CORE Autosport will make its return to the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship in 2021, fielding an entry into the LMP3 class for long time team-mates Jon Bennett and Colin Braun.
Braun and Bennett will team up to drive a Ligier JS P320 in the new category, with more information about the program to be unveiled at a later date.
For Bennett, it marks a return to IMSA competition after he retired from racing at the end of the 2019 season at the same time CORE’s Nissan DPi program also bowed out of the championship. The team’s other venture, operating the Porsche GTLM factory outfit, will come to an end at the end of 2020.
“I am thrilled,” Bennett said. “Thrilled for the dedicated members of CORE autosport who can now plan for an exciting 2021 season. Thrilled to rejoin the amazing Colin Braun at the controls of an IMSA LMP3 prototype. Thrilled to rejoin the IMSA racing family — as a driver. As Steve McQueen said, ‘Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting.’ The wait is over.”
Bennett and Braun first teamed up together in 2012 and have since been hugely successful, with three driver’s championships and five team’s championships, which they won in the Prototype Challenge class, which no longer exists.
“I am so excited to be back with CORE and Jon,” Braun said. “CORE has been a family for me and I cannot wait to get back to work with this group. Personally, for Jon I am really excited for him to get back behind the wheel and enjoy the excitement and thrill of driving a fast Prototype car on the limit in these races, there is nothing like it. I know he will be grinning ear to ear. I think LMP3 is shaping up to be very competitive and both Jon and I are ready to get going soon.”
“I think we all knew that Jon wouldn’t stay out of a race car for long,” CORE Autosport COO Morgan Brady said. “IMSA adding LMP3 to the WeatherTech series presented the perfect opportunity. The category gives us a place to do what we’ve proven to be successful at; Jon and Colin sharing a high-downforce prototype in a in a pro-am category, at the highest professional level. I can’t wait to see CORE back on the IMSA grid in January.”
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