WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Tag

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor Tequila Patron is leaving the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (WTSCC) at the end of the 2018 season, terminating sponsor relationships with both a team and the series. The alcohol brand has served as the title sponsor of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) – a special four-race competition comprised of the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen and Petit Le Mans – since 2014, where it also became IMSA’s Official Spirits Partner. Michelin willRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor DETROIT — Mario Farnbacher is a big fan of the Raceway at Belle Isle Park. Two wins in four years will do that for anyone. “I won here before in 2015, now I’ve done it again,” Farnbacher said. “I’ve always had great memories here. I love the track, and it’s just amazing to be back here. Hopefully this race track will still be in the calendar in the future.” Farnbacher and Katherine Legge outpaced Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian teammates Justin Marks and LawsonRead More

By Aaron Bearden. Contributing Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — The Acura Team Penske domination continued into Sunday morning at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, as Helio Castroneves led a sweep of the top two spots by the organization’s two entries in the morning warmup for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Castroneves’ lap of 1:14.124 in the No. 7 Acura ARX-05 stood as the quickest time in the session, with teammate Dane Cameron following in the No. 6 Acura ARC-05 with a 1:14.389. The two Team Penske entires have paced every session and will roll off onRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer Grasser Racing Team’s (GRT) quest for a Rolex 24 at Daytona IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) win began from last on the grid. In the end, it made the victory all the sweeter. The GRT No. 11 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 entry paced the final 53 laps of their 752-circuit run to claim the GTD Rolex 24 crown  – the first victory in IMSA’s longest race for the manufacturer. Just months removed from a 2017 Blancpain GT Series championship, Mike Bortolotti paced the finalRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer While many people in motorsports long for the days of A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti racing anything and everything that a driver could get their hands on, one driver that might have slipped under their collective radar announced his retirement from racing after the 2018 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Scott Pruett drove in Trans Am. He drove in the GTO class during IMSA’s Camel GTP era. He drove Indy cars, he drove NASCAR, even got himself a class win at Le Mans in 2001. ButRead More

By Josh Farmer, Journalist Ryan Hunter-Reay was the highest finishing IndyCar driver in the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona with a 3rd place finish. The 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series champion, along with VisitFlordia.com Racing teammates Ryan Dalziel and Marc Goossens, held on after a tough 24 race for the Daytona Beach, Florida based team. The #90 Corvette Prototype suffered from handling issues throughout the day and became the benefactor when several of the front runners had problems and wound up scoring their career best finish at Daytona. “We just keptRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Appropriately enough, after 24 hours of seemingly non-stop action, the fastest car still running was the overall winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Luis Felipe “Pipo” Derani, a baby-faced 22-year old racing prodigy from Brazil, took the checkered flag on Sunday afternoon in the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Honda-powered Ligier JS P2, 26.166 seconds ahead of 2005 overall winner Max Angelleli in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP. Derani brought home victory for teammates Scott Sharp,Read More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor It began as a vision, a design for an entirely different series, an under powered, oddly shaped, overly hyped misfit. It’s team engulfed in legal issues, it’s engine changed, it’s series changed. It suffered failure after failure. It was punted off track by it’s rivals, it was laughed at and written off. But the team held the course, led by Don Panoz, they slowly evolved the aerodynamics, the chasis, the engine and finally the gearbox. Yesterday, Katherine Legge climbed behind the wheel of the much malignedRead More

Daytona Beach, Fla. (31 January 2016) – Setting a race-leading pace as the team looked to win a second title at the “World Center of Racing,” Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian delivered an impressive performance in the opening 285 laps of the 2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona. With new and returning commercial partnerships including Curb Records, Tire Kingdom, Florida Lottery, and Zak Products joining the No. 60 Honda-Ligier effort for the 54th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the event was a highly anticipated one for the 2012 RolexRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The absence of a former teammate, the late Justin Wilson, weighed heavily on AJ Allmendinger and his teammates at Michael Shank Racing as the Rolex 24 at Daytona approached. But the tragic loss of Wilson in a freak IndyCar accident last year at Pocono Raceway also provides a source of inspiration and motivation for Allmendinger, who teamed with Wilson, Oswaldo Negri and John Pew to win the 2012 Rolex 24. “Yeah, it’s tough,” Allmendinger told the NASCAR Wire Service onRead More