Mills Racing Announce Partial Season PWC Effort
Mills Racing, the outfit made up of Mickey & Michael Mills have confirmed a return to the Pirelli World Challenge with a partial-season attack in a BMW Z4 GT3.
Michael, 2014 Pirelli World Challenge GTA Champion, will be behind the wheel of the #46 Z4 as the main driver for the PWC races beginning with the season opener at Circuit of the Americas. Mickey will co-drive during the Sprint-X races and qualify to participate in the Runoffs by running various races in the Southwest & Southeast Divisions of the Club Racing arm of the SCCA.
“We are very excited to get behind the wheel of this Z4,” Mickey said. “I’ve raced a BMW in Trans-AM the past few years, and I can’t wait to drive this car with my son in Pirelli World Challenge.”
Michael shared equal excitement about sharing the car and returning to the PWC series.
“2014 was a great year in PWC, and we hope to achieve the same success during this upcoming season,” Michael added. “It will be fun to share a car with my dad for the endurance races since we’ve never actually raced together before.”
The car’s livery are based off of a pro-stock drag racecar Mickey had back in the 1970s. The logo is an homage to the logo he used during that time as well. In terms of testing the team rolled out the Z4 at MSR Houston for three days.
“The car is different than the previous car I won with in PWC, and we’ve been working on getting a handle on what makes this car fast,” Michael said. “Our roots are with BMW, and it’s nice to back to them as a family. We can build off each other each time we go out.”
The team will continue to test through the rest of December and January, and Mickey will begin his Runoffs bid in February before the PWC season opener the first weekend of March.
Mantella Autosport Steps Up From Continental Tires Series
Mantella Autosport has left the Continental Tires Series and will join the Pirelli World Challenge series with a new manufacturer. The Canadian team, which ran Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.Rs last season, will move into the PWC GTS category with three KTM Xbow GT4s.
“I’m excited to bring Mantella Autosport Inc. to the Pirelli World Challenge and back to my roots in sprint format racing,” said Anthony Mantella. “I’m confident with the experience we have gained in professional endurance racing that we can achieve great results. I’m equally excited about the newly formed relationship with Reiter Engineering/KTM and am looking forward to promoting the Xbow GT4 and supporting all Canadian interest in the product, it truly is an amazing machine.”
Mantella will be joined by Martin Barkey and one additional driver to compete the GTS lineup.
“The KTM X Bow GT4 is my car of choice this year, the engineering is amazing,” Barkey said. “After several test opportunities, it’s clear it does everything well. It will be an adjustment coming from the GT platforms that I’m accustomed to and I’m excited to get racing.”
The team is also looking into the addition of a Reiter-built Lamborghini to campaign in the PWC GT category.
M1 GT Racing To Compete in full-season PWC and Sprint-X program
M1 GT Racing is set to compete in the Pirelli World Challenge and Sprint-X programs in North America. Piloting a 2012 Audi R8 LMS ULTRA GT3 in previous seasons, company and team officials have agreed to continue to be part of the Audi Sport customer racing program and will see action in its new 2016 Audi R8 LMS GT3 machine this coming season.
“We are very excited to continue with Audi Sport customer racing,” explained M1 GT Racing technical director Remi Lanteigne. “We had our eyes on the new car since it was announced in late 2014 and were the first team in North America to place order for the new Audi R8 LMS. We traveled to Road Atlanta last month to drive the Audi R8 LMS test car under the guidance of AScr and confirmed all our initial thoughts about this impressive machine. The speed and presence that the Audi machine brings to the track is second to none and we can’t wait to get our testing program started.”
Committing to order the new Audi in March 2015, M1 GT Racing received its new Audi R8 LMS just last week and immediately went to work. With the car housed close to Indianapolis for the initial prep, the complete data system and livery was installed before a shake down test planned before Christmas. There’s also an extensive testing program planned for the winter months.
Walt Bowlin will continue as part of the M1 GT Racing driver lineup as the primary driver for the new Audi R8 LMS with the support from Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery, providing cohesiveness for a solid springboard into 2016. Walt will see action in the Pirelli World Challenge GTA division, Sprint-X and yet to be announced programmes.
Also rejoining the team for 2016 will be Guy Cosmo. Cosmo returns to M1 GT Racing and will be a great partner for Bowlin in the Sprint-X side of M1 GT’s program. Venturing from the two-wheel world of motorsports to the four, AMA World Superbike rider Larry Pegram will close out the team’s driver lineup for North American competition, as he will also see action behind the wheel of the new Audi R8 LMS.
Both Cosmo and Pegram will partner with Bowlin in PWC Sprint-X competition.
“I am excited to drive the new Audi R8 LMS and rejoin the motorsports family at M1 GT,” explained Bowlin. “After driving the car on track at Road Atlanta confirmed what I was expecting and I was really impressed. The sound, handling and overall design and concept of the car will provide M1 GT Racing with a solid platform for next season. I am also looking forward to working with Guy (Cosmo) and Larry (Pegram) as they are both legends in their sports and I think the three of us will make for a great team.”
