and will go to the start of the 24-hour marathon in Daytona in January with an Oreca 07 LMP2 class sports prototype as part of the Riley crew team .

Testing behind the wheel of an LMP3 car at Daytona in 2023, and recently at Road Atlanta, the Brazilian made quite an impression on the team and was included in the No. 74 crew. Massa’s partners will be his younger compatriot and namesake Felipe Fraga, American Gar Robinson and Australian Josh Burdon.

“Over the years I have always tried to participate in one of these races and now for the first time I will be at the start of the 24 Hours of Daytona with the Riley Motorsports team. – Felipe commented on his social media pages. “This is a great team that has an important place in American motorsport, so I would like to thank Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga, who I consider my brother, for inviting me.

We race with him in the Stock Car Pro Series, but now we have to become partners for the first time. Together with Josh, there will be four of us in this crew. I am very happy and confident that I will have a very interesting experience in this important race.”

Apparently Massa will drive alone for Riley at the season-opening Daytona in the US IMSA series, while the remaining three will spend the full season. Next week, all endurance championship teams will meet at the Daytona International Speedway for so-called “homologation testing.”