Pair of GM Drivers Attend Celtics-Pistons NBA Game And Detroit Auto Show Annual “Racing Day”
By Tony DiZinno
DETROIT – Before they get started racing in this weekend’s 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona, General Motors IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Jack Aitken and Alexander Sims paid a visit to Detroit for a double duty round of promotional efforts for both the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona and Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
AitkendetautoshowAitken, co-driver of the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class and Sims, defending Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) champion and co-driver of the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R, finished this weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24 test at Daytona International Speedway and departed for Detroit.
They started off the week at Monday night’s Boston Celtics vs. Detroit Pistons’ game, part of NBC and Peacock’s return to broadcasting the NBA for the first time in more than two decades, sitting courtside across from the Detroit Pistons bench at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. The Pistons won by one point, 104-103, in a thriller over their Eastern Conference rivals to extend their lead in the conference to 5.5 games.
Aitken and Sims moved onto the Detroit Auto Show’s annual “Racing Day” on Tuesday to participate in a pre-event media tour for both this weekend’s Rolex 24 to kick off the 2026 WeatherTech Championship season, and also for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix held in downtown Detroit encircling the Renaissance Center in late May.
SimsdetautoshowAitken and Sims toured the show with Auto Show and Detroit GP executives and key stakeholders, participated in several rounds of media interviews, engaged in fan Q&As at the Cadillac and Chevrolet displays, and took fans around an indoor “DGP” track in Chevrolet E-Rays and Cadillac CT-4s. The key word here is “indoor” with temperatures in the low single digits and “feels like” temperatures below zero on a sunny, yet cold Tuesday in Detroit.
“It’s been great fun,” Sims said. “It started off last night with the NBA game with the Pistons playing in a pretty tight contest. Being courtside for that was a really cool experience. Today, to see the Auto Show for the first time, see all the cars on display and all the amazing GM products is really nice. To meet some of the IndyCar guys, meet the fans, do some hot laps, see some smiles on some faces, it’s been really good fun.
“We were given some (Corvette) E-Rays to thrash around for a while and give some hot laps to the fans with some controlled drifting and putting some rubber down, which the fans seemed to love. It was good fun for everyone.”
Aitkensimsdet2 012026Aitken added, “It’s been a fun time. It’s been great to see such a big presence from GM and Cadillac. We did some hot laps on a scale circuit of the GP Track and it’s been a great show put on by the Detroit GP. I had a lot of fun and met a lot of new people and hopefully we’re going to see them again in May. I can’t wait to get back on the streets of Detroit. We got to see a bit of a corker; it was tight down to the wire. We had courtside seats and I’ve never had that before. It was really cool and got us into the spirit of the hometown heroes. It was a fun day.”
The two IMSA drivers weren’t alone, as four full-time IndyCar Series drivers also made the voyage. That included David Malukas, Rinus VeeKay, Marcus Armstrong and Kyffin Simpson. Simpson, of note, is also competing in the Rolex 24 this year as part of the Tower Motorsports No. 8 ORECA LMP2 07 in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) entry. VeeKay has started a Rolex 24 before and Malukas and Armstrong would be rookies in any future Rolex 24 appearances.
Both WeatherTech Championship races air live on network NBC. The Rolex 24 starts this Saturday, January 24, at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC and finishes on the network as well, with flag-to-flag streaming on Peacock. Additionally, the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix airs live on NBC Saturday, May 30, at 4:00 p.m. ET.