Paul Dalla Lana looks set to compete in the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona with an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 alongside long time partners Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda.
The trio will spearhead Aston Martin's return to IMSA competition after the Canadian spent the last few year racing with Ferrari, and will likely be joined by an Aston Martin factory driver, with current WEC team-mate Ross Gunn believed to take up the final slot.
"Yeah, it was a little bit in the works," Dalla Lana told Motorsport Week when asked on his Daytona plans. "These last couple of years I think they wanted to race but it just wasn't set up to do it, with the new car and all of the things they had to do to get set up. So I've gone out with Ferrari, which was great. We were bloody close to winning too.
So it's been knocking on the door, but yeah, Aston's back and we've got a brand new GT3, it just got built in the factory. I'm not sure how they're doing the lottery with the team, who gets to come over but it's the best of the best so everyone's coming and everyone's super amped up, it's gonna be great."
When pressed on who would be joining him in the Florida endurance classic, Dalla Lana admitted the plan is to do the race with Lamy and Lauda, alongside a yet to be determined fourth driver.
"Yeah well, listen, I committed when I finished last year in WEC with the guys to do one more race, and this was the logical one. So I think that's probably true, although with the Bathurst decision hanging in the air now, there's another race to consider, but in any event, it'll be some combination of those guys and maybe one other from Aston, that coming up in the next little bit."
Dalla Lana's reference to Bathurst concerns the possibility for the Canadian to contest the 12 Hours of Bathurst now that WEC's round in Interlagos has been cancelled and replaced by Lone Star Le Mans. The elimination of the race in Sao Paulo opens up the chance for Dalla Lana to participate in the Australian classic.
"Yeah, looking forward to racing with Pedro and Mat again," Dalla Lana spoke about his old team-mates. "It's been a few months since we've been in the car together and they know their way around Daytona super well and I'm looking forward to it."
Dalla Lana, ex-F1 driver Lamy and Lauda, son of the late Niki Lauda, partnered in the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2015 to 2019, winning the GTE Am title in 2017.
