Looking back on what so far has been a great run for the revamped Flying Lizards, Darren Law said at Rennsport. “It was a great run in the McLarens. We had more wins than anyone except Cadillac, poles, points and wins and a threat for the championship up until the mess at Miller. All said, it was a good year for us, especially considering we got the cars weeks before the first race.”
“The relationship with K-Pax owner Jim Haughey has been quite good. He lives in the general area and we see him quite often at the race shop or he’ll touch base with us over the phone. We’re planning on coming back in World Challenge and working with McLaren to finalize our plans. It will likely be mid-December before we’ll be ready to make any formal announcements.”
As far as the recent management changes in World Challenge, Darren said, “the series is doing the right thing in order to continue growth. They made the right deciosion.”
IMSA though is a different animal. After the mess that caused the team to withdraw from Miller Motorsports Park last month there were serious discussions with the folks in Daytona concerning joining the series. But you have to write a big check to run. “As of now, IMSA is requiring a large sum of money in order to compete. I’m hoping that is a work in progress – we’re heading to Daytona for a test – an all manufacturer test in order to see where we slot in and be ready in case an opportunity presents itself.”
This test, the one scheduled for November 17 and 18th, according to the IMSA press release: will be open to all competitors in the four WeatherTech Championship classes: Prototype (P), Prototype Challenge (PC), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD), as well as any and all currently homologated FIA GT3 cars. The GTD class will shift to full FIA GT3 technical regulations in 2016.
Darren continued, “for a small boutique manufacturer like McLaren, the cost to compete is too stiff, but so far there has been no budging on the amount. We’ll see what happens.”
The Lizards have for the time being become a customer driven program, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t working towards other things. “We’ve had a good relationship with Audi, we have so much history with Porsche and a new strong relationship with McLaren, so maybe an opportunity might present itself with one of those makes.”
As far as the transition from racing to management, Darren admits it has been tough at times. “When I started at Bondurant, I was still driving. The transition occurred when I was there. Now with the Lizards, the driving is done. It was a hard time for me getting out of racing, but I’ve been able to satisfy that feeling somewhat by doing some testing up at Sonoma Raceway (Sears Point). We’ve even had Seth come out and run some recently. He has been extremely busy with his business commitments lately, but it has been great to see him on track again.”
Gary Horrocks
