Albon receives permission: Williams approves Daytona participation

Alexander Albon looks set to make his IMSA Weather Tech Sportscar Championship debut early next year. It was recently announced Wayne Taylor Racing is holding talks with a Formula 1 driver for one-off participation in the 24 Hours of Daytona. It now seems certain that it will be Alexander Albon, who has received permission from James Vowles.

It was already leaked last week that Albon would be involved, and speaking to Auto, Motor und Sport, Williams team boss Vowles confirmed: "Nothing is fixed yet. But we would have no objection to such a guest participation." The Daytona 24 Hours falls during Formula 1's winter break, namely the weekend of 25 to 28 January.

Albon would then step into an Acura/Honda LMDh-Hpyercar. It will not be the first time for Albon to explore another racing class of Formula 1, as he also previously competed in the DTM on an interim basis. The British Thai did drive a full season there in 2021 after there was no place for him at Red Bull Racing after a mediocre season alongside Max Verstappen. Incidentally, Liam Lawson also drove in the DTM that year.

WEC becoming more popular

Long-distance racing is becoming increasingly popular and budgets seem to be getting a little bigger. Next year, there will be nine different teams at the start of the WEC championship, the largest number for years.

Mick Schumacher is negotiating a WEC deal with Alpine for 2024 and Sebastian Vettel is also reportedly being probed to compete in the European WEC championship next season. Stoffel Vandoorne has also been snared, by Peugeot.