Riley to Operate SunEnergy1 Racing

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Riley Motorsports will remain a two-car operation in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship this year, with the addition of SunEnergy1 Racing under its banner.

Sportscar365 has learned that the Kenny Habul-owned effort, which debuted last year with its own team, has joined forces with Bill Riley’s group to form a two-car full-season Mercedes-AMG GT3 operation alongside the returning Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 33 car.

As a result, Riley will run the only two full-season Mercedes entries in the championship.

A SunEnergy1 team representative confirmed the switch late Wednesday, ahead of this weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24.

While Riley had run two cars last year, it lost the WeatherTech Racing entry to Scuderia Corsa, with the MacNeil-backed effort switching from Mercedes/Porsche to Ferrari for 2018.

U.S.-based Australian Habul will continue at the wheel of the SunEnergy1 Mercedes and is joined by Mercedes-AMG factory drivers Maro Engel and Thomas Jaeger for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with Canadian Mikael Grenier also listed for this weekend’s official pre-season test.

Former open-wheel ace Tristan Vautier, who teamed with Habul last year, has since joined Spirit of Daytona Racing with its new Cadillac DPi-V.R.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John