There is the old saying that when a door closes, another one opens. It was just a little over a year ago that Ian Willis and his AIM Autosport team thought they had their plans in place to be competing again in IMSA, hoping to improve upon their NAEC Championship with Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell. That opportunity went away when the pairing took up an offer they couldn’t refuse from Scuderia Corsa to run in the 2015 season. That worked out for Sweedler and Bell, as they did gain their championship, but it also worked out rather nicely for AIM, as they soon found themselves running the Always Evolving Replay XD Nissan GT Academy effort in the Pirelli World Challenge.
Their success in World Challenge led to Nissan asking AIM Autosport to jump over to the Blancpain series and run the effort previously handled by MRS GT with Sean Walkinshaw and Craig Dolby as the drivers. This essentially meant that the AIM Autosport team left Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca after the Pirelli World Challenge finale and was off to participate in what was a new challenge for them. Ian stated, “MRS was simply over committed and Nissan asked us to take over the program for the last 3 races. It meant some extra time on the road for us, but I think it all worked out quite well.”
Their first race was at Nurburgring for the endurance finale. The team qualified a strong 3rd and led the first hour. Unfortunately the pit stops dropped them back in this race, as the crew was simply out of practice. “Let’s just say that the stops were not as good as they could have been and it affected our race. Not an excuse, but it must be noted that the guys hadn’t had to do stops all season long in World Challenge, plus they had to adapt to the specific rules in the Blancpain series which specifies one on the gun and one as a wheel handler. It was a challenge for us.”
In comparison to the competitors, the Nissan teams were also at a bit of a disadvantage. “The homologated package for the Nissans simply meant that the wheel changes were about 2-3 seconds slower that some of the others. As a team, we improved greatly and by the end we were pretty close on stop times to the Nissan GT Academy cars, so we felt pretty good.”
The team ended up finishing a credible 8th at the Ring as a brake problem slowed them at the end. “It could have been so much more though. Besides the brake issues we had late in the race, we also were not up to speed on our stops, which likely cost us a couple of positions.”
Another thing that the team had to adapt to were the regulations. “There are some weird rules that we never did adapt to. In that race at the Ring, teams were handed out pit drive thru penalties and surprisingly they were allowed to serve them under a virtual safety car lap. I know of at least one car that did so and picked up two positions on the track.”
In the final two sprint races, the AIM effort was strong and while they did not get to see the podium, they were competitive. At Misano they set the fastest race laps in the qualifying and the main race and were running second in the qualifying race until a jammed wheel nut dropped them down the order. A 5th place finish in the main at Misano and 6th in the qualifying race at Zandvoort were not quite indicative of how well AIM took to the new series.
For 2016, the number one priority for AIM is running the Nissan entries for Always Evolving in Pirelli World Challenge, so it is very unlikely that we’ll be seeing them back in the Blancpain series – that is unless a car is made available for the March 6-hour Intercontinental GT Race at COTA, which is also the season opener for PWC. “There is no way we’d enter one of our Pirelli World Challenge cars in the 6-hour race. It is just too risky for the championship effort. Now if a car happened to come our way, I think we’d be able to find some way to run that race. We’d be more than happy to be involved.”
The deal to run the cars for Always Evolving came about late and as such, “winning races by the 4th race was very satisfying. We figured the car out early on and focused on gaining maximum points along the way.”
Always Evolving has a history of success racing in drift and rally and the effort this last season was their first real taste of success in road racing after some initial attempts earlier. The Erik Davis owned team pulled together after the tragic death of co-owners Paul Walker and Roger Rodas in 2013 and found a great sense of satisfaction in a successful 2015 season. As an emerging integrated media and technology company, Always Evolving acquired the Replay XD action camera system and is hard at work spreading the word and also developing the technology. Expect some further announcements concerning Always Evolving in the near future.
Team lead driver James Davidson, who finished 4th in the final points summed up the season by saying, “it was a phenomenal first season. We won two races, scored six second places and ended fourth in the championship. Ultimately, losing the points for our win at Barber earlier in the season cost us the championship in our debut season. What we can take from this is that our performance throughout the year was Championship winning material. This obviously places us in a strong position going into 2016. I’m proud to be a part of this team and appreciate all their tireless hard work and motivation to win. It goes hand in hand with all involved.”
Bryan Heitkotter started the season in the GTA class, but by virtue of finishing on the overall podium at Mid Ohio was promoted into the Pro class, so he had quite a steep learning curve during the season. “It has been a dream this year to be part of a team as driven and professional as Always Evolving and AIM Autosport. All the guys put together an amazing season – my Nissan GT-R had no faults all year. Always Evolving put together a program that accomplished a lot in its maiden year with Nissan and I couldn’t be more blessed to have been a part of it – especially considering where I came from! I’m going to keep pushing in the off season to be the best I can be for next year.”
As far as the series, Ian looked back on the early part of the season not so favourably. “We as a team were not prepared early on, but the series was even less so. We both continued to work on it and I saw a lot of progress for both us and the series during the year. Growth takes time and the series made changes that appear to be for the better. I see 2016 being a continuation along the same path as the series makes steps necessary to grow. Incorporating SRO and their ideas and sticking to a strictly sprint format are very important moving forward.”
“An unexpected positive out of the changes is that it now appears as if World Challenge and IMSA will be able to co-exist together. That is a big deal for the sport here – another battle would be so detrimental to both parties. The GT3 class is very mature in Europe, but is obviously not so here in North America. IMSA is coming in very late in the game and it appears as if their monetary requirements may be keeping some competitors on the sideline. Based upon my experience, I could run 2 cars in PWC for less that the cost for a single car full season entry in IMSA, and that is before the manufacturer fees are involved. Right now the value is just so much better in PWC.”
“We have an interest in competing in IMSA, but the right deal needs to come together quickly. JRM and Nissan too would like to be competing in IMSA, but the ROI just doesn’t pencil out. If the return was better, they’d be there but as of now the return just doesn’t justify the cost.” Even entry into the NAEC mini-series is a difficult financial barrier that simply isn’t working out so far.
For 2016, AIM and Always Evolving are continuing their partnership with a 2-car entry in Pirelli World Challenge. There are ongoing discussions with potential customers for possible additions of a 3rd and even a 4th car, but nothing is in place as of yet. “We look at 2015 as a season where we saw success, but most importantly we learned a great deal about the Nissan cars. We ran a 2014 spec car in the PWC, but we got our hands on the 2015 spec in the Blancpain experience. That builds our knowledge base as we head into 2016. That is a tremendous advantage over where we were this last season.”
They had better be ready, because by all indications, the 2016 season in Pirelli World Challenge could be one for the ages.
Gary Horrocks
