Spirit of Daytona Become VisitFlorida.com Racing For 2015
For the past two seasons the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP has featured backing from VisitFlorida.com.
For the 2015 Tudor United Sportscar Championship team owner Troy Flis has announced that Spirit of Daytona is to be rebranded as VisitFlorida.com Racing.
“This has been a remarkable partnership,” said Flis. “Visit Florida joined our team for the 2013 Rolex 24 and they have been with us for the last two seasons. We’ve had great success with them and are excited to rebrand our team as VisitFlorida.com Racing.”
In addition to their partnership with the #90 Corvette DP, Visit Florida also supports numerous racetracks on the IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship schedule.
“Visit Florida is the most active team sponsor in the series,” said Flis. “They have activations at several of the venues on the schedule, and fully utilise our series as a way of promoting all of the reasons to visit the state of Florida. We’re just happy to be a part of all the excellent things that Visit Florida does that benefit sports car racing in the United States.”
VisitFlorida.com Racing will have Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante behind the wheel of the #90 Corvette C7 DP for the full Tudor Championship with Mike Rockenfeller joining the pair for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
“There is a lot of excitement going into 2015,” said Flis. “Having the same three guys return to the #90 Corvette C7 DP is a big deal for everyone on our team. We have a full understanding of what they are looking for when we get to each event this year, and following a strong season in 2014 we certainly expect to compete for the championships in 2015.
Paul Miller Racing Confirm Full TUSCC Campaign
Paul Miller Racing today confirmed their participation in the full 2015 IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship with a full-season pairing of Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke for the team’s #48 Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 LMS.
Haase will run his second consecutive full season with Paul Miller Racing. Haase and then full-season teammate Bryce Miller co-drove to 2014 championship runner-up success in the GT Daytona (GTD) class and a race victory with Matt Bell in the season-ending Petit Le Mans.
Von Moltke joins Paul Miller Racing for the first time in 2015, taking over for Bryce Miller who remains with the team as a driver in endurance races. Rene Rast also returns to Paul Miller Racing as part of the team’s four-driver Rolex 24 At Daytona lineup for the second-consecutive year. Rast co-drove to a GT class victory in the 2012 Rolex 24.
“We enjoyed racing and working closely with Audi Sport customer racing to earn some strong results in 2014 and feel very encouraged about our second season with the R8 LMS and Christopher,” Paul Miller Racing Team Owner Paul Miller said. “We’re delighted to have him back, he knows the tracks now and understands the team dynamic. He is obviously a huge driving talent and a great guy too, a real team player.”
Von Moltke has driven the R8 in competition every season since its North American debut in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2012. He was part of the Rolex 24 GT Alex Job Racing class-winning Audi R8 team in 2013.
“We had the opportunity to watch Dion closely throughout this past season and have to come to rate him highly as a driver,” Paul Miller said. “We also rate him highly as a person, he’s serious about his craft, works hard and exhibits great character. He and Christopher will be a formidable combination.”
“Bryce will be an important part of our full endurance-race program in 2015,” Paul Miller said. “He brings tons of experience and race savvy that is invaluable to our program. We are also thrilled to have a driver of Rene’s considerable talent available to us again for the Rolex 24. We honestly believe that at all levels, from team to pit crew to drivers and the fantastic support of Audi Sport customer racing and the amazing Audi R8 LMS, our effort this season will be well positioned to contend for the GTD title.”
Paul Miller Racing is also returning in 2015 with 100% of the same pit crew and engineering staff.
“We have always felt stability was the most important dynamic for the program,” said Paul Miller Racing Team Manager Mitchell Simmons. “For the other crew members and drivers it provides a platform where we know our strengths and weaknesses. It allows us to capitalize on these strengths and continue working on the weaknesses.”
“I have never worked for a team more deserving of a win, and to get it at Petit was absolutely fantastic,” Simmons said. “For a team that had the fifth fastest car it proved how great the crew worked together. We ran a perfect race with excellent strategy and it was a fantastic run.”
PR1/Mathiasen Name Guasch and Novich for 2015 PC Campaign
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports will campaign their sixth consecutive season with the Oreca FLM09 in 2015 in the PC class of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
Mike Guasch returns to the team for a full season alongside team newcomer Andrew Novich.
Guasch drove for the team in 2013, taking a class win at Sebring on the way to the ALMS PC Driver’s Championship.
After a career of racing front-wheel drive cars in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, Andrew Novich came to rear-wheel drive downforce cars in 2014, competing in Cooper Tires Prototype Lites series. After securing multiple pole positions, a victory at Road America, and finishing a close second in the series championship, Novich moves in 2015 to the PC Oreca.
Michael Guasch: “The last time we ran a full season together we were able to win the driver’s championship, which was incredible for all involved. After taking last year off, 2013 seems like a long time ago which is why I am so eager to get started this year.
“All of the recent changes to the PC class should make for close competition and the schedule is better than ever. It’ll be great to drive with Andrew all year as well. Both of us are NorCal guys and I’m hoping we can spend a lot of time training together and even hitting up the kart track at Sonoma throughout the year. We had a great test earlier this year, my fitness is at an all time high, and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports always engineers one of the fastest cars in the class. We are looking to have everything we’ll need to repeat and expand upon our 2013 successes.”
Andrew Novich: “My first year in Lites was eye opening, just getting used to the horsepower ratio and high downforce levels. They were a blast to drive, making my transition to the PC car much easier. In all honesty, the PC car is a dream to drive, but it definitely keeps you on the edge during the high speed corners.
“Our test at Buttonwillow went perfectly and I thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone from PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports. We just clicked immediately, as though we were old friends already. I immediately felt an incredible sense of camaraderie with everyone, which just may be a key advantage in a series that is known for extremely tight racing with brutal margins of error.
“Even though this will be my first year in the series, the championship-winning examples Michael and PR1/Mathiasen have set are motivating me to become a quick study and to get us to the top step of the podium as soon as possible.”
Bobby Oergel, Team Owner, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports: “2015 is looking to be a phenomenal year. It’ll be great having Michael back in the car, he’s one of the most dedicated and intense competitors we’ve ever had on the team. Andrew will be a new addition, but he’s already shown incredible speed and potential during our tests at Buttonwillow. He got along with all of the crew and provided immediate feedback to get the car where we all needed it to be.
“This will be our sixth year in the PC category, but that certainly doesn’t mean that we can rely on institutional knowledge or assumptions. The technical package includes changes to the ride height, pulling out the air restrictor, revised engine camshafts, and increases to the downforce package at certain tracks. It’ll be key to get a handle on these changes as soon as possible and the find those precious tenths needed to run up front in this highly competitive spec category. One thing that hasn’t changed is the team’s commitment and dedication to win, so I know we’ll once again be challenging for wins and championships.”
