The “off-season” is officially over – a total of 66 cars are ready to hit the track at Daytona International Speedway as the annual “Roar before the 24” pre-season test kicks off in Florida.

With holiday festivities now well behind us, drivers and crews were left with little time to head to Florida – in fact, spare a thought for the truck drivers who had to drive through the New Year’s Eve celebrations to be ready for the first official TUDOR United SportsCar Championship event.

Teams will enjoy three days of testing to prepare for the Rolex 24 at Daytona – the debut race for the new championship which brings together teams from both the American Le Mans Series and the GRAND-AM Rolex Series.

Testing kicks off this morning at 10:15am to 12:00noon. A second session continues this afternoon from 2:45pm to 5:15pm. Teams will enjoy four sessions including a night session on Saturday and a further two on Sunday.

Live timing for the “Roar” can be seen at //scoring.imsa.com/. Michelin Alley will provide regular updates throughout the weekend here on the blog and via Twitter at https://twitter.com/michelinalley