October 14, 2013 – Starworks Motorsport will forgo its entry in this week’s Petit Le Mans race to concentrate its efforts in preparations for its 2014 programmes and driver line-ups.
The Fort Lauderdale based squad shall be entering the new ‘P’ Class and ‘PC’ category in the Tudor United Sports Car Racing series next year and is in discussions with others in the series’ support races.
Peter Baron, Starworks Motorsport Team Owner
“It’s a shame we are missing the Petit. We had committed to a line up that would have put us in contention for a win, but unfortunately the funding did not materialize. We thought it better to skip the event than show up with three new drivers in this finale event, with others having championships on the line. It’s better for us to take our time prepping for November tests and begin working on converting our new “P class” cars to the 2014 spec.”
Starworks Motorsport entered the history books in 2012 by becoming the first LMP2 Champions in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the first North American team to win an FIA World Championship in 46 years.
The team also won the 2012 GRAND-AM North American Endurance Championship and led with the most laps in a Daytona Prototype. These milestones concluded an incredible Rolex Series season, with victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first Rolex Series race at Indianapolis, plus a second place finish in the ‘Rolex 24 At Daytona’ and third in the Six Hours of The Glen. Alex Popow won the ‘Jim Trueman’ Award by a landslide and the team was crowned ‘Sports Car Team of the Year’ by the SPEED Channel.
This year Starworks took the Rolex Series title fight all the way to the final round at Lime Rock Park. Despite suffering car and engine issues in a few races, the team achieved two wins and six further podiums between its two Riley-BMW DP’s and consistently scored high points finishes with the 2 car – once again proving that the team is a title contender.
Peter Baron continues: “Next year remains optimistically bright. We have received a ton of calls for both the combined LMP2/DP “P Class” and for the LMPC cars. At this point, it seems no one is ready to commit until they can see a rules package and we can get some solid budget numbers. We are even taking calls for programs to run in the Tudor support races – the Continental series, IMSA Lites and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series. The key thing is – with the Tudor series costs greatly improving – we have to look to find ways to lower the budgets for programs. Last year we ran in three separate series and won championships in two of them, so it’s just a matter of finding the right partners and drivers to join us.”
Parties and drivers interested in talking to Starworks Motorsport about 2014 opportunities should contact Peter Baron on peter@starworksmotorsport.com.
