- Alex Koreiba and James French Pad HSR Prototype Challenge Championship Lead with Overall and Pro-Am Victory in the 90-Minute Race in the No. 25 Wolf Motorsports Ligier JS P320
- Fourth Different Am-Class Winner of the Season as Mirco Schultis and Lucas Lasserre Charge to the Class Victory and Fourth Overall in the No. 70 Mishumotors Ligier JS P320 in HSR PC Challenge Debut
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (November 3, 2024) – Winning teammates Alex Koreiba and James French drove the No. 25 Wolf Motorsports Ligier JS P320 to a series-leading third Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Prototype Challenge presented by IMSA overall and Pro-Am race win Friday night at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). The 90-minute race set the stage for the start of this weekend’s HSR Classic Daytona 24 Hour Presented by Mission Foods which is currently in its final hours of competition at DIS.
Round five of the Inaugural six-race HSR Prototype Challenge presented by IMSA season, Koreiba and French added the convincing victory at the “World Center of Racing” to earlier triumphs this season in the HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and at the HSR Watkins Glen Classic 6 Hour weekend in June.
Koreiba started from the pole and lost some ground early with a balky shifter issue, but he rebounded to retake the lead. He joined French in taking control of the race for the final hour, although their nearest championship rivals, John Reisman and Eric Curran in the No. 74 Hudson Historics Ligier JS P320, typically kept the pressure on until the end. Curran was closing on French in the race’s final minutes, but the Wolf Motorsports driver withstood the pressure for a 2.536 seconds margin of victory.
Third in Pro-Am and overall went to the sister Hudson Historics No. 47 Ligier JS P320 of Bob Neapole and Guy Cosmo who matched their season-best finish after previously securing a third-place showing at The Glen in June.
While Koreiba, French and the Wolf team have won three of the year’s five Pro-Am races to date, PC Challenge parity has been the order in the Am division. The fourth different winner of the season emerged at Daytona with veteran and versatile road racing driver Mirco Schultis co-driving to the class win and fourth overall with Lucas Lasserre in the the No. 70 Mishumotors Ligier JS P320.
The victory came in the PC Challenge series debut for Schultis and his Mishumotors team while their teammate Lasserre had a successful first visit to Daytona in just his second career race in the United States. A native of France, Lasserre is a winning competitor in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. His only previous racing appearance in the U.S. was 15 years ago when, as a multiple European stock car champion, he earned an invitation to compete in the Toyota All-Star Showdown stock car race at Irwindale Raceway in California.
Second in Am and completing the overall top five was the duo of Gary Ball and Nigel Greensall in the in the No. 73 Ligier JS P320. Greensall took the checkered flag one spot ahead of the No. 86 One Motorsports Ligier JS P3 of Dave House and Mikel Miller, who were sixth overall and third in Am.
Am championship leaders Tobias Lutke and Travis Hill in the No. 22 TWOth Autosport Ligier JS P3 finished fourth in class at Daytona but join only the Pro-Am leaders Wolf Motorsports as multiple race winners this season. Both class points leaders will go into next month’s season-ending race at Sebring International Raceway with “champion-elect” status after garnering enough points at Daytona to secure the titles in both divisions.
The Sebring three-hour season finale takes place Sunday, December 8 as a feature race that is part of the year-end Mission Foods HSR Classic 12 Hour Pistons & Props, Presented by Allen Jay Automotive Network.
Alex Koreiba, Driver – No. 25 Wolf Motorsports Ligier JS P320: “I was thinking at the start that we were going to have to go to Sebring to win a championship with our shifting issue. All confidence went out the window when I went into Turn 1 and I couldn’t get out of sixth gear. I just did everything I could in the car, was even doing heel-and-toeing at one point trying to make a downshift, but when we got some temperature in there the problem cleared itself in a way. The plan was to run as long as possible to give James the best car he could have at the end with fresh sticker tires and low fuel. Wolf Motorsports has given us an unbelievable car. It’s hard to believe it’s our first year in an LMP3 car. They have absolutely mastered this car. I can’t thank the team enough for all that they have done.”
James French, Driver – No. 25 Wolf Motorsports Ligier JS P320: “The main challenge we had was a little shifting issue at the start. Alex had the same issue on the out lap. It was stuck in sixth gear for about a half a lap, and that doesn’t really give you great exits out of the corners. They say problems don’t fix themselves, but this one miraculously kind of did! Once the shifting sorted itself, the car really came into a good balance. I felt some pressure from our closest rival in the championship at the end. Every time I didn’t get a shift, I would lose a couple of seconds here and there. As you go through Turn 3, you can see him in Turn 1, and I could see him closing. I definitely felt some pressure, but once it sorted itself out, we got rolling and the car balance was amazing.”
Eric Curran, Driver – No. 74 Hudson Historics Ligier JS P320: “This is a lot of fun. John Reisman said ‘hey, I am buying an LMP3 car, let’s go racing again,’ and he brought me out of retirement. It is the perfect environment, I love coming back to HSR – spent a lot of time here over the years – and obviously Daytona is wonderful. We are getting better and better. The Hudson Historics guys have been working hard all year on these things. I love this program and the whole concept. I thought we might have had something for them at the end, but I pushed a little too hard on the rear tires early on. Didn’t have quite enough grip at the end but I love it. IMSA supporting HSR, now let’s get a bigger field of these LMP3 cars. I’ll get back in this and do some more of these.”
Mirco Schultis, Driver – No. 70 Mishumotors Ligier JS P320: “This was our first time in Prototype Challenge and we just came here to have fun and to look into next season. It was a night race, here in Florida and we had to do it. I like the championship a lot. It’s a nice format.”
Lucas Lasserre, Driver – No. 70 Mishumotors Ligier JS P320: “It was a great time here to share this with Mirco. He is my friend, and we have done a lot of things in Europe together, but it was my dream to compete here at Daytona. It was just magical and my eyes are wide open!”
About HSR: An International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) property, Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) was formed in the mid-1970s with an event at Road Atlanta. There was one goal then and it remains true today: to celebrate the race cars from the past. As a “time machine” of sights and sounds, HSR provides a venue for competitors and spectators alike to share in the wonderful history and excitement created by the cars that competed at race tracks around the world. HSR currently sanctions eight vintage and historic racing events at some of the world’s most renowned race tracks, including Road Atlanta, Sebring International Raceway, Daytona International Speedway and more. The complete schedule and full event information can be found on HSR’s website at www.HSRRace.com. Look for the HSR Channel on YouTube and follow HSR on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/HSRrace/ and on Twitter and Instagram at @HSR_race. A dedicated website for the Classic 24 Hour at Daytona presented by IMSA is available at www.Classic24hour.com.
