The 64th edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona is just around the corner, and five current drivers in the junior formula racing landscape as well as three 2025 graduates will take part in one of the world’s most famous endurance events. Feeder Series tells you more about them.

By Marco Albertini

Junior single-seater action has already been underway for two weeks this year, and now it’s the turn of sports car racing. The first such major event of the year is the 24 Hours of Daytona in Daytona Beach, Florida, which will serve as the first round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Sixty cars from four different classes are entered for the Florida-based endurance race, with a total of 228 drivers set to take part in the event. Eight of them either raced in junior single-seaters full-time last year or are competing in the discipline this year.

The race – colloquially known as the Rolex 24 after its longtime title sponsor – will feature four different classes of cars, from sports prototypes to production-based grand tourer cars, which will share the track at the same time as they compete for glory. 

GTP is the fastest category of sports prototypes, featuring a mix of cars conforming to the World Endurance Championship’s LMH class rules and IMSA’s similar LMDh rules. These cars contend for overall wins and mainly house manufacturer-backed drivers. 

Just below GTP is LMP2, the other prototype class of the race, which features line-ups consisting of a mix of professional and amateur drivers.

GTD Pro and GTD both use GT3 machinery, considered the pinnacle of GT racing. These classes are identical in specifications, but they differ in the driver pairings permitted. The former consists mostly of manufacturer-dictated, all-professional lineups, whereas the latter features a wider variety including professional, factory-backed drivers, sportscar newcomers and gentleman drivers.

Every driver in the field is assigned a rating by the FIA based on performance and age, ranging from Platinum to Bronze. The FIA’s annual ratings review at the end of each year determines whether drivers are promoted, demoted or kept at the same level.

Platinum is the highest category, for professional drivers, usually factory drivers for manufacturers or former Formula 1 drivers. Gold-categorised drivers are usually also professional drivers, while Silver-categorised drivers are mostly newcomers to sportscar racing. Finally, Bronze-categorised drivers are usually gentleman drivers who race as a hobby alongside their business ventures.

Colton Herta, #40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing (GTP)

2025 series: IndyCar, P7

FIA rating: Platinum

Teammates: Louis Delétraz, Jordan Taylor

Car: Cadillac V-Series.R

Starting position in class: P2

A prominent figure in the IndyCar scene, Colton Herta will switch to F2 this year with Hitech after making his eighth appearance at the 24 Hours of Daytona and third at the top level of endurance prototype competition.

Herta – a native of Santa Clarita, California – is no stranger to the 24 Hours of Daytona, having raced in it every year since his IndyCar debut. He took class wins in the GTLM class in 2019, aged 18, before repeating the feat in the LMP2 class in 2022. Those victories coincided with banner years in his IndyCar career – the first being the year he won his first race, the second being the year he was first seriously linked to an F1 seat.

Before that, Herta was a standout in junior single-seaters on both sides of the Atlantic, though a title win never materialised. In 2015, when he moved to Europe to race in MSA Formula – now British F4 – for Carlin, he took four wins and eight further podiums to finish third in points as Lando Norris won the title. A third-place points finish in Euroformula Open then followed for Herta before he returned stateside to race in Indy Lights for the following two years. He finished third in 2017 and missed out on the 2018 title by 44 points to Pato O’Ward, his teammate for his 2022 Rolex 24 victory.

Herta joined the IndyCar grid full-time in 2019 with Harding Steinbrenner Racing, partnered with Andretti Autosport, and became the series’ youngest race winner at Circuit of the Americas on just his third start in the series. He showed particularly strong form at road and street courses in his seven years in the series, taking nine victories and 16 poles – all but one of each on road or street courses. He never finished outside the top 10 in the standings, with a best championship position of second in 2024, 31 points behind Álex Palou.

After a winless season in 2025 that yielded seventh place, Herta was announced to be heading to F2, joining Hitech alongside Ritomo Miyata. The highly unusual move from a professional open-wheel series to a developmental championship comes as the Andretti-affiliated Cadillac F1 team makes its bow in the premier category.

Following the disqualification of the pacesetting Cadillac Whelen car from the Rolex 24 qualifying session, Herta will start the 24 Hours of Daytona from the front row thanks to teammate Louis Delétraz’s efforts in qualifying.

Kaylen Frederick, #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports (GTP)

2025 series: Super Formula Lights, P5

FIA rating: Gold

Teammates: Tijmen van der Helm, Nico Pino

Car: Porsche 963

Starting position in class: P7

Long-time junior formula racer Kaylen Frederick will make the switch to endurance prototypes in this weekend’s 24 Hours of Daytona after spending the last 10 years in single-seaters.

Born in Potomac, Maryland, Frederick made his single-seater debut in 2016 in the F1600 Championship for Team Pelfrey, scoring one win and three more podiums to take seventh in points. Having stepped up to USF2000 for the following two seasons, Frederick scored nine podiums and took fourth- and sixth- place finishes in his only full-time seasons on the Road to Indy ladder.

Upon moving to Europe for 2019, Frederick spent two years in British F3 for Carlin, finishing ninth in his rookie year with two wins before bettering that with nine wins and three extra podiums to take the 2020 title by 51 points over Kush Maini. Following that, Frederick competed in FIA F3 until 2023, taking a best result of fifth in the Silverstone sprint in 2022 and a best season result of 17th the same year while at Hitech.

In 2024, Frederick flew to Japan to race in Super Formula Lights for the Honda-affiliated B-Max Racing outfit. He scored his maiden series win at Okayama in race two and took three more podiums to end the year fifth in points. Remaining in the series for 2025, Frederick won at Autopolis and took three more podiums, once again finishing fifth in points despite leaving the team with a round to spare.

Until the very start of this year, Frederick’s plans for 2026 were unclear, but that all changed when he joined JDC-Miller MotorSports for select races of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, as a replacement for Bryce Aron, who was on the provisional entry list. Thus, Frederick will thus compete in the marquee events of the calendar, starting with the 24 Hours of Daytona, in the top class of endurance prototype racing alongside onetime F3 rival Tijmen van der Helm and Nico Pino. The team qualified seventh for the race.

Enzo Fittipaldi, #73 Pratt Miller Motorsports (LMP2)

2025 series: European Le Mans Series (LMP2), P6

FIA rating: Gold

Teammates: Chris Cumming, Manuel Espírito Santo, Pietro Fittipaldi

Car: Oreca 07

Starting position in class: P9

After spending 2025 solely in endurance prototype competition, Enzo Fittipaldi will add one more race in LMP2 competition before returning to single-seaters for a campaign with HMD Motorsports in Indy NXT.

Longtime junior single-seater aficionados will remember Fittipaldi, who began racing single-seaters in late 2016 in NACAM F4 before moving to Italy the following year to compete in Italian F4 for Prema Racing as member of the Ferrari Driver Academy. After finishing ninth in his rookie year in the series, Fittipaldi won the series title in 2018 with seven wins while also finishing third in the ADAC F4 standings.

Fittipaldi then continued with the team for his only season in FR Europe the following year, taking two wins and 11 other podiums to finish as the runner-up to Frederik Vesti by 131 points.

Moving to F3 for 2020, Fittipaldi scored a best result of fourth in the Mugello sprint. He returned to the series the following year with Charouz Racing System – having left the Ferrari stable – and scored a lone podium in race two at the Hungaroring. He stepped up to F2 later that year and remained there until autumn 2024, scoring two wins and 11 further podiums. Though his first full year with the struggling Charouz outfit turned heads, his best championship  finish was seventh in 2023, when he was a Red Bull junior.

Following his departure from F2 with two rounds left in 2024, Fittipaldi ventured over to the world of sportscars, competing in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series and taking a lone podium at Paul Ricard en route to a sixth-place points finish. But he never fully left the realm of single-seaters, as proven by his multiple test outings with McLaren’s IndyCar outfit. Indeed, in October, Fittipaldi announced his return to junior formulae, this time in Indy NXT. It marks his first time on the IndyCar support bill since 2021, when he raced for RP Motorsport in two Indy Pro 2000 races.

Ahead of his Indy NXT debut at the beginning of March, Fittipaldi will join older brother Pietro Fittipaldi, Chris Cumming and Manuel Espírito Santo for his first appearance at the 24 Hours of Daytona. The race marks Pratt Miller Motorsport’s second showing at the event in the LMP2 class. They will start ninth in class.

Max Esterson & Nikita Johnson, #59 RLL Team McLaren (GTD Pro)

Teammates: Dean MacDonald, Jüri Vips

Car: McLaren 720S GT3 Evo

Starting position in class: P2

Esterson

2025 series: F2, P23

FIA rating: Silver

Johnson

2025 series: FR Oceania, P3; GB3, P16; Indy NXT, P24*; F3, P32*

FIA rating: Silver

Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s first 24 Hours of Daytona appearance with a McLaren 720S Evo will feature a four-driver line-up consisting of two drivers who competed in junior formulae last year.  Max Esterson and Nikita Johnson will both make their debuts in GT racing this weekend.

Esterson began competing in Formula Ford in 2020 in America before moving to the UK, where he won the Walter Hayes Trophy in 2021 and the Formula Ford Festival in 2022. The latter accolade came alongside his rookie campaign in GB3 for Douglas Motorsport, in which he took a lone win at Donington en route to a seventh-place finish in the standings.

After taking an 11th-place finish in the standings in his sophomore year of GB3, Esterson then progressed to F3 with Jenzer in 2024, taking a best result of sixth on debut in the Bahrain sprint to end the year 21st in points. After racing in the last two rounds of the F2 season the same year, Esterson joined Trident for what was intended to be a full-length campaign in the series the following year. He scored a best result of 10th in the Spielberg sprint before leaving the team with three rounds to spare.

Johnson, meanwhile, made his single-seater debut in 2022 at the age of 13, winning the YACademy Winter Series and finishing third in USF Juniors for VRD Racing in his debut year. Remaining with VRD for the following year, Johnson had a strong maiden campaign in USF2000, finishing as the overall runner-up by winning only once but scoring seven further podiums.

The Florida native then had an even stronger campaign in USF Pro 2000 in 2024, taking eight wins and two further podiums to come runner-up in points once again. In parallel, Johnson made his European single-seater debut in GB3, racing in all but two rounds of GB3 for VRD by Arden and scoring two win to finish 11th in points. Last year, Johnson finished third in the FR Oceania standings, which was his only full-time campaign of the season, as he made part-time appearances in GB3, Indy NXT and F3 across the spring and summer.

The race will mark Esterson’s second appearance in sports car competition after he made his debut in last year’s Petit Le Mans by racing in the GTP class for JDC-Miller MotorSports. Johnson has no prior sports car experience. The pair will race together for the full IMSA season, with Johnson also competing full-time in Indy NXT for Cape Motorsports.

The pair will start from second in the GTD Pro class.

Nicolás Varrone, #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports (GTD Pro)

2025 series: FIA World Endurance Championship (Hypercar), P27

FIA rating: Gold

Teammates: Nicky Catsburg, Tommy Milner

Car: Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R

Starting position in class: P7

Coming off a difficult season in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class, Nicolás Varrone will race in the 24 Hours of Daytona in GTD Pro this weekend before joining the F2 grid in March for Van Amersfoort Racing.

Varrone, now 25, started out in single-seaters in 2016, when he raced in his native Argentina in Formula Renault 2.0 Argentina. He moved to Europe in 2018 and won the V de V Challenge Monoplace title on his first attempt. Two part-time seasons in British F3 followed, and he scored a lone win at Spa in 2019 before budget constraints forced him to turn to endurance racing full-time.

Varrone’s first full endurance campaign was in the Le Mans Cup in 2021, and he finished third in the LMP3 standings. He then primarily competed in GT racing, most notably winning the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 while competing in LMGTE Am. Last year, Varrone stepped up to the top class of prototype competition, racing for Proton Competition in the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and taking a solitary point at Interlagos.

In the midst of his stint in sportscars, Varrone received a surprise opportunity to test F2 machinery at Abu Dhabi with AIX Racing in December 2024. What began as a hashtag quickly exploded into a rallying cry for Argentinian fans, a level of enthusiasm he channeled into a seat with Van Amersfoort Racing less than a year later to compete in the 2026 F2 season.

Prior to his F2 debut, Varrone will compete in the 24 Hours of Daytona as he aims to repeat his 2023 glory in the LMP3 class, but he will have a challenge on his hands as the team starts from seventh in class.

James Roe, #80 Lone Star Racing (GTD)

2025 series: Indy NXT, P12; IMSA SportsCar Championship (LMP2), P30

FIA rating: Silver

Teammates: Scott Andrews, Ralf Aron, Lin Hodenius

Car: Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo

Starting position in class: P8

Ahead of his fifth season in Indy NXT, 27-year-old James Roe will race a Mercedes-AMG in the GTD class of the 24 Hours of Daytona this weekend. The US-based Irishman has raced in endurance racing sporadically since 2022 and currently competes in the Asian Le Mans Series for TF Sport in the GT class.

Roe, who began his career racing in Ireland, moved stateside in 2018 and has been a fixture in American single-seaters since then. After finishing runner-up in the F2000 Championship on his debut year in the United States, Roe then spent two years in F3 Americas, now called FR Americas, finishing fifth and seventh overall with a lone win at Road America in 2019.

Following a campaign in Indy Pro 2000 in 2021 for Turn 3 Motorsport, in which he won at Mid-Ohio en route to a seventh-place points finish, Roe moved to Indy Lights the following year. In his four-year stint in the series now known as Indy NXT, which included three years at Andretti Autosport, the Irishman took three podiums and a best season finish of sixth in 2024. This year, Roe will switch to Chip Ganassi Racing for his fifth season in the series.

Roe’s introduction to GT racing came towards the end of 2022, when he dropped out of his rookie campaign in Indy NXT with two rounds to go and instead competed with Imperiale Racing in Italian GT and International GT Open. Now, three and a half years later, Roe will make his second appearance at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and his first in GT machinery, after racing in last year’s edition in the LMP2 class and finishing ninth for Pratt Miller Motorsports. He will start this year’s race from eighth in class.

Esteban Masson, #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing (GTD)

2025 series: Super Formula Lights, P7; European Le Mans Series (LMP2), P1

FIA rating: Gold

Teammates: Frankie Montecalvo, Benjamin Pedersen, Aaron Telitz

Car: Lexus RC F GT3

Starting position in class: P14

Following a brief return to single-seater competition last year, Esteban Masson will focus on sportscar racing for 2026, just as he did two years ago. He will race in the 24 Hours of Daytona before returning to the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The 21-year-old Frenchman made one-off appearances in French F4 in 2019 and 2020, but he burst onto the single-seater scene in 2021 by winning the title after a close battle with Macéo Capietto before stepping up to FR Europe the following year. After finishing 24th in points in what was a disappointing season, Masson transitioned over to Eurocup-3 for 2023, overcoming a slow start to the season to take eight wins and become the series’ first-ever champion by 30 points over Mari Boya.

Rather than move upwards to F3, Masson then ventured to sportscars in 2024, missing out on the European Le Mans Series LMGT3 title by two points. He also raced for the Lexus-fielding ASP Team in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The latter campaign enabled Masson to create ties with Toyota, who placed him in their junior team for 2025 for a dual campaign in Super Formula Lights and the European Le Mans Series’ LMP2 class.

Racing for TOM’S on his return to single-seaters, Masson took three podiums in the six-round season to finish seventh in points after having missed the opening round at Suzuka because of  vertebra fractures sustained in pre-season testing. In ELMS, however, Masson won three times from six outings to clinch the LMP2 title alongside Oliver Gray and Charles Milesi.

This will be Canadian-born Masson’s first racing appearance in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. He will race for 2023 GTD Pro champions Vasser Sullivan Racing, driving the same Lexus machinery with which he raced in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship. His team will start 14th in class.

Esteban Masson, GTD, #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing | Credit: Super Formula Lights

Bonus: Bijoy Garg, #43 Inter Europol Competition (LMP2)

2025 series: IMSA SportsCar Championship (LMP2), P18; FR Americas, P20*

FIA rating: Silver

Teammates: Jeremy Clarke, Tom Dillmann, António Félix da Costa

Car: Oreca 07

Starting position in class: P1

A bonus entry on our list is Bijoy Garg, who made a one-off appearance in last year’s FR Americas season at Indianapolis in the midst of a varied program in sportscar racing across Europe and America.

California-born Garg began racing single-seaters in 2019 in Formula Pro USA before moving up to F4 US and USF2000 in 2020. He found the most success in the latter with DEForce Racing in 2022, scoring two podiums and finishing ninth in points. A campaign in USF Pro 2000 in 2023 yielded a lone podium in race one at Portland.

In parallel, Garg made his debut in prototype competition, taking the IMSA SportsCar Challenge LMP3 title with eight wins and winning the Petit Le Mans in LMP3 the same year.

Stepping up to LMP2 competition in 2024, Garg took a class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Zak Brown’s United Autosports before winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in the same class last year with Inter Europol Competition. Last year, Garg also made an appearance in the Le Mans Cup’s LMP3 Pro-Am class as well as in select GT races in Europe for Barwell Motorsport.

In the midst of his varied campaign in sportscars, Garg made a one-off appearance in FR Americas for Toney Driver Development at Indianapolis, scoring a best result of seventh in race three. Team owner Nathan Toney is an engineer at Inter Europol.

Garg will continue in sports cars this year and will remain affiliated with Toney. He will compete for Inter Europol in this weekend’s 24 Hours of Daytona before flying to the United Arab Emirates for the final two rounds of the Asian Le Mans Series in the LMP2 class.

He will start his third 24 Hours of Daytona as part of the leading LMP2 entry after teammate Jeremy Clarke took class pole position.

Editor’s note: Only drivers’ primary sports car campaigns are listed among their 2025 series. Single-seater campaigns with fewer than 50 per cent of races entered are noted with an asterisk.

Header photo courtesy of Max Esterson