Pratt Miller Motorsports has announced two of the drivers for its return to prototype racing in the upcoming IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Pietro Fittipaldi and rookie James Roe will share driving duties in the new #73 ORECA 07, with Fittipaldi running for the full season alongside a Bronze driver to be named later, and Roe competing in additional endurance events alongside his commitments in the Indy NXT (formerly Indy Lights) series.
Alongside this new project, Pratt Miller will continue to operate the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports GTD Pro team in its second season fielding the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Fittipaldi is coming off his first full season of IndyCar Series competition with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Having driven everything from late-model stock cars to Formula One, the third-generation Fittipaldi is a race-winning LMP2 driver, having driven JOTA to the top step of the class podium in the 2023 WEC 6 Hours of Monza. He drove in last year’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona as an injury substitute for Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports and finished fourth in class.
Roe, from Naas, Ireland, arrives in IMSA after his second season in Indy NXT, recording three podiums during his two seasons with Andretti Global. Roe is committed to a third season with Andretti in Indy NXT, and he also has some prior sports car racing experience: He split time with Imperiale Racing in the International GT Open and the Italian GT Championships, taking a Pro-Am class win in the latter series.
“We’re excited to deepen our involvement in IMSA by launching an LMP2 program,” said Brandon Widmer, Vice President of Pratt Miller Motorsports. “This expansion reflects our commitment to innovation and performance. Over this past season, we have been laying the groundwork to build a comprehensive motorsports platform that maximizes our partners’ return on their investment with us.
“With Pietro Fittipaldi’s extensive experience and championships across multiple racing formats and James Roe’s ascension through the American open-wheel ranks, we’re confident these drivers bring the skill and determination needed to make our LMP2 debut a success. We expect to announce a bronze-rated driver and a fourth endurance driver in the very near future, further strengthening our team for the upcoming season.”
It’s the first time Pratt Miller has been involved in prototype racing since the Corvette Daytona Prototype ran from 2012-2016, but the company’s involvement in prototypes goes all the way back to one of its very first race cars: The 1991 Intrepid RM-1 GTP – a car constructed by Pratt Miller and designed by Bob and Bill Riley.
A fourth endurance driver will be named at a later date alongside its full-season Bronze anchor.
Feature image © Pratt Miller Motorsports
