Leading F1 driver set for new venture with historic event on the horizon

The Rolex 24 is one endurance racing’s biggest events (Image: Getty) A new hint has been given regarding the identity of the current F1 driver who will compete at the legendary 24 Hours of Daytona event in 2024 with Filipe Albuquerque confirming that the racer in question “is doing really well this year”. The Portuguese driver, who is a 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and three-time winner of the Daytona 24 Hours race, took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to tease fans about the identity of the driver in question after it was confirmed that an active driver will take part in the race. Albuquerque posted: ‘Hmm… who will it be? I give you one tip. He is doing really well this year.’ The 38-year-old has already been confirmed as one of Wayne Taylor Racing’s team for the event. Albuquerque has since deleted his post. Earlier this week, Wayne Taylor confirmed to Sportscar365 that an active driver will join Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, competing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January of 2024 in a one-off appearance in the event.  Speaking about his line-up, he said: ‘We’ve announced the four [full season drivers]. We’ll announce another two [for the Endurance Cup], then we’ll announce the final driver after the last Grand Prix. ‘We’ve actually been inundated with people wanting to come over,’ he said. ‘We’re probably eight-tenths of the way there filling everything already. We have one more engineer to fill and probably three more mechanics. But we’re comfortable with where we are. ‘We can draw on people that we have in our other series [too]. We’re pretty confident. Sometimes you get what you wish for and then you think, ‘Holy [cow], now I’ve got to… perform. Fernando Alonso took part in the Indy500 during his F1 hiatus (Image: Getty) ‘I think we’ve got a good group of management that can run this two-car program and I think we have a great driver lineup. As long as we put all those ingredients together, and we’ve got a good partnership with HPD.’ This has naturally sparked speculation about which driver it could be. Fernando Alonso is a name that immediately springs to mind due to his previous Indy500 attempts, but the report confirmed that Taylor had ruled out the Spaniard’s chances of participating. Lewis Hamilton’s external obligations make him an unlikely contender, while Max Verstappen has ruled out Le Mans and the Indy500, at least in the near future.