Action Express Racing Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA — A light morning rain could do little to slow Juan Pablo Montoya as the 2019 co-champion in the DPi class set the fastest lap in opening practice for the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona. The No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 went around the 3.56 mile road course in 1 minute, 49.917 seconds to average 116.597 mph. Olivier Pla was second fastest in the No. 77 Mazda Team Joest RT24P DPi with a lap time of 1 minute, 49.956 seconds while Tristan Vautier wasRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona kicks off the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s seventh season since the sports car merger of 2014 and there are quite a few changes throughout the paddock. In Daytona Prototype International (DPi), the standard entry list from last season had 11 cars competing. This year, there are eight. Gone are the Juncos Racing Cadillac, the No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac and the Nissan from CORE Autosport. With CORE Autosport’s departure, only Cadillac, Mazda and Acura are represented in IMSA’s topRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer BRASELTON, Georgia — Qualifying for Saturday’s Petit Le Mans featured some welcome returns to the top of the time sheets with a few surprises thrown into the mix. Felipe Nasr gave co-driver Pipo Derani an early birthday present by qualifying the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi on  pole position. Nasr set a new lap record for DPi cars with a lap of 1 minute, 8.457 seconds around the 2.54 mile circuit. Ricky Taylor qualified second in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske DPi, justRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer All that’s left is 10 hours. Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans will conclude the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the newly-renamed Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta circuit near Braselton. The 2.54 mile road course will see many endings besides the championship, so let’s dive straight into that before we get into the classes. The Ford GT and Corvette C7.R will be making their final starts as factory programs in the GTLM class. Ford has decided to shutter the GT project while Chevrolet is moving onto theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship heads to Watkins Glen International this weekend for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, the third of four races in the Michelin Endurance Cup. The scenic 3.4-mile road course has 37 cars on the entry list compared to 38 for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, so let’s take a look at the differences. With this being a shorter endurance race, many teams are not opting to use a third driver in their endurance racing lineups. Acura TeamRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer SEBRING, Fla. — The opening day of practice for the 2019 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring was great for some and not so great for others but three sessions have given us a better idea of who the favorites are ahead of Saturday’s endurance classic. At least, in most classes, it has. In Daytona Prototype International (DPi), six cars managed to place themselves in the top five multiple times across all three sessions with the No. 31 Cadillac DPi entry from Action Express Racing appearingRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 67th Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring has a special position on the world motorsport stage this coming weekend with the added race for the FIA World Endurance Championship on Friday afternoon. While the Australian Grand Prix may have top billing around the world motorsport stage, Sebring will have more action than any other track in the world with not only the 1000 Miles of Sebring on Friday but the Michelin Pilot Challenge also has a two hour race on Friday. But enough aboutRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Many changes have come about for the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and they will debut at this weekend’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. The Prototype class from the 2018 WeatherTech Championship is no more, having been split up after the 2018 Petit LeMans into two: Daytona Prototype International (DPi) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2). Let’s take a look at the differences between classes before we get into the competitors. LMP2 is strictly pro/am while DPi is the pro-rated class. The LMP2 class is forRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Even Action Express Racing Team Manager Gary Nelson has a hard time believing it. “I mean, think about the championships we’ve been able to pull off,” he says. “There’s two championships available per year [the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup]. In the last five years, that would make 10 championships. “What I’m hearing is we’ve won nine of those. That’s 90 percent championships if that’s a true number.” It is, in fact, a true number.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Christian Fittipaldi announced at Road America that the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona will be his final competitive professional race as the 47-year-old will turn his attention outside the race car as the teams’ full time Sporting Director as they compete in the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Fittipaldi has had a racing career full of variety. Winning the 1991 International F3000 championship opened his world to Formula One where he raced for three years before going to the U.S. in 1995. FittipaldiRead More