Forte Racing Announces 2024 IMSA WeatherTech GTD Driver Lineup

Daytona Beach, Florida (Wednesday, December 6, 2023) - After a successful conclusion to the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech GTD season, Forte Racing is excited to announce the return of Petit LeMans GTD winning drivers Misha Goikhberg and Loris Spinelli for the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech GTD Championship. The dynamic pair will be joined for the five endurance rounds by INDYCAR driver Devlin DeFrancesco.

The team is entering their second season in the IMSA WeatherTech GTD Championship after an impressive fifth-place finish in their rookie season. The team finished 2023 with four top-five finishes, two podiums and a win in the final five races of the season. The season was highlighted with the win in the season-finale at Petit LeMans.

Misha Goikhberg has committed to the team for another two seasons, giving the team a much-desired stability through the end of the 2025 season. He and the team are looking forward to the start of the 2024 season beginning with the IMSA sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway this week.

“I’m very excited to start the new season which starts at our first test in Daytona in December,” the Canadian driver said. “It’s very nice to have continuity from 2023, and we are all eager to build on our form from the end of 2023. Thank you to everyone at Forte and Lamborghini.”

Loris Spinelli will also return to the team for the 2024 season. The Italian driver was promoted last month to Lamborghini factory driver status after a shootout against the world’s top Lamborghini drivers following the Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals at the Vallelunga Circuit in Italy. Spinelli set a track record while earning the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech GTD pole at Watkins Glen International in addition to helping the team secure a second-place finish at Indianapolis and the win at Petit LeMans.

“2024 is just around the corner and I can't wait to start it with my boys!” Spinelli said. “The last few rounds for us were very constructive where we learned a lot! I am sure we can do a good job next season!”

Forte Racing is adding NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver Devlin DeFrancesco to their lineup for the five 2024 races that make up the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. In addition to his open-wheel experience, DeFrancesco has found success in IMSA. As an LMP2 driver, he was part of the team that won the iconic Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2022. Next month will be DeFrancesco’s first race in the Forte Racing Lamborghini GT3.

“I’m hugely excited for the opportunity to be joining Shane and Lamborghini for the 5 IMSA endurance races!” DeFrancesco said. “Looking forward to fighting for race wins and podiums with this great group of people! Looking forward to working with everyone and getting started in Daytona.”

Forte Racing team owner Shane Seneviratne is thrilled to have both of his 2023 full season drivers back and is excited about the addition of DeFrancesco as the team’s endurance driver. Coming off a successful rookie season in the IMSA WeatherTech GTD Championship, the team feels confident that they can continue to build on the momentum they had at the end of last season. Seneviratne is proud of last year’s success but wants to come back even stronger in 2024 and he feels he has the lineup to accomplish that.

“I am delighted to have Misha and Loris back for another full season in 2024,” Seneviratne said. “We built such great chemistry as a team and look forward to continuing that working relationship which will continue to strengthen the team’s success. We are also welcoming Devlin DeFrancesco, an INDYCAR driver, onto our team for the five endurance races. We look forward to Devlin bringing a high level of experience from the INDYCAR paddock and his contributing to the growth of the team.

“We really appreciate Lamborghini’s commitment to the program and hope to see good results as we proudly represent such an iconic brand,” Seneviratne added. “We will also be proudly continuing our relationship with Eddie Littlefield from Change Racing and Tom O’Gara from O’Gara Coach; they have been such valuable partners to our program. Forte is happy to announce that we will retain Petit LeMans winning driver Patrick Liddy as a test and development driver for the entire Forte racing program. We appreciate his commitment to the program and will be laying down the fundamentals necessary to have him continue with the development of the team.”

Forte Racing partner Eddie Littlefield was ecstatic with the team’s win at Petit LeMans and is looking forward to continued successes in the upcoming 2024 season. “Our team ended the season last year in a big way and 2024 is going to be exciting!”

The team arrived in Daytona today for the IMSA WeatherTech pre-season test. All three drivers will be on track tomorrow and Friday. The team’s final driver for the 24 Hours at Daytona will be announced in the coming weeks.

*Photo Courtesy of Richard Dole