Sean Creech Motorsport continued their IMSA 2024 preparations with the Ligier JS P217 after they conducted a productive second test at the Sebring International Raceway last week.
After a shakedown at the Daytona International Speedway, Sean Creech Motorsport (SCM) continued their testing activities at Sebring, host to the famed IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring race.
Lancey Wilson and Joao Barbosa will continue as full-season drivers into the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and as the Daytona 24 Hours entry list suggested, SCM’s Endurance Cup and Daytona drivers are yet to be announced.
After a weather-interrupted outing at Sebring, 213 trouble-free laps were driven from the #33 Ligier across two days.
“The Ligier is an extremely capable car,” described Wilson.
“But it’s a completely different car to drive than the P3 so it requires a very significant resetting of muscle memory with regards to everything from brake points to throttle applications.
“That means I am starting over to an extent, but we have a solid team at SCM and a great deal of engineering assistance from Ligier, which is a huge help.”
Across multiple IMSA series in the past five years, Sean Creech has stayed loyal to the Ligier name as they prepare for their step up from LMP3 to LMP2 machinery next year.
Their release specifies “incremental” as a key description for the engineers and drivers who familiarised themselves with the setup and other differences from the Ligier JS P320 LMP3.
A low-pressure forecast interrupted the two-day test, as only 33 laps could be done on Wednesday (15 November) morning; intermittent light rain weather followed the next day. Nevertheless, the Ligier ran 10-hours of driving time without any issues.
“It was a steady progression of developing the car, which went extremely well,” continued Wilson.
“Then for me, it was just a matter of figuring out all the nuances to this car.
“But I’m extremely pleased – and I would say that I’m most pleased about the effort that the team has put in, stripping the car and completely rebuilding it flawlessly.
“We rolled out at Sebring and just did fuel and tires all day long without a single issue.
“So barring the weather hiccup, it could not have gone smoother from the perspective of our to-do list.
“We had a set of changes we wanted to work through and quantify, and we ticked off all those boxes.
“We’ve got a long road ahead to completely learn this car, but we’re on that path.”
“The car was just spot-on, and that’s down to all the hard work by the team,” added Barbosa, a four-time winner of the Daytona 24.
“They did a superb job – after all the late nights and the long hours at the shop, it was great to see their faces as the day progressed, knowing that the hard work really paid off.
“The car ran like clockwork and we were able to go through a lot of our test items, even more than we were expecting.
“So for our first proper test day with this car and with the crew getting to know how it operates, it was very, very positive.
“We’re excited about the test in Daytona and the chance to see where we stack up.”
Team Principal Sean Creech concluded a successful test at Sebring.
“Reliability and strategy will be key in the endurance races and last week’s test was a good look in terms of reliability.
“We ran 10 hours trouble-free on Thursday and if there’s a weakness in this car, this track would have found it.
“But I can’t say enough about the crew – they did a phenomenal job on this car, and that work showed.
“It was a good start to the 2024 season.”
The next step for SCM will be at the official IMSA Daytona test, with LMP2s taking to the circuit on 6-7 December in preparation for the 24-hour season-opener on 27-28 January.
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