The Rolex 24 at Daytona is just a few days away, and with it comes the first major race outing for the newest category in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship: LMP3.
The LMP3 category, popular in Europe in series like the European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup, was previously only used in IMSA as part of the Prototype Challenge. With grid sizes dwindling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its financial impact, however, IMSA made the decision to add a third prototype category to the championship in order to boost grid sizes.
This tactic certainly seems to have paid off: the seven LMP3 entries in the 2021 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona have helped boost the grid to 49 cars, a significant increase compared to 2020.
Who are racing in the new class, and what can we expect from these seven cars? MotorsportWeek.com takes a closer look.
Starting with the basics: four different chassis constructors are available for use in the new category. These are Ligier, Duqueine, Ginetta and Adess, with all cars powered either by the Nissan VK56 V8 engine, or an older version of the VK50+ powerplant. Teams are only allowed to run next-gen LMP3 cars or older cars upgraded to Evo specification.
LMP3 is primarily a category focused on gentleman drivers or younger talent making their way up the prototype ladder. This has proven to be a successful formula in the past, as current LMP2 hotshots like Phil Hanson, Mikkel Jensen and Job van Uitert all graduated through LMP3 in Europe.
This approach is carried through into the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and is reflected in the makeup of driver rules for the class.
During the shorter rounds, a two-driver LMP3 crew must consist at least one bronze-rated driver or a silver driver under the age of 30, paired with a silver or gold driver of any age. A third driver and fourth driver can be added for the endurance rounds and Daytona and respectively, at which point teams are allowed to run a single gold-rated driver. Platinums are not allowed at all.
Of the seven cars entered by the six teams entered into LMP3 for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, two cars Duqueine D08s, while the majority (five) are Ligier JS P320.
So far, the Muelhner Motorsports America #6 Duqueine D08 has been a front runner in the class throughout the entire Roar weekend.
The Belgian team currently only has a pair of drivers confirmed, with the rest of the line-up still to follow. The duo of Moritz Kranz and Laurents Hoerr has wasted little time in establishing themselves as a top team in the class, however.
Kranz, a driver coach in his native Germany, has already won races in the VLN series (now named the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie) and even boasts a class win in the 2019 Nürburgring 24 Hours with Muelhner Motorsports, winning the SP7 class. 23-year-old Hörr, meanwhile, has raced for Team Project 1 in the FIA World Endurance Championship and holds two LMP3 titles in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, the last of which he won in the Duqueie D08.
The pair clearly know their way around the car, and it shows, because during the Roar weekend alone, Kranz took pole for the qualifying race on Saturday This was followed by race wins for the duo in both the opening round of the Prototype Challenge and the Motul Pole Award 100.
The only other team running Duqueine machinery is Forty7 Motorsports. Based out of New Jersey, the team has been racing in the Prototype Challenge since 2016 and is a multiple-time race winner. Driving their #47 car are Mark Kvamme, Ryan Norman, Gabby Chaves and Charles Finelli.
59-year-old Kvamme is something of a journeyman in IMSA, having raced in pretty much every championship the organization has to offer. He’s seen action in the Michelin Pilot Challenge, Prototype Challenge, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge and the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. His most recent outing came at the 2020 Rolex 24, where he joined Precision Performance Motorsports in GTD.
Norman is the team’s young up-and-comer. The 22-year-old graduated from Indy Lights in 2019 and moved to Bryan Herta Autosports in the Michelin Pilot Challenge, where he took three wins in the Hyundai Veloster N TCR en route to the TCR title.
Gabby Chaves needs little introduction. A former IndyCar racer with multiple DPi starts under his belt, most recently in 2020 when he subbed for Felipe Nasr at Whelen Engineering, Chaves was Norman’s team-mate en route to that TCR title in 2020 and comes in as the team’s gold-rated driver.
Perhaps the most interesting driver in the team is Charles Finelli. This 57-year-old from New York has spent the last three years racing in the Indy Pro 2000 series, a part of the IndyCar developmental ladder. In recent years, champions include Kyle Kirkwood and IndyCar Rookie of the Year Rinus VeeKay.
The first of five teams to enter a Ligier into the new category is completely new to the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.
Sean Creech Motorsport, based out of Jupiter, Florida, is a relatively new name in the IMSA paddock. It first competed in the Prototype Challenge in 2020, and has now decided to step up to the main series.
Its #33 Ligier JS P320 will be hard to miss on track, boldly decked out in the colours of the stars and stripes. Also notable on the car are the decals encouraring people to wear masks to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is an initiative from Lance Willsey, the team’s bronze-rated driver. Willsey, a physician and COVID survivor, has launched an effort to raise awareness on the virus amongst motorsport fans.
“I want to stand with my teammates on top step of the podium after 24 hours, and I want to help educate fans as to what we can all do fill the stands as soon as we can in a safe manner,” Willsey said. “If the 24 can entertain the fans as well as bring about change of behaviors in a positive way by people wearing masks, distancing, and learning about the vaccine, then I think we can really accelerate the process of getting back to a sense of normalcy and getting fans back to the track. If we can accomplish that, it’s a win win for all parties involved.”
Willsey is joined aboard the car by Wayne Boyd, a silver-rated driver with European LMP3 experience, and Yann Clairay, an experienced French racer with multiple Le Mans starts under his name.
Headlining the squad at Daytona is none other than multiple-time Rolex 24 winner Joao Barbosa. The Portuguese driver, winning the race in 2014 and 2018, returns to IMSA competition for the first time since parting ways with Mustang Sampling Racing in 2020.
After several seasons of LMP2 competition, Performance Tech Motorsports have opted to abandoned their ORECA programme in favor of an LMP3 campaign in a Ligier JS P320.
Their line-up can best be described as a mix of Rolex 24 experience and youthful enthusiasm, as three out of the four drivers in the team are not even at the legal American driving age, but will make their IMSA debuts aboard the V8-powered prototype.
By far the most experienced hand at the team is 52-year-old Canadian gentleman driver Cameron Cassels. After debuting with the team in the Prototype Challenge in 2018, Cassels graduated to the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and raced at Daytona in 2019 and 2020.
In two seasons, Cassels took a race win and captured eight podiums in a time where Performance Tech Motorsports was a constant in a rocky time for IMSA’s LMP2 class.
Joining the Canadian are three drivers under the age of twenty. Rasmus Lindh, 19, from Sweden, is a Swedish karting champion and Indy Pro 2000 race winner that joined Performance Tech in 2020.
Cassels and Lindh are joined by not one, but two sixteen-year-olds. The first is Guatemalan driver Mateo Llarena, and the second is Orlando native Ayrton Ori, who has only been racing since 2018.
The third Ligier marks a welcome return to the IMSA paddock for the popular CORE Autosport squad. The South Carolina outfit is back in the series under its own name for the first time since its Nissan DPi programme ended. Until 2020, it had been running the successful Porsche GTLM program.
Jon Bennett and Colin Braun, the duo that was three points away from the drivers’ championship in 2018 with an ORECA 07-Gibson, have once again teamed up as Bennett has prolonged his driving career after initially retiring at the end of 2019.
Joining the team is sportscar prodigy Matt McMurry, who has won both an LMP2 and GTD title in his last two season of IMSA competition.
George Kurtz, tech entrepreneur and gentleman driver, completes the line-up. Kurtz and Braun have previously raced together, notably in the GT World Challenge America, where Kurtz took three podiums in 2020.
Finally, the only squad to field a pair of cars in the new class is also one of the most recognizable and well-respected names in the IMSA paddock.
Riley Motorsports, which has built and fielded a variety of cars in North American competition throughout the years, is fielding a pair of Ligier JS P320s after spending previous years campaigning Mercedes GT3 machinery in the GTD category.
The first of those two cars, the #74 Ligier, features not one but two drivers with a history in IndyCar. Spencer Pigot, who has previously been a part of Daytona Prototype squads for Mazda and Juncs Racing and took part in no fewer than 57 IndyCar races, joins the team having last raced in IMSA in 2020.
Alongside him is another driver with IndyCar starts to his name: Indy Lights winner and Iowa podium finisher Oliver Askew. After his unfortunate exit from the Arrow McLaren SP operation last year, Askew will make his first start in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.
Completing the line-up are Gar Robinson, staying on after a strong GTD season with the team in 2020, and Scott Andrews. Andrews, born in Australia, has raced in all sorts of prototype machinery, including LMP3 for Cool Racing and United Autosports and LMP2 and DPi for JDC-Miller Motorsports.
The seventh and final car in the class is somewhat of a dark horse. Riley Motorsports’ second entry, the #91 Ligier JS P320, features a line-up of race-winning pedigree and heaps of experience.
Austin McCusker, aged 23, already has race wins and championships in LMP3 under his belt. He debuted in the Prototype Challenge with Forty7 Motorsports and took two wins en route to second place in the standings.
A year later, he added another win and three podiums and took the title. In addition, he joined Inter Europol Competition for Petit Le Mans and took a podium in his first-ever LMP2 start in 2020.
Joining him are the pair of Dylan Murry and Jim Cox, who raced for Riley Motorsports in the Michelin Pilot Challenge and have taken a Mercedes-AMG GT4 to multiple race wins.
What pushes this squad from strong to potential race winning quality, however, is the inclusion of sportscar journeyman Jeroen Bleekemolen.
The gold-rated Dutchman has long been affiliated with Riley Motorsports and has taken part in countless sportscar races all around the globe, including a total of 15 Le Mans starts. From 2014 to 2019, he raced for Riley in GTD, racing up a total of eleven race wins. Simply put, no matter what the Dutchman races, he’s a favorite for victory and this year’s Rolex 24 likely will not be an exception.
