Adelson “Really Proud” of Wright’s Overseas Foray

Photo: Wright Motorsports

Adam Adelson said he’s been “really proud” of Wright Motorsports’ foray into international GT3 racing, revealing intentions of hitting more “bucket list” events and tracks in the future.

The Ohio-based team, which Adelson took over ownership from John Wright earlier this year, recently contested two rounds of GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup with a Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Wright first made its overseas debut at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, finishing fourth in the highly competitive Gold Cup class before later taking on the round at the Nürburgring in late August, where Adelson, Elliott Skeer and Porsche Motorsport North America Selected Driver Tom Sargent came home sixth in the category.

“It’s been really awesome,” Adelson told Sportscar365. “I wanted to give Wright Motorsports some experience running internationally.

“We have some aspirations to do more international races.

“I’m really proud of the way we performed in Europe. Finishing 16th overall and fourth in the Gold class at Spa… We only had two Silvers and one Gold [driver] We could have had four drivers but we did it with three.

“Every bit of racing in Europe was to gain experience and to learn where we match up against the most competitive GT3 field in the world.

“I’m extremely happy with the way we performed.”

Adelson revealed they initially had plans to contest two additional GTWC Europe rounds this year but lost out on entries due to both events having capacity grids.

“We wanted to do Monza and Zandvoort but we couldn’t get the entries for them,” he said. “Those were the ones that we could fit into the schedule.

“In terms of just having a racing career, I feel extremely lucky to have one and to be performing the way I am.

“If I have an opportunity to cross off a bucket-list race or bucket-list track, I want to go take that opportunity.”

Adelson said he hopes to get more overseas racing in next year with the team, with the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour among the targets for the long-term.

“It will be on the radar at some point, yes. Next year, I’m not sure,” he said. “Bathurst, Spa, Monza, Zandvoort, Le Mans… These are all races we want to go race at.”

Adelson: Wright Targeting “Re-Expansion” With New Customer Programs

Wright will ‘re-expand’ into a larger customer racing presence next year, with multiple programs on the table according to Adelson.

One of its first customer efforts will come in this month’s Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, with a second Porsche entry for Intercontinental GT Challenge Independent Cup co-points leader Antares Au.

“Wright Motorsports is a team that’s very rich in history and they’ve won tons of championships across all different classes of sports car racing in many different series,” said Adelson. “That kind of speaks for itself.

“Fortunately this year, with our lack of straight-line speed [in IMSA], there’s not really much we can do to show the customers that we have what it takes in IMSA right now.

“I think those who know, they know that we’re capable. I’m really excited about the customer programs that we have lined up for next year.

“It’s not that we’re expanding, it’s we’re re-expanding. Wright Motorsports has had the infrastructure and had the ability to be able to field many more programs than we are right now.

“John Wright, right before the transition of ownership, he wanted to spend some more time with his family. Decades of doing this takes a toll on someone. I think he wanted to spend a little more time at home so that’s why we downsized.

“I don’t have that necessity. I want to bring Wright Motorsports back to where it was in the early 2020s and before.”

When asked which series they’re targeting for next year, Adelson said they’re “mainly looking” at GT3 racing, especially given their large stock of Type-992 Porsches, which they plan to upgrade to the 911 GT3 R Evo through kits.

“The more data that we can get, especially with the [new] Evo package, the better we’ll perform across all different series,” he said.

“Depending on the potential customers, if someone wants to go Cup car racing, or someone wants to go GT4 racing, we’re not going to shy away from that. It’s a bit situational.”

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