Daytona 24 Hours preview

The new wave of open-top sports racers, including contenders from Cadillac and Reynard, face stiff opposition from the cars that dominated the North American scene in the late-1990s.

The American Dyson team must start as favourite after abandoning plans to run Reynard's new 2KQ chassis in favour of one of the Riley & Scott's - with which it notched up Daytona victories in 1997 and 1999.

British sportscar ace James Weaver, American Le Mans Series champion Elliott Forbes-Robinson and Champ Car star Max Papis lead the driver line-up.

Ferrari's 333SP could also add to its tally of Daytona victories.

The Houston-based Risi squad came close to giving the ageing contender a second victory in 1999.

With former Le Mans winner Allan McNish and sometime grand prix drivers Alex Caffi and Mimmo Schiattarella on its books, the team has every chance of improving on last year's second place.

The Doran Ferrari squad doesn't want for driving talent either.

Sportscar stalwarts Didier Theys and Mauro Baldi will be hoping to recapture the form that gave them victory back in 1998.

Cadillac's return to sportscar racing after an absence of half a century begins in anger this weekend.

The General Motors marque is playing down its chances with the all-new Northstar LMP, but it is claiming that the gearbox problems that have plagued the car since its first test have been solved.

Just one Reynard has made the entry list.

The team run by former grand prix and CART driver, Stefan Johansson, starred with its Judd-powered 2KQ in pre-race testing at Daytona, but the chances of Reynard maintaining its record of debut victories in formulae new to it must be remote.

Daytona is much more than a race for overall honours.

One of the most intriguing battles will be in the GTO category where Chevrolet challenges the supremacy of the Chrysler Viper, a double Le Mans class winner.

Two of the improving Chevy Corvette C5-Rs take on a trio of factory Vipers entered by the ORECA team.

The GTU division should be a Porsche benefit. No fewer than 21 examples of the new 911 GT3-R, also a class winner at Le Mans last year, are entered.

Top-line drivers listed to drive the German cars include Formula 3000 race winners Marco Apicella, Emanuele Naspetti and Porsche Supercup front-runner Johnny Mowlem.

Hollywood legend Paul Newman, who was 75 last month, will also race a GT3-R, five years after finishing third overall at Daytona.

Practice begins on Thursday and the race begins at 1pm local time [6pm GMT] on Saturday.