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Era Motorsport’s Fan-Favorite Crayon Car is Ready for Rolex 24

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DAYTONA, Fla., (January 27, 2021) – The No. 18 Era Motorsports Oreca LMP2 car debuted its special livery for the Rolex 24 At Daytona last week, designed by a six-year-old (and three quarters) race fan from Ontario, Canada. Following week of testing, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season officially begins this week with the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the first and longest event on the 2021 calendar. Together with drivers Kyle Tilley, Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, and Paul-Loup Chatin, the team ran a successful test, ready for their sophomore run in the endurance event.

The Roar Before the 24, the first official test session of the season, concluded on Sunday with a 100-minute race to set the grid for this week’s Rolex 24. Dwight Merriman and Paul-Loup Chatin competed in the event, racing in varying conditions to earn a seventh place starting position for Saturday, January 30. The team is on pace to have a positive run, with Dwight Merriman already bettering last year’s laps by two seconds, and the other three drivers running within two tenths of a second.

Five classes will compete in this year’s race: DPi, LMP2, LMP3, GTLM, and GTD. Era’s LMP2 class has a total of ten entries with forty different drivers slated to compete. The multi-class racing combined with varying light, temperatures, weather, and cars adds to the challenge of the event, making a win or podium finish even more gratifying.

Fans in the United States scan watch the race live in its entirety on NBC Sports Gold’s TRACKPASS for $2.99, or watch the first hour on NBC. Fans outside the United States can visit imsa.com/internationalcoverage to find their correct broadcast information. IMSA Radio will continue to offer their comprehensive coverage of every session, and any additional information can be found on imsa.com.

Driver Quotes

Kyle Tilley
I couldn’t be happier with the team and the car heading into this week’s Rolex 24 At Daytona! Dwight is two seconds a lap faster than last year, and Paul-Loup, Ryan, and myself are all within two tenths of each other, so it bodes well for the race.

LMP2 is stacked this year, which is great for the class. IMSA really got it right by allowing the P2 cars to have a bit more freedom with the aero settings. It has made the car come alive! Bring it on!

Dwight Merriman
I feel like we all did a great job utilizing every session of the Roar Before the 24. We’re all running consistent lap times in what will be a very competitive field. The qualifying race gave us a brief glimpse of how intense the LMP2 class will be for the race, and we’re ready to fight for it. The entire team did a great job making all the preparations, and we’re ready to go.

Ryan Dalziel
We had a great Roar weekend, so I really believe we are in good shape for the 24 hour race. Our speed seems really good, but more importantly, the team is working very well together. I am confident we will have a great race and I look forward to getting to the end, preferably standing on the podium with my teammates.

Paul-Loup Chatin
I am really very happy with the week we spent for the roar. The whole team did a very good job to put us in the best position. Dwight, Kyle, and Ryan are exemplary teammates, we have all worked in the same direction to make the car the most efficient and comfortable to find the best possible set up for the 24 Hours At Daytona.

We are now in the last straight line before the race and it will be important for us to focus on the last small adjustments to make sure that we are in the best conditions for the start on Saturday. It will be a long and difficult race, but together we have the potential to achieve a very good result. Obviously, we will have to run a race without errors and have some success, but we will do our best to allow Era Motorsport to achieve the best possible result.

About Era Motorsport
Era Motorsport was formed in 2018 with the idea of providing unmatched excellence in historic racing. Just two years later, the team expanded to the world of professional sport car racing, fielding an Oreca 07 in the prolific IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Motorsport isn’t just a hobby, it is a way of life: a passion that is in the team’s blood. Whether you find us in the IMSA WeatherTech paddock with modern prototypes or chasing down lap records in our fully restored classic sports cars, or even globetrotting to experience historic F1 at some of the world’s most iconic circuits, Era Motorsport has something for everyone. In 2021, the team will return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for limited events and also contest in the full season of the Asian Le Mans championship.

Kaulig Racing Announces Personnel and Returning Partners for 2021 Season

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Jeb Burton
Jeb Burton will begin his 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) season with primary partner, Nutrien Ag Solutions, at Daytona International Speedway in the No. 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing. Nutrien Ag Solutions will be on board the No. 10 Chevrolet for 16 races in 2021.

Bruce Schlicker returns as the crew chief for Kaulig Racing’s No. 10 Chevrolet for the 2021 season. Last year atop the No. 10 pit box, Schlicker recorded 15 top five and 27 top-10 finishes with driver Ross Chastain.

Justin Haley
Kaulig Racing announced earlier the return of Justin Haley to the No. 11 Chevrolet for a third-straight year. The team is also thrilled to announce the return of primary partner, LeafFilter Gutter Protection, to the No. 11 Chevrolet for the 2021 season. LeafFilter has donned the No. 11 Chevrolet since the team’s inception in 2016 and continues to be the flagship entry for the team. A new addition has been added to the well-known LeafFilter scheme, and that is another “Leaf” company. Kaulig Racing is proud to add LeafHome Solutions and its subcompanies to the No. 11 Chevrolet.

Returning as the crew chief for the No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet and Justin Haley will be Alex Yontz, who will call the shots for his second, full-season as crew chief. Together in 2020, Yontz and Haley recorded three wins, 10 top five and 21 top-10 finishes for Kaulig Racing.

AJ Allmendinger
AJ Allmendinger will kick off his first, full NASCAR season since 2018 with partner, Ellsworth Advisors on the No. 16 Chevrolet at Daytona. In addition to his return to full-time competition, Kaulig Racing also announced recently that Allmendinger will pilot the No. 16 Camaro ZL1 1LE at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course race in the team’s part-time NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) entry.

Atop the box for the 2021 NXS season will be long-time race engineer Jason Trinchere, who was previously Justin Haley’s lead engineer during the 2020 NXS season. Trinchere has worked in all three of NASCAR’s top series as an engineer and is a great addition to the Kaulig Racing crew chief lineup.

Kaz Grala
Kaz Grala was recently announced as the driver for Kaulig Racing’s 2021 Daytona 500 entry, as well as other select races in the 2021 NCS season with the team.

Leading the way for the No. 16 team as the crew chief for Kaulig Racing’s part-time NCS entry is Matt Swiderski. Swiderski most recently acted as a crew chief for Team Penske’s part-time No. 12 NXS entry.

About Kaulig Racing
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time, multi-car NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started and made the Championship 4 round for the first time in 2020. Kaulig Racing fields three full-time entries; the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by Jeb Burton, the No. 11 Chevrolet driven by Justin Haley, and the No. 16 Chevrolet driven by AJ Allmendinger. Kaulig Racing™ earned five wins in 2020 and have come to be one of the top competitors on track each weekend. The team will make its second NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) start in the 2021 Daytona 500 with Kaz Grala, as well as a limited NCS schedule this season. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.

Atlanta Speedwerks IMSA Honda Civic TCR Two-Car Effort Ready For Daytona Season Opener

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Photo credit Daylon Barr

Eversley and Strelzoff, Henderson and Noaker the Driver Pairings at the Four-Hour Race to Begin the 2021 Season

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (January 27, 2021) – Fresh off a successful test during the Roar Before the 24, the two-car Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic TCR program is ready to get the 2021 season underway with a four-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race on Friday at Daytona International Speedway. Greg Strelzoff and Ryan Eversley will co-drive the No. 94 Dinner With Racers/Lemons of Love Honda Civic TCR, with Brian Henderson and Robert Noaker sharing duties in the No. 84 Sabelt/Pagid Honda Civic TCR.

Eversley and Strelzoff participated in the series-wide test less than a week ago at Daytona to help the team shake down the car and provide a refresher for Strelzoff, who stepped away from racing for nearly five years after multiple podium finishes in what was then the ST class of this same championship. The test was a success, both in getting Strelzoff up to speed quickly and for the car, which posted the quickest time in the last session. During that session, with veteran championship contender and host of the popular racing podcast and Amazon Prime television show Eversley behind the wheel, the team ran a simulated qualifying session with fresh Michelin Tires and a low fuel load, providing ideal conditions for the lap.

Noaker and Henderson proved they are a formidable pairing at last season’s finale at Sebring International Raceway. Driving together for the first time, the pair started at the rear of the field following an overnight engine swap and drove to as high as third place, before ultimately finishing sixth. Incidentally, their new teammate Eversley finished one spot ahead in that race and finished seventh in the championship point standings.

In addition to the two-car effort at Daytona, Atlanta Speedwerks continues to make plans for a three-car team beginning with the second round at Sebring.

The race event, sharing the race week with the famed Rolex 24 At Daytona, gets underway with a one-hour practice session on Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. ET. Each team gets another one-hour session on Thursday morning at 9:45 a.m. ET, followed by a 15-minute qualifying session at 2:25 p.m. A 30-minute warm-up session on Friday is the last chance to make changes to the car before the four-hour season opener at 1:35 p.m. ET. The race can be seen live on the NBCSN app via TrackPass.

Brian Henderson, Driver, No. 84 Honda Civic TCR: “I’m so excited to head back to Daytona and kick-off the 2021 IMSA season. Our team is stronger than ever and we have a great group of drivers lined up for this year. At the Roar, the No. 94 car showed that we have the speed to compete. I’m ready to hit the track with co-driver Robert Noaker and compete for wins. I’m feeling really good about this season!”

Robert Noaker, Driver, No. 84 Honda Civic TCR: “It’s nice to be racing again, the off season was a little shorter than previous years. It is going to be a neat experience racing at one of the most famous tracks in the world. My goal is to try to keep the car clean and to be in a good position at the end of the race to have a good finish. I have competed in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill twice so I’m use to longer races and have done 3-hour stints before, so this longer race will be fun. I’m Looking for to racing with Brian Henderson, he is a very smooth and clean driver and always thinking about keeping the car clean.”

Greg Strelzoff, Driver, No. 94 Honda Civic TCR: “I’m really happy with the progress that was made. The team has been phenomenal. I’m really surprised personally at how quickly I got up to speed. I need more, but I know where it’s at and I know how to do it. I just need to go execute. The good news is that it’s just a few bites away, it’s not huge quantum leaps. I love this track. There’s so much history here and I’ve had some great races here. This is where I had my first professional race, and I love it.”

Ryan Eversley, Driver, No. 94 Honda Civic TCR: “This is my fourth team racing this Honda Civic since 2018, and every time I get in one it’s like putting on an old pair of shoes. This is one of the best ones I’ve driven in a long time. Last year racing against the Atlanta Speedwerks cars, I knew they were really fast so when I got the call to come be a part of this program I knew we’d have fast race cars.”

About Atlanta Speedwerks
Atlanta Speedwerks is a professional road racing team and prep shop, providing road racing services, car builds, roll cages, arrive and drive programs, and performance parts. Headquartered near Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the company runs winning arrive & drive programs in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, Mazda MX-5 Cup, Porsche Club of America and SCCA Spec Miata, among others. Professional coaching and driver development round out the company’s offerings.

Ford Performance NASCAR: Team Penske Media Day (Crew Chief Transcript)

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TEAM PENSKE NASCAR CREW CHIEF TRANSCRIPT

PAUL WOLFE, Crew Chief, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – WHAT DO YOU THINK ALLOWED YOU AND JOEY TO CLICK THE SECOND PART OF THE YEAR TO MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4? “I think just getting the opportunity to go to some tracks for a second time and starting to understand what Joey was looking for out of the car and giving us an opportunity to tune on it. The loss of practice once Covid hit definitely hurt us a little more than what I had hoped, but it was encouraging that we were able to make improvements as we went back to tracks for a second time and kind of learned as the year went on. By no means are we where we think we can get to, but we made some good gains throughout the year and hopefully we can continue to build on that as the season starts and continue to get stronger.”

TODD GORDON, Crew Chief, No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang – WHAT AREA DID YOU SEE THE MOST DEVELOPMENT IN RYAN AS A DRIVER LAST YEAR? “I think about how he kept his poise and what he worked on internally within the races and how he put the races together. I thought he did a really good job of it. I thought he outperformed my expectations in that respect and really just the raw speed impressed me with what he had. I’d seen it from a sister team for years, but I thought he did a really good job. He could get a lot of speed out of the cars and we learned a lot about what we needed to do. I thought he handled his emotions well. It’s part of the growing up piece and he was competitive. I think we’ve got things that obviously we got to the playoffs and first round of the playoffs we had a couple failures there. Darlington put us in a hole and we couldn’t dig back out of it and unfortunately got eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, which isn’t what we planned on or expected or really saw coming forward. But I thought he showed it again because we recovered and we scored a ton of points in what was left of the seven races that were left in the playoffs and still continued to push forward and push towards 2021 and building a notebook as Paul talked about. It’s a challenge when you put these teams together. We’ve been around each other, but we don’t really have the notebook of the intricacies of what makes a driver and a team click, and the lack of practice this year made that a little challenging, but I thought as a whole Ryan did a really, really good job of it and I look forward to what we can do now that we have a notebook to work forward in 2021.”

JEREMY BULLINS, Crew Chief, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – WHAT WAS BRAD ABLE TO BRING TO YOUR GROUP IN 2020 AND WHAT AREAS OF GROWTH ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN 2021? “Brad’s just got a ton of experience. I think when we started out with Ryan we were obviously the youngest team at Team Penske and the least amount of Cup experience, and when you put Brad in the mix with us it just added a level of experience that a lot of us didn’t have. We were able to lean on that and leverage it as best we could and use his experience of how some of these races play out to our advantage. We always had fast cars. We always had speed, but the other thing that he’s really good at is helping you make the car better through the race and understanding the adjustments and things like that that just seemed to click with us as a group. I think we just have to try to build on last year. Obviously, we were really close – one spot short of winning it all – so we’ve just got to try to make gradual improvements. Our short track stuff was good, so we’ve got to make it better and try to get better at the places we weren’t as good as we wanted to be.”

BRIAN WILSON, Crew Chief, No. 22 Verizon Ford Mustang (NXS) – HOW MUCH STRONGER DO YOU THINK YOUR TEAM CAN BE THIS YEAR AS YOU GO FOR A SECOND STRAIGHT TITLE? “I feel like it’s gonna be kind of a gradual progression throughout the year. I do think we can be stronger. I feel like there were several races we may have had the fastest car, we may have been in position to win and we didn’t necessarily capitalize on that, so I definitely feel like we can be stronger as far as the stats go, but you look at the end of the year and I feel like we had good speed at almost every type of track we went to, and I really think that the 54 car is kind of the group we’re looking at. Whenever they have Cup guys in that car, that’s the group that we want to measure ourselves against. The regular competition in the XFINITY Series is going to be tough. It always is. I think it’s a great place for Austin to be. The fact that he’s gonna be able to bounce between the two series a couple times throughout the year to get that experience, to know where he needs to grow, and then because of that he’s going to push us to get better as a team, to make sure that we’re executing the way that we need to. Really, that’s the area we’re focused on is making sure that we’re executing the races that we have race-winning speed.”

PAUL WOLFE CONTINUED — WHAT AFFECTED YOUR RACE DAY AS FAR AS YOUR ACTUAL PERFORMANCE THE MOST NOT HAVING PRACTICE THROUGHOUT THE SEASON? “For us, it took us a while to understand the level of adjustment we needed during the race. When Joey would say ‘loose’ or ‘tight’ just really trying to understand how big of an adjustment. With practice time you run through a lot of changes and start to understand the magnitude of what he’s feeling and what he’s not, so, for us, it was really just not having that practice time and having the ability to try some things so we were closer, not only to start the race but then as we were trying to adjust on the car. Like I said, as the season went on obviously we were able to make gains on that and we were much closer, but that was the struggle for us early on without practice.”

JEREMY BULLINS CONTINUED — WHAT AFFECTED YOUR RACE DAY AS FAR AS YOUR ACTUAL PERFORMANCE THE MOST NOT HAVING PRACTICE THROUGHOUT THE SEASON? “I think that’s a good answer. I think understanding how to make changes differently than before. I thought the whole thing, it’s just a whole different mindset going into the day. Like, when you have practice and you have opportunities to work on your car, you kind of know what you’re getting into on Sunday. It’s a different mindset when you’re showing up and you don’t know what you’re gonna have and you’re leaning on history more than anything and trying to make good decisions, so it’s just a completely different mindset of how to race, but, personally, I enjoyed it. I thought it was a good challenge.”

TODD GORDON CONTINUED — HOW ARE YOU PREPARING FOR BRISTOL? “I speak for myself and I have zero dirt experience, but fortunately the lineage of my driver seems to have a little bit of that knowledge in his background. Dave has been involved with Ryan and myself talking about what we can do and how we can make what we need to think about for that program. Ryan gets it just from family experience and he saws on the wheel pretty hard on an asphalt track, so when we get to those places it’ll be interesting to see what it does. I’ve watched the races from back in 2000, 2001 when they had dirt on the place just to kind of understand it because I don’t. Part of it, Jeremy is a dirt racer. He’s owned cars. He’s played around with that a lot. That’s his golf game, I think, at times when it’s not the golf game and just trying to lean on him for what our program needs to do and work off the talents of him and others that we have within the building that have great dirt backgrounds.”

JEREMY BULLINS CONTINUED – CAN YOU GO INTO HOW YOU’RE PREPARING FOR THAT RACE? “Fortunately for me I grew up around dirt racing. I still play around with dirt racing. I have a lot of buddies that race on different tours, so I’m able to stay in the loop of what those guys are working on and kind of understand, but I think the biggest challenge is they’re racing cars that are specifically built to be on dirt and our challenge is to try to take a Cup car and make it as good as you can make it on dirt and, frankly, that’s quite a bit different than what those guys are racing every week. It’s just a matter of trying to think through what you would do if you were making it the best you can and trying to implement that. The guys that have dirt experience will understand the swings that the racetrack will go through as it dries out and things like that. You watch the Chili Bowl and how they prep the track and how it changes throughout the feature. The guys with dirt experience that’s where they’ll have a leg up. On the car side it’s just trying to implement the experience and knowledge that you have from the dirt side and trying to make good decisions and make a Cup car as good as it can be on dirt even though it’s not designed to be.”

PAUL WOLFE CONTINUED – IT SOUNDS LIKE NASCAR IS BRINGING BACK THE WHEEL WELL TEMPLATE OR GAUGE THAT THEY USE TO CHECK THAT. HOW MUCH WORK IS THAT TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE IN COMPLIANCE AND CAN YOU COMPARE THAT POINT OF EMPHASIS TO SOMETHING IN THE PAST? “It could be different for everyone. We’ve all been working around the Hawk-Eye and working within those constraints, but as they continue to bring different templates out there are obviously areas that they that teams are able to still get aggressive on that the Hawk-Eye is not picking up on, so I don’t think it’s a huge deal for us. We’ve got the templates now and all of our cars have been adjusted to it, but we’ve seen bigger changes in the past. I wouldn’t call this big for us and it’s all the same for everyone now. I think it’s just there are ways and it’s our job to try to find ways to manipulate the system and that’s what everyone had been doing and they just wanted to rein it in a little bit and this template will bring that back in.”

BRIAN WILSON CONTINUED – HOW MUCH MORE OF A CHALLENGE DO YOU SEE GETTING TO PHOENIX THIS YEAR? THE COMPETITION SEEMS PRETTY STACKED. “I feel like the field is definitely gonna be stacked. I feel like a lot of the companies have taken steps forward. You look at Kaulig Racing and I feel like they’ve got a great lineup. I feel like they’ve been making gains over the past few years. You know Gibbs is gonna be tough. You know Jr. Motorsports is gonna be tough. I feel like our group is up to the challenge. I really like the fact that we don’t have a lot of rule changes, so we’re really working on refining the notebook that we already have, that we’ve been working off of, so I feel like we’re in a good position to stay competitive, but it definitely is gonna be a tough year. We’re gonna have to focus on the playoff points all year long to make sure we can make it to Phoenix. I feel like the way that the playoffs went for us this past year was really a bit of a struggle to where we had to rely on some of the points that we had, so we’ve been through a little bit of that mindset where you’ve got to fight for points every week just to make sure you’re advancing, so I think that probably set us up pretty well for what we’re gonna face next year all season long.”

TODD GORDON CONTINUED – WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE GETTING READY FOR THIS SEASON KNOWING RYAN BETTER AND WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHANGES YOU’VE MADE HEADING INTO THE SEASON? “Having a notebook. That’s a big part of it and the relationship and building that relationship with Ryan and myself where you can kind of help each other. I think it was good to get a season through and to be able to sit down in the offseason and say, ‘How can we handle this better? How can we communicate better during the race? How can we communicate better as we build into the race? How do we share our notebook so that we’re hitting it coming off the truck with the speed we need to have?’ Because the environment we’re in now with no practice your work on making speed is the two weeks prior to the event, it’s not the day of the event. So how we communicate through that, I think that’s a building relationship and one we’ve gotten to. For the 12 team explicitly, I had a rear changer get injured at Indy, got hit when they stacked up on pit road and we lost him for the rest of the season. That hurt us from a pit crew standpoint and took a fair amount of our speed away. Zack has made a full recovery and was out with pit practice today and he looks like the old Zack, so I feel like our pit crew will be a fair amount better than what we were in the second half of the season last year and I think those guys are so instrumental in being successful. Keeping your track position, gaining track position, those are the things that motivate drivers when it happens and having him back and the group that we’ve got going into ’21 I feel really strong about our opportunities of what we can do when the caution comes out or the stage breaks. I think putting Ryan in a better position and now understanding how to communicate back and forth, what I can do to help Ryan during the race and what he can do to help us.”

THE IMPACT OF HAVING A LOT MORE ROAD COURSES THIS YEAR. HOW DOES THAT CHANGE SETUP-WISE AND GETTING READY FOR THAT? “That’s one that I feel like we’ve always used the simulator for it at the places we’ve been and I think with Joey in the past we’ve had success with that. I think with Ryan we’ve seen a little bit and I think we’ve made vast improvements. We were not that good at the Daytona road course event and we came back and worked on our program and found some things that were off at the simulator and worked with that and had speed when we got to the Roval, so I think there’s a bigger emphasis on road course racing. I wouldn’t call it our strength. Even as an organization I would say we’re decent, but the 9 car was really, really strong and the 19 has been really strong, so we still have some work to go there, but another facet that when you come to new racetracks it becomes a challenge of how to we put all the data together and formulate the best setups to unload with for the little bit of practice that we will get at those places. It’s good that like Road America, I’ve been to as an XFINITY crew chief and Ryan has been there as an XFINITY driver. COTA is gonna be an unknown for all of us and something we’ll have to figure out how to get there, but the Indy road course, it’s a place that at least the XFINITY cars have run on and we’ll lean on Austin for some input there. I already have and will continue on Austin and Brian for that. We use what we can of the resources we have in the house to make sure we take advantage of every bit of the road course racing we can.”

JEREMY BULLINS CONTINUED – FROM WHAT YOU’VE SEEN AND HEARD HOW IS THE NEXT GEN CAR GOING FOR 2022? “I haven’t worked directly with the car yet, just been trying to follow along with the testing and what-not that’s been done. Obviously, we work in probably one of, if not the most competitive forms of motorsports on the planet and I don’t expect that to change a whole lot. It’s probably gonna get more competitive when we go to that car, so I feel like it’s just gonna be a new challenge for all of us and trying to understand what the tools are to work on it with and what affects it the most. We kind of all have a notebook of changes that we go to in certain situations or at certain racetracks and there’s gonna be a huge learning curve there to figure out what makes that thing go, for sure.”

PAUL WOLFE CONTINUED — FROM WHAT YOU’VE SEEN AND HEARD HOW IS THE NEXT GEN CAR GOING FOR 2022? “I haven’t even seen the car, to be honest. To Jeremy’s point, we don’t have a whole lot of hands-on experience with it. We’ve seen a little bit of what’s happening with the testing and what-not, and Joey had the opportunity to drive the car in Phoenix a couple years ago now and Todd may have been a part of that as well. Maybe he could speak a little more on it, but it’s a big change. It will probably be one of the biggest changes we’ve seen in our sport with just how you work on the cars and what it takes to go racing with them. We’ll be ready to adapt as we go and learn and understand it, but there will be a lot of opportunity early on as there is when any big changes in our sport with big learning curves. Like I said, it’s a new challenge and kind of exciting from that point. We’ll have to see where we go with practice and all that because without track time with that new car, that will really slow that learning curve down. Until we really get it in our hands and start playing with it a whole lot, I don’t really have a lot to say about it.”

TODD GORDON CONTINUED – “To build off of that, Paul brought it up. I didn’t run the test, but Joey and I went and got an opportunity to go to Phoenix in December of ’19 just to work on that car a little bit with the RCR guys who had built it at that point. It’s a completely different creature and the things that you would think, it opened my eyes because you’re gonna have to work on it completely different than what we do now with independent rear suspension and it’s just a different car. The underbody, undertray and how you protect that. It’s obviously evolved since that time and we’re 13 months since I’ve seen the car and it’ll be a learning curve when we get it in our hands and hopefully some time near the end of the season we get that opportunity to get to the racetrack and start working through this car and find the directions of it. I think anytime there’s change there is a ton of opportunity and one of the things I think as a group here we’ve done pretty well with exploiting the opportunity that comes with change and I look forward to what the brings for opportunities and hopefully by that point we’ll be back to some sort of normalcy of having practice at the events and being able to work on our race cars and go through some of the learning curve and push that forward. I would say the biggest change that we’ll see in how we work on race cars and how they race on the racetrack probably comparable to what happened when we went from the old steel-bodies cars to the Car of Tomorrow back when in ’06 or ’07, I guess. It’ll be that big of a change and one that brings opportunity.”

PAUL WOLFE CONTINUED – WHAT WAS THE TURNING POINT FOR THE 22 TEAM LAST YEAR THAT ALLOWED YOU TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF AN UNUSUAL AND DIFFICULT SEASON? “I think it’s really the communication and the leadership, that’s one thing that Joey is very good at is keeping his team on the same page, really rallying the guys and knowing that that’s a big part of our sport is keeping everyone in the right state of mind and mentally strong. We talked through a lot of that and really it’s just communication. That’s something Joey spends as much time on with myself and the guys, just really trying to understand everyone keep everyone’s confidence up, not only in each other but in himself as the driver and make sure everyone is pulling in the same direction. I think the time he put in to make sure that was happening was important and, aside from that, it’s time together as a team and continuing to build and learn from the mistakes. When things go well everything is easy. It’s the time when you struggle is when you really see what you’re made of and everyone kept pushing forward and we were able to get ourselves back to where we want to be and winning a race and competing for a championship.”

GoGoGo! Magnus Racing Reveals Rolex 24 Poster and 2021 Car Livery

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., (January 27, 2021) – After driving fans crazy by hiding images of their No. 44 Acura NSX Evo throughout the Roar Before the 24, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship team Magnus Racing has finally revealed their 2021 livery and special Rolex 24 At Daytona poster. The Magnus Racing with Archangel Acura, which will henceforth be known as Mach 44, will sport a grey, white, and red livery to bring some fun during these gloomy times.

Over the course of the Roar Before the 24, the team took great joy in redacting, obscuring, or blurring images of the No. 44 Acura, even to go so far as deleting buzz-killing social media comments from cold-hearted but smart fans who had the sense to google images of the car, posting to the team’s page to spoil the fun. But alas, the time has come for Rolex Racer to make his big debut.

Rolex Racer will race into your hearts this week for the 59th Rolex 24 at Daytona, the first official race of the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, unless you count last Sunday’s qualifying race as a race—which is not to be confused with last Saturday’s qualifying session for the qualifying race.

John Potter will make his anime debut, starring as Rolex Racer, the daring driver of the Mach 44. Full-season driver Andy Lally will play Pops Racer, despite us confirming he is in fact not John Potter’s actual father, or anywhere old enough to be. Perhaps he landed the role because Pops is a former champion wrestler, or maybe it’s because the character is constantly blowing gaskets. The role of Rolex’s best friend and mechanic, Sparky, will be played by Mach’s North American Endurance Cup driver, Spencer Pumpelly. Mario Farnbacher, the youngest of the drivers, rounds out the cast as young Spritle, Racer’s little brother.

Magnus with Archangel’s Rolex Racer poster will feature the whole gang, including the Mach 44 and Chim-Chim, the group’s furry friend. Fans who don’t mind visiting Florida can pick up their very own mini poster on site by asking at the Styled Aesthetic merchandise tent in the Daytona International Speedway, while supplies last. For fans unable to attend the event this year, the team will do a small number of future giveaways on their Facebook, twitter, and Instagram channels.

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team to defend their Rolex 24 at DAYTONA victory this weekend

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Daytona Beach, Fla. (January 27, 2021) – The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team will look to secure their third victory in a row and fourth overall at Daytona International Speedway this weekend. The blue and black No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura will start the 59th running of the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA from the fifth position with Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi and Helio Castroneves representing the team’s legendary line-up.

The 2021 season brings an entirely new formula for the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team with a fresh driver line-up and a new manufacturer relationship as they tackle the rigorous 3.56-mile, 12-turn road course that tests the meddle of the best sports car drivers in the world each year at this coveted event.

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team’s notable history at the iconic Rolex 24 at DAYTONA includes three overall victories in 2017, 2019, and 2020, 11 top-five finishes and eight podiums while leading 31.4 percent of laps from 2013 to 2020. The team’s consistent pace has resulted in leading the most laps in five of the past six Rolex 24 at DAYTONA events, with a total of 1,733 laps led during that time.

The 2017 Rolex 24 at DAYTONA winner and 2020 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar champion, Ricky Taylor, will make his official return to the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team after a successful three-year run with Acura and Honda Performance Development. Taylor’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship resume includes one Rolex 24 at DAYTONA victory, one 12 Hours of Sebring victory and 24 wins.

“It’s nice to keep the rhythm with such a short break between the Roar and the Rolex,” said Ricky Taylor. “It’s going to be a really difficult race with the addition of an extra class as well as 50 other cars on track, but we have a really strong car in race trim in clean air. The team has so much experience and knows how to win at Daytona, so I’m really looking forward to it. All the guys on the team are very motivated and everyone has done such a great job to get to this point, so hopefully we can repay them for all their hard work with a win.”

Filipe Albuquerque, the 2018 overall and 2013 class Rolex 24 at DAYTONA winner, joins Ricky Taylor as a full-time co-driver of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05. In a prolific 2020 season, the Portuguese driver became the Le Mans champion, LMP2 World Endurance champion and European Le Mans champion.

“I’m really looking forward to the Rolex,” said Filipe Albuquerque. “We saw that a lot can happen in 100 minutes during the qualifying race, but we just need to stay clean and out of problems. The car runs smooth and we’ll continue to learn more. Any track time is valuable for us and we are more ready than when we started with the car. I think we’re going to be competitive. I think we have a good chance to go for the win in 24 hours, so we’ll see how it goes!”

Alexander Rossi joins former teammates Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team for the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and the MOTUL Petit Le Mans endurance races. The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner and seven-time INDYCAR winner has two endurance podiums throughout his various IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship appearances in recent seasons.

“We had a really good three days at the Roar,” mentioned Alexander Rossi. “It was completely trouble free and that is a testament to the team, Acura, and HPD for the work that they did in the off season. All four drivers are working really well together and we’re very excited to see what we can accomplish together at the Rolex 24.”

Three-time Indianapolis 500 champion, 24-time INDYCAR race winner and 2020 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar champion, Helio Castroneves joins the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team for the 59th Running of the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA.

“It was great to go back with Acura and my team mates again this past weekend,” said Helio Castroneves. “It’s very cool to be part of the No.10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 in action and to have had my first experience with them. Now, we are getting ready for the 24 hours and hoping for the best!”

Wayne Taylor’s extensive record at the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA extends back to his own racing career where he secured two victories as a driver in addition to the three victories as a team owner. 2021 sees Taylor enter his 15th season as a team owner, and he will be looking to bring Acura its first prototype victory at Daytona this weekend.

“I’m really excited for the Rolex 24 and looking forward to it again this year,” said team owner, Wayne Taylor. “It would be nice to win three in a row, especially with a new manufacturer. The entire team has worked incredibly hard to get the car where it is, there’s just no other team like it because we have exceptional leadership, crew, and driver lineup. It is superb to have Konica Minolta with us again and to also have Bill Harrison and Harrison Contracting officially announced on the car. Given the amount of time we’ve had on track we thought the car performed pretty well at the Roar last weekend. This weekend is looking great with no rain and I’m hoping we are still able to have a lot of fans.”

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 will start the 59th Running of the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA after finishing in the fifth position during last weekend’s Motul Pole Award 100 during last weekend’s Roar Before the 24. Practice for the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA begins this Thursday at 11:40 a.m. EST. The green flag for the main event will wave at 3:40 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 30th with live coverage beginning at 3:30 p.m. EST at NBC.

About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is reshaping and revolutionizing the Workplace of the Future™ with its expansive smart office product portfolio from IT Services (All Covered), ECM, Managed Print Services and industrial and commercial print solutions. Konica Minolta has been recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for thirteen consecutive years, and the World Technology Awards recently named the company a finalist in the IT Software category. Konica Minolta, Inc. has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for nine consecutive years and has spent three years on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list. Konica Minolta partners with its clients to give shape to ideas and work to bring value to our society. For more information, please visit us online and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. Wayne Taylor Racing’s existing lineup of partners that also features Harrison Contracting, Acura Motorsports and CIT.

Garrett Smith Kickstarting 2021 During Cabin Fever Race

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Official Release
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Garrett Smith (10) will open his 2021 campaign during the Cabin Fever Race this weekend at Boyd's Speedway in Georgia. (Richard Barnes Photo)

RINGGOLD, Ga. – (Jan. 27, 2021) – After a busy offseason, Garrett Smith is ready to hit the ground running during the 13th annual Cabin Fever race at Boyd’s Speedway on Jan. 30.

Smith enjoyed a strong 2020 season racing 602 and 604 late models, earning three victories throughout the course of the season. He closed out the year by making his super late model debut with the Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series, where he set fast time, won his heat and led early in the feature.

“We had a really solid season last year and I’m looking forward to getting things started at Boyd’s Speedway,” said Smith, who earned one of his three victories last year at Boyd’s Speedway. “We’ll be going up against some tough competition during the Cabin Fever race, but we’re ready to go and I’m looking forward to getting back on a race track again.”

Since then Smith has been busy working to prepare a new Rocket Chassis XR1 race car. That car won’t quite be ready in time for the $4,000-to-win Valvoline Iron-Man Late Model Series feature that headlines the Cabin Fever program at Boyd’s Speedway.

Instead, Smith plans to utilize a battle-tested Barry Wright Race Cars ICON during the Cabin Fever event.

“We’ve spent most of our offseason getting this new Rocket XR1 ready to go,” Smith said. “It’s been a lot of hard work and preparation, but the car isn’t quite ready to go yet. We’ve got an awesome Barry Wright ICON race car that’s ready to go and we’ll use that car when we head to Boyd’s Speedway for the Cabin Fever race.”

Learn more about Garrett Smith and follow his racing activities by liking his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Garrettsmithperformance or by following him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/garrett_smith10.

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About McCallister Precision Marketing

McCallister Precision Marketing (MPM) focuses on assisting up-and-coming race car drivers with career advancement and promotion. McCallister Precision Marketing helps drivers build confidence in front of and behind the camera, giving them the tools they need to advance to the next level. The company also provides companies with a strategic plan for their sales, marketing and promotional needs. We believe in building positive relationships with our clients so that we may provide them with the most professional, yet personal guidance they need, in order to achieve their racing goals. Our clients include race car drivers, race team owners, companies and racing series’. We also work closely with charities and charity events. For more information on McCallister Precision Marketing, visit www.MarketWithMPM.com, email TonyaMac44@MarketWithMPM.com or call 803-361-6199.

Event Preview: Wright Motorsports Makes Preparations for Team’s 28 Hours of Racing At Daytona

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., (January 27, 2021) – Race week for the 59th Rolex 24 At Daytona kicks off this Thursday, and Wright Motorsports will run their first official race event of the 2021 season pulling double duty in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Michelin Pilot Challenge’s BMW Endurance Challenge. The longtime Porsche customer racing team, sponsored by 1st Phorm, Mountain Motorsports, and Una Vida Tequila will take part in a total of eight practice or qualifying sessions between the two programs, building up to Friday’s Michelin Pilot Challenge race and the Rolex 24 on Saturday and Sunday. The two events total 28 hours of racing over the course of the two days.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
The entire IMSA field just completed the Roar Before the 24, an official four-day series event, allowing teams sufficient time to test and shakedown the race cars before the main event. This year’s Roar introduced a new addition to the format: a 100-minute qualifying race to set the grid for this Saturday’s 24 hour long endurance racing event. An incident in night practice resulted in the team switching to another chassis after qualifying for the Motul Pole Award 100, moving the team’s starting position back from pole position to 19th place. However, determination by the crew to make it to the grid in time with a competitive car proved beneficial and together the team, with drivers Ryan Hardwick and Patrick Long, gained ten positions during the race, also breaking into the top ten to start Saturday’s Rolex 24 at Daytona from ninth on the grid.

Hardwick and Long will be joined by returning drivers Jan Heylen and Klaus Bachler, who both drove with them in the No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 R for select WeatherTech races in 2020.

The 3:40PM Eastern start of the 59th Rolex 24 at Daytona will air live on NBC for the first hour, then move to NBC Sports, Saturday, January 30. For just $3.00, fans can watch the race live with no interruptions on NBC Sports Gold’s TRACKPASS, which is available on smart TVs, tablets, computers, and cell phones. IMSA Radio is slated to provide comprehensive coverage of all on track WeatherTech sessions worldwide, and international audiences can find their Rolex listings via imsa.com/internationalcoverage.

Michelin Pilot Challenge
The team made their 2021 Michelin Pilot Challenge debut last week as well, immediately showing they will be strong contenders for the new season’s championship. As the Roar Before the 24 progressed, the No. 16 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport’s lap times and finishing positions improved with each session, with the team finishing the final session in first place. This weekend’s event will consist of three practice sessions, beginning Wednesday afternoon, followed by qualifying on Thursday, January 28. The BMW Endurance Challenge will begin on Friday, January 29th, and be one of only two races on the 2021 calendar to have a runtime of four hours.

The broadcast of the BMW Endurance Challenge will air live on NBC Sports Gold’s TRACKPASS, or imsa.tv for international audiences, beginning at 1:30PM Eastern. IMSA Radio will also offer coverage of this session only. For all event information, visit imsa.com.

Driver Quotes

Ryan Hardwick
No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R
No. 16 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport
Personally, I am really looking forward to the Rolex race weekend. More so than just about any other race weekend that I can remember. I can’t wait to compete in my first Michelin Pilot Challenge series race, and also drive in my 3rd consecutive Rolex 24 hour. I am coming off a weekend at the Roar where I did some of the best driving of my life, and I’m ready to show that same pace when it counts this weekend in the Rolex. I’m confident that our Wright Motorsports team is the most prepared team in the GTD field, and that my co-drivers are all as eager as I am to go for the win this weekend.

Patrick Long
No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R
This is a deep field of great entries, and a top-five is going to be a real challenge. We had a phenomenal Roar week right up until night practice when it all fell apart. We dug deep and the team did an amazing job to get us onto the grid for the qualifying race. The qualifying race was a pretty messy affair. Cars were all over the place, but we are proud of the team effort that was able to get these laps under our belt and gain some data with this new car. We’ll push on to the Rolex.

Jan Heylen
No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R
No. 16 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport
It’s nice to be back at Daytona for the 24 hours. I think we had a lot of good things happen for us in the Roar. A few things didn’t come our way, but all in all, we have a team that is very well prepared for this event, and we have a big week ahead of us. We’re with the best team in the paddock, so I know preparation won’t be an issue. The Porsche in general is competitive, and if it were come down to the last hour in the race, we have a car we can fight with. I’m looking forward to the start of the races. It’s nice to be here with Patrick and Ryan again, and having Klaus with us again. We have a good team and a good lineup.

Klaus Bachler
No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R
I’m looking forward to being back here to race next weekend at the 24 hour race. Great job by the whole team to bring us back so we could do the qualifying race. The car was well prepared for this event. Now we have a few days where they can fully prepare the new car. I’m looking forward to getting back on track again. Hopefully we have a good result and finish well.
Event Schedule

Wednesday, January 27
1:45PM – 2:45PM Michelin Pilot Challenge Practice 1

Thursday, January 28
9:45AM – 10:45AM Michelin Pilot Challenge Practice 2
11:05AM – 12:05PM WeatherTech Practice 1
2:45PM – 3:00PM Michelin Pilot Challenge GS Qualifying
3:20PM – 4:20PM WeatherTech Practice 2
7:15PM – 9:00PM WeatherTech Practice 3

Friday, January 29
9:25AM – 9:55AM Michelin Pilot Challenge Practice 3
11:20AM – 12:20PM WeatherTech Practice 4
1:35PM – 5:35PM BMW Endurance Challenge

Saturday, January 30
3:40PM Rolex 24 At Daytona Green Flag

1st Phorm
1st Phorm is a sports nutrition company based in St. Louis, MO. In 2009, CEO Andy Frisella and his business partner Chris Klein started the brand, and since then, it has become the fastest growing supplement company in the world. 1st Phorm has set the standards in the industry for quality and helping people reach their goals. This new racing partnership is not their first time in the exotic car scene either. 1st Phorm has been the title sponsor for the Gold Rush Rally for six years running. With over a million followers across social media, 1st Phorm has amassed a huge cult-like following known as, “The Legion of Boom.” They stand for a movement in the fitness world. To turn it back to what it was meant to be. Helping others improve their lives, to be a good human… and to drop the excuses and do the work. 1st Phorm is a winning brand and they don’t expect anything less when it comes to their race team. For additional info: www.1stphorm.com

Mountain Motorsports
Mountain Motorsports is a group of motorcycle and powersports dealerships with multiple locations in the southeastern United States. The company was founded by lifelong friends Ryan Hardwick and Justin Price when they opened their first location as a single-line Honda dealership in Sevierville, Tennessee in 1999. The company has since grown into one of the largest retailers of motorcycle and powersports vehicles in the nation, spanning nine dealership locations representing eleven of the industry’s most well-known brands. For additional info: www.mountainmotorsports.com

Una Vida Tequila
Una Vida translates to One Life. That is how this brand started. By people who want to live their “One Life” to the absolute fullest and to their highest potential. A group of guys from the Midwest who love great quality tequila, and want their One Life to have meaning and impact others.

One Life, One Tequila is our CORE BELIEF. We’re building the only tequila brand you will ever need to drink. Una Vida is bigger than just tequila we’re also building a culture of people who want to live their life to their utmost potential.

Our story begins and continues to grow bottle by bottle. It’s a life mission for us to create a community of people who all raise a glass knowing they’re living their ONE LIFE! For more information, visit unavidatequila.com

Wright Motorsports
Wright Motorsports is the premier Porsche race engineering facility in Ohio and a multi-series, international racing team known for superb car preparation, expert race strategy and driver development. Located in Batavia, Ohio, it is owned and directed by John Wright, a certified Porsche factory-trained technician. As a crew chief John Wright has played a key role in winning eight driver and seven team championships in World Challenge, IMSA (ALMS) and the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Wright Motorsports won the team championship in Porsche GT3 Cup USA in 2012, 2013 and 2015, and went on to win the Pirelli World Challenge Overall, Sprint, Team and Manufacturer’s titles in 2017. The 2020 season will see the team return to IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship. For more information, visit wrightmotorsports.com

CHEVY NTT INDYCAR SERIES: PRESEASON ZOOM CONFERENCE WITH TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET INDYCAR DRIVERS

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Official Release
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CHEVROLET RACING IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES
PRESEASON ZOOM CONFERENCE
TEAM PENSKE TEAM CHEVY INDYCAR DRIVERS
JANUARY 26, 2021

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
YOU HAD A GREAT YEAR IN 2020. YOU HAVE A PRETTY SPECIAL RACE COMING IN AUGUST ON THE INDYCAR SCHEDULE WITH RACING ON THE STREETS OF YOUR HOMETOWN IN NASHVILLE. TALK ABOUT THAT A BIT.
“Yeah, I’m extremely excited about Nashville. I think the NASCAR guys are, too. Obviously, they are different tracks but it’s certainly a city that supports events I think almost better than anywhere. It’s growing in population and popularity among sports fans and it’s a perfect destination as far as visiting a city for tourism and to see an event like INDYCAR and NASCAR for that matter, I think it’s just the best destination. So, I’m very excited about INDYCAR coming back. I would never have dreamed of that happening when I was a kid, growing up in the northside of Nashville, that we would one day have a street course race in the downtown streets of Nashville. So, it’s going to be fun. I think it has big potential to become one of the marquis events on our calendar and certainly a blockbuster for a street course race.”

YOU’VE BEEN WORKING A LOT WITH GAVIN WARD RECENTLY. IS HE GOING TO BE YOUR RACE ENGINEER AGAIN THIS YEAR? AND HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES THAT BRING YOU GOING INTO THE SEASON GIVEN YOUR STRONG YEAR LAST YEAR?
“Yes, confidence is big. I agree with Ryan (Blaney) in saying you’ve got to feel good about your ability in the car and the people around you. Gavin Ward is stellar. I’m such a fan of Gavin. He’s brought a lot to our team specifically being in the Formula 1 world. In a lot of ways, INDYCAR and Formula 1 are very similar and in other ways they’re very different. They approach a race car a little different than we do. They’re both open-wheel cars, so a lot of it transfers, but they may be focusing on one area of the car that we would never look at.
“So, for me, that’s brought a lot of confidence to our team to try and open up our scope in how we’re developing the cars in the off-season and what we’re thinking about over race weekends. And when it just comes to race day execution, he’s really good. He’s a great collaborator for me, to figure out what we need on the car specifically for each session and then maximizing race day. So yeah, he’s going to stick around. We’ll have the same program as last year and obviously just trying to up our game in all areas. That’s the goal every season. I’m hoping we can find that extra that we need.”

YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT SMALL DETAILS IN THE OFF-SEASON AND THERE’S NO ONE THING YOU CAN DO TO FIX EVERYTHING. BUT IS THERE A PARTICULAR AREA YOU HAVE FOCUSED ON WHERE YOU FEEL YOU CAN IMPROVE DURING THE OFF-SEASON?
“Yes, we definitely have. We’ve put a ton of emphasis on the Indianapolis 500 as far as the way we build the cars, what we’re looking for in qualifying; I think we’ve definitely marked that even as we always do, even if we won the race by a mile, I think you’d be looking at how to be even better at Indy. I think after last year we really want to up our game. When it comes to qualifying, we want to be up higher. We know we can do that. We know that we have people to make it happen. So, we’ve spent a tremendous amount of time on that, which I think is very encouraging. I’m really excited to get to the month of May, to be honest with you. So, that’s number one.

“Then with myself, I think the biggest area that I can improve is qualifying. There are some places where maybe we were just a little behind as a team and ultimately, we got what we got out of a particular qualifying session. But then there’s other times I think that I can still contribute a little bit more. And I can still maximize those starting placements just a bit better. It’s not that we were bad in 2020, but if there’s an area to improve I think that’s the place to push forward. I think our race performances were very strong. Circumstances didn’t always fall in our favor, but if we can just give ourselves a little better starting spot every single weekend, I think that’s going to go a long way in helping our cause for the championship.”

ALONG WITH YOUR TWO INDYCAR CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORIES IN YOUR CAREER, YOU HAVE BEEN SEMI-CLOSE SOME OTHER TIMES, BUT HAD NEVER FINISHED SECOND PLACE AND BEEN QUITE AS CLOSE AS YOU WERE AS RUNNER-UP IN 2020. AFTER HAVING SOME TIME TO REFLECT OVER THESE PAST COUPLE OF MONTHS, HAS THE REFLECTION AND DRIVE YOU’VE GOTTEN ANY DIFFERENT THAN WHERE YOU FINISHED?
“I think for me, if anything, in all honesty, I was really just disappointed. I felt like we had a championship performance last year. Circumstances didn’t always fall our way. It was one too many times that circumstances went against us. And I think ultimately that’s what kind of decided our fate with the title. But we fought all the way. We got pretty close. We fought our way back every time. It was just too big of a deficit at the end of the day to make up, especially with a competitor like Scott (Dixon). I think if you give him too much of a window sometimes you dig a hole that’s too big to claw your way out of. But yeah, I was disappointed. For me, as a competitor, it would have been nice to knock off the third championship and then this year I would like to be working on the fourth. And so now you’ve got to re-set. We didn’t win the third; we’ve got to try and win the third this year. And that’s the way my mind works.

“For me I want to figure out how we can win as many championships as possible. And the Indy 500 is still on that list. I have not been able to personally knock that race off and get one on the board. So, I’m focused on that, but I’m definitely focused on us trying to find this third championship. I thought we had the performance for it last year and we’ve just got to maintain that and continue to up our game. That’s the mentality ever season. So, I’m just more determined and more focused after the disappointment of falling short last year.”

SCOTT MCCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
TALK ABOUT COMING TO INDYCAR WITH A PENSKE LEGACY PARTNER SUCH AS PPG:
“I think it is fantastic that we were able to announce that PPG will join us for 10 out of 17 races in 2021. For me, to race car No. 3 was very special from what Rick and Helio have done for the team, but also to carry on a 37 year legacy with PPG and be a part of that in some way is going to be very cool, and hopefully I can add to what has already been achieved in the P, PG INDYCAR with people before me. We went though video on the announcement which I thought was very cool. It brought back some goosebumps. Danny Sullivan then Al Unser, Jr., Rick Mears , Juan Montoya, Josef (Newgarden) who have run these colors. To be a part of this legacy is very cool for me and it is starting in my rookie season. I appreciate the trust that PItPG put in me and my program.”

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON IN THE OFF SEASON TO GET READY FOR INDYCAR?
“A lot of things. Trust in the car and what it does. Trust the aerodynamics. It’s the first race car I have ever driven that relies on the aerodynamics and trusting within the car. The grip level you get. It can also bite pretty quick so learning that and learning the limit is quite difficult, but I’ve had some good analysis with my engineers and working a few things out. Making sure I am comfortable in the car. Another thing as well, and I noticed this in St. Petersburg, learning the tire in qualifying conditions, it takes time for the tire to come up to temp and it is a very short window where you can get the ultimate grip for the fastest laps. That is something I think I am going to have to learn over the race period, over the journey. We only get to run the red tires in qualifying or at the race track at the race meeting so I am going to have to learn that over time and test in them. I think our learning develop[ment has been going okay but time will tell and we will try to learn as much as w can.”

WHAT ARE Y0UR EXPECTTIONS?
“It’s one of those of those deals to say exactly what my expectations until we get on track and see where we are at. Like Will said, I think we are going to have a real strong race car and three strong teammates to push me. I think that will accelerate my process. If I get to the end of the year and I’m in the top-10 of the championship or the top-eight in the championship that would almost be a win for me. I am realistic about my expectations. But I am impatient. I’m competitive and I want to make sure we get to the front as quick as we can. I’ve got a massive amount of expectations from the sponsors that partner with us including PPG and some to be announced. It’s an exciting period but there is a pressure there and I am excited to take that on board and move forward with it.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:
ON HIS RECORD SETTING CAREER SO FAR BEING LISTED ALONG SOME OF THE GREATS IN THIS SPORT: “It’s amazing. It’s something that I would have never thought when I first started my career. To be five poles away from equaling Mario Andretti for all-time poles. Up there with Michael Andretti-three wins away from him to be fourth on the list. It’s reall cool-the Andretti name is such a legendary name in the sport. I’m still as motivated as ever. Love it as much as I ever have. So I expect to keep going here and have a real shot at the championship this year. Planning on having a good start to the season I think that is what has made it difficult for us the last few years. I have a very good crew. Obviousuy being with my engineer (Dave Faustino) for over a decade, we know each other so well. I have three very good teammate. Three very strong guys so I expect the team to be very strong this year as a whole.”

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE GIVEN SCOTT? “I told him when he was initially getting into it was just to creep up on it all. Because there is nothing worse than going into the wall, having a crash and losing your confidence. That certainly puts you back a few steps. He’s driven in a very high-profile series at a very professional level for a number of years so he knows all that. I think he knows the process he needs to take. There’s not really much you can give him. He’s got to really take from real-life experiences from here out honestly.”

WITH THE NEW ENGINE WHAT WILL CHANGE WITH PUSH TO PASS. HAS INDYCAR TOLD YOU IF YOU CAN DO IT DEFENSIVELY AS WELL OFFENSIVELY?
“No, I don’t think they know how that is going to work until we get around the engine to see how it all going to work when it is actually physically on the track. I’m guessing-I expect them to use the electric motor for the curves for push-to-pass. Not the engine, not the boost. Because I think you will have plenty of options for push-to-pass in two different ways obviously amounts of horsepower. What I’ve been for is when we go to a track like Mid-Ohio or St. Pete where there are short straights to me you should have a no reply system. Maybe on some of the bigger tracks where it is easy to get around. Them you could tailor that to the amount of horsepower you get. Because you don’t want to make it a brainless pass where it is easy like DRS in Formula One. I think you want to make it where it is still difficult but you can get a legitimate run on someone.”

HAVE YOU ALREADY BEEN TOLD THAT THEY AREN’T GOING TO USE THE ENGINE POWER TURBO BOOST FOR PUSH TO PASS ANYMORE? “No, I haven’t been told that. I expect them to use the electrical engine for push-to-pass for practical reasons and it has to make sense to the manufacturers. If they are talkimg about the electrical side being used as a device during the race, its good for the manufacturers.”

WHEN WE HAVE SUCH A CONDENSED AT BEGINNING OF THE YEAR. WHAT ARE SOME THINGS TO PREPARE FOR THE SEASON EARLY ON? “After reviewing the previous seasons, we’ve made adjustments. Obviously we struggled in the pit quite a bit. I’ve reviewed the mistakes I’ve made as well and I have a slightly different crew this year. I think the cars will be better as well. I’m pretty confident in that, the team has done very good development in the off season. The first three tracks, I feel like they are difficult tracks for us. The are strong Honda tracks. It’s going to be a very tight first three races. I think, as we do every year to win the championship and for me personally, I just have to make sure we are in the hunt. Properly in the hunt. Not clawing my way back from a terrible start to the season. For one reason or another, you can’t really pinpoint the same reason we have lost too many points in the first four races. That is a big focus.”

IS THE BROAD AGE BAND IN INDYCAR WITH TALENT YOUNG AND OLD,. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? “I think it is a sign of the times, If you look at football, Tom Brady is going to the Super Bowl at 43 years old. I feel like you can be as competitive and strong until you are 45 or so. I’ve been there so I know but certainly in your early 40s. But also drivers starting so young now. There are kids getting in cars when they are 12 or 13 years old. It’s crazy. So by the time they are 18 it’s a matter of experience of racing cars as we have seen with Colton Herta. Yes, it is a huge spread in age, but not in competitiveness as far as the level of skill. It is a very competitive series over a 20 year or more age group. Which bodes very well for those young guys. They can have a really long career. It certainly put us in pretty big numbers if you look at Colton Herta starting where he is.”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS CHEVROLET:
YOU ARE BUSY GETTING READY FOR DAYTONA FOR THE ROLEX 24. YOU ARE A BIG PHYSICAL FITNESS GUY. DO YOU FIND IT AN ADVANTAGE TO START YOUR SEASON WITH AN ENDURANCE RACE. DO YOU SEE AN ADVANTAGE TO THAT?
“Yes, I think it’s mostly just having a calendar in place and being able to have deadlines and knowing when you’re going to be in the car. It’s an assessment, Daytona is for me. It’s really an assessment of my work that I’ve done over the winter mentally, and also physically. It’s also, you’re kicking off a new season and it’s exciting. New car. New gears. New everything. You just get going. I’m very excited for 2021. I feel very refreshed. Obviously, the only advantage of COVID is really to stay home and really rest and focus on training. So, I really feel ready for 2021.”

HOW BENEFICIAL IS IT FOR YOU, OBVIOUSLY YOU’RE RACING THIS WEEKEND LIKE A KANAAN SEASON IN INDYCAR?
“Yes, anytime you’re in the race car it is beneficial. The sports cars, the prototypes, the way they are these days, they’re pretty close to an INDYCAR. The braking power and downforce level are similar. Obviously different tires and a bit of a different feel, but the driving is very close. And the fact that you’re passing people really allows you to work on those details. At the end of the day, I think the work of a race car driver is all about working on the little crafts, the little details for your craft. So, the more you think about it and practice it, the better. I really enjoy doing it. You know, my roots originally, came from sports cars. So, it’s good to go back and forth and keep me current in sports cars.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT APPROACHING THE SEASON NOW WITH YOUR WORK DURING THE OFF-SEASON? ARE YOU CONFIDENT MOVING FORWARD?
“Yes, it’s been an interesting off-season, for sure. I think as a team we were able to re-center on the No. 22 car. I’m pretty excited about this season coming up, really. There’s a big focus on Indianapolis. Personally, I want to go back there and try to go for another win. We know its Team Penske’s number one goal and the whole team has put a lot of effort into it. So, let’s cross fingers and hope that we get the speed that we want out of the cars. Certainly, on the road course, we just need to find some speed in qualifying for us. We’ve been working hard on that with my engineer, Ben Bretzman. We can’t wait to go to Sebring and get to test the car. We’ve got a few items that we want to try and see if that gives me feel that I want from the car to just extract the best out of it every time we go out on track. I think St. Pete was pretty good for us. We improved the car massively, so I think we’re on the right path. We just need to get going quite frankly. It’s been a long off-season and I just hate not driving. So as soon as we get to Sebring we’ll have a better understanding.”

AS YOU LOOK AT THE INDYCAR SERIES DRIVER LINE-UP FOR THIS YEAR, WHAT STANDS OUT TO YOU MORE? THE YOUTH AND TALENT OF THE DRIVERS OR THE NUMBER OF GUYS STILL RACING AT LATE 30’S EARLY 40’S CONTINUING TO RACE AT A HIGH LEVEL?
“Straight answer is I don’t care. I’m focused on myself (laughs). That’s it.”

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

Bucking the Odds, the 2021 Ford Bronco Plans to Compete with the 2021 Jeep Wrangler

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Photo by Dan Dennis on Unsplash

The Jeep Wrangler has competition come and go.  Yet somehow it remains unequaled as the affordable, open air SUV with off-roading capability. This top seller in the United States has good resale values despite its rough-and-ready demeanor. It’s no wonder that a manufacturer wants to get a piece of that action.

Enter the 2021 Ford Bronco.  The brand is using a name from its past that conjures up exciting images for those who romanticize the American West.  This Mexican word was adopted by American cowboys. Bronco means a horse that hasn’t been trained.  That’s why it seems like the perfect word to describe an off-road ready machine.  

Despite the name and all of the clout that Ford brings to the project, it seems like a long shot to unseat the Jeep Wrangler from its throne.  Ford, however, is managing to check all the boxes from style to capability.  Here’s a look at how it will stand up to its well-established rival.

Body Style

You can get a Wrangler as a two-door or four-door SUV.  These have soft tops and hard tops that can be removed. This goes way beyond the biggest sunroof. It even surpasses convertibles.  That’s because you can flip down the windshield and take off the doors.  Some would be surprised that this vehicle is even allowed in busy traffic.

Ford will be selling two-door and four-door varieties as well as soft tops and hard tops.  Yes, the doors can be removed.  In fact, stylistically these SUVs will sit up as high as their Jeep rivals, and they will have minimal overhang to prevent snagging on bushes, just like the Jeeps. This is essential to keep car maintenance costs down and still allow fun on rugged terrain.

As you know, manufacturers must build off-roaders the opposite of race cars. Whereas a racecar is low to the ground, the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco have at least 8.4 inches of ground clearance. This maxes out at 11.6 inches.  They can ford through water as high as 33.5 inches. You won’t catch a racecar driver heading into that.  Rather than tough, lightweight tires, these off-roaders roll on tires as big as 33.5-inches. 

With names like Big Bend, Black Diamond, Outer Banks, and Badlands, the Bronco is also trying to rival Jeep’s ability to customize straight from the factory. Ford may even be doing it better since each model will have slightly different capabilities. Only time will tell if this new entrant can unseat the off-roading king. 

Speedsters

While Jeep Wranglers don’t come across as speedy, they do have a significantly powerful engine for their size.  There’s no way that they can have anything less if they want to go off road.  There’s 260 pound-feet of torque to complement 285 horsepower. That ensures the vehicle can harness low-speed torque and keep moving on a rocky trail.

Here’s where Ford clearly decided they could not only compete but outrun their rival.  Slightly lower horsepower, rated at 270, is a bit misleading. This vehicle has the advantage of a ten-speed automatic transmission and a whopping 310 pound-feet of torque. A seven-speed manual is standard, going head to head with the Jeep Wrangler’s manual transmission.

Ford has learned to build vehicles lighter, utilizing aluminum for its Ford F150 and Superduty trucks. This comes in handy when building an off-roader just as it would for a racecar. Furthermore, Ford’s Ecoboost engine reduces how much gas it needs to get that level of power.  Plus, Ford is offering an even faster Ecoboost engine. This one spits out 310-horsepower and 410 pound-feet of torque.

Jeep is swinging back hard with several new engine choices. Shoppers who are willing to spend much more on their Jeep Wrangler can get a  470-horsepower V8 or a 375-horsepower engine with an electric motor.  On the more affordable side, Jeep is offering a 270-horsepower turbo with 295 pound-feet of torque. When it comes to the basic capability, however, Ford’s high rate of torque is a bargain for those who really don’t want to overspend. 

While you won’t see these two on a racetrack, you can see how much fun it would be behind the wheel.  Ford is certainly throwing everything it can at the Jeep Wrangler to give Bronco a leg up in the competitive arena that is off-roading.

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