Weekend News Notebook: IMSA Gets Back in Full Gear with the March Florida Swing
It has been a busy week in regard to news surrounding IMSA and sportscar racing.
From familiar drivers earning seats both in and out of the series to the return of the VP Sportscar Challenge this weekend in its debut on the streets of St. Petersburg, the state of Florida is heating up for jam-packed back-to-back weekends.
VP Sportscar Challenge Preview
Following an exciting season opener at Daytona, the VP Sportscar Challenge heads back into Florida for its second and final race weekend in the Sunshine State, featuring a 24-car field that is supporting the IndyCar season opener.
This weekend marks the first time that prototype cars have hit the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., and with the track being quite tricky, especially in the early sector of the circuit, it should create quite a challenge for these drivers.
Looking across the board, there are some notable entries in both classes coming back into Florida for the weekend.
Rick Ware Racing with Ave Motorsports has made a change in their driver, moving away from Cody Ware and welcoming in Ryan Phinny, who will be driving their P3 entry for the remainder of the season.
Forte Racing, a regular in the GTD class in the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, will be fielding their P3 #77 entry this weekend, while Jagger Jones will have hometown team support with FastMD Racing with Remstar, a group based out of Odessa, Fla., an hour north of St. Petersburg.
The only true hometown driver this weekend comes in the form of Angus Rogers with KMW Motorsports.
The Sarasota native will have a home field advantage if you will, being only an hour away from the circuit.
The GSX class will see 16 entries of the 24 scheduled to compete this weekend, with some other in-state teams fielding some intriguing entries, including Kohr Motorsports, which took the opening race of the season with 17-year-old Luca Mars behind the wheel.
Practice and qualifying open up the afternoon today, followed by a two-race Saturday for the series mixed in with all the other IndyCar and IndyNXT racing going on.
With the sizeable field that this is, this first race in St. Pete should provide for some complex racing, and drivers will need to stay clean if they want to cross the finish line by the end of the day.
HSR Prototype Preview
Just south of St. Pete lies the HSR opening weekend for the series, with their Spring Fling event leading into the IMSA 12-hour spectacle.
Joining the HSR calendar for the season beginning in Sebring next week is the return of the Prototype Challenge, a former IMSA series that would be replaced by the VP Sportscar Challenge.
The series, which is set to feature modern and more retired LMP3 entries, is set to support a handful of HSR event weekends, running 45-minute races.
For the opening weekend, given that many of the LMP3s are in St. Pete, there is a smaller field for the opening races of the season, currently sitting at three entries. But, hopefully, there will be more of an influx of entries, especially modern ones who are currently competing in IMSA, joining the fray.
While this series is not an IMSA-sanctioned event, there will definitely be some solid racing once the series approaches full strength, and it should provide a great tool for P3 teams in the Sportscar Challenge series to use on lull times in the season.
New Drivers
There has been no shortage of driver announcements this week leading up to St. Pete, Sebring, and even some of the other notable road course events, in the case of COTA for NASCAR.
The first of the driver announcements came in the form of defending GTD Pro champion Jack Hawksworth, who will be behind the wheel of the #1 Tricon Garage entry at the Truck Series COTA race.
For Hawksworth, this will be only his second ever NASCAR race, competing in the Xfinity Series back in 2019 at Mid-Ohio.
Following that announcement, it was also confirmed by Bob Pockrass that Ed Jones would be jumping into an Xfinity ride for the first time.
Jones, who finished three times on the podium in IndyCar for Dale Coyne Racing, returns to Circuit of the Americas following a Truck Series effort last season with Youngs Motorsports.
Speaking of Dale Coyne Racing, they too made some driver announcements this week, the final team to announce their season plans.
Colin Braun, the former Meyer Shank Racing GTP driver and current Crowdstrike Racing by APR LMP2 driver in IMSA, will be hopping into an IndyCar ride in the #51 entry, which is partially owned in conjunction with Rick Ware Racing.
Nolan Siegel will also be joining the fray, entering the Indy 500 and a handful of other races this season, while Jack Harvey will sign on to run most of the duties in the team’s sister car.
Braun, Siegel, and Harvey getting rides with DCR comes as no surprise given the recent tests they have run with the team.
Sticking with IndyCar, Callum Ilott is getting his shot back in an open-wheel car following a departure from Juncos Hollinger, filling in for David Malukas this weekend.
Ilott, who is competing full-time for JOTA in the WEC, is arguably earning his best IndyCar opportunity, which may lead to more to come in the future for the young prospect.
In regard to next weekend, there will be a few notable names coming over to compete as part of Sebring weekend.
Jesse Love, the driver of the #2 Richard Childress Chevy Xfinity entry, will be jumping into a Mazda MX-5 Cup car, while Ernie Francis Jr., known for his time in SRX and Trans-Am, will be competing in next weekend’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo opener at the circuit.