Dempsey Fears Return to Sidelines After “Unreal” Season

FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 title contender Peter Dempsey fears that he will return to the sidelines next year after an “unreal” campaign that has resulted in him being upgraded to an FIA Silver-rated driver.

Dempsey was a rising star of the junior single-seater ladder in the 2010s, reaching Indy Lights, but was unable to progress any further and had not raced in a top-level series since 2013, instead moving into team management.

But, after turning 40 this year and speaking to fellow Irishman Charlie Eastwood, he secured a place on the WEC grid for a surprise racing comeback in a TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R alongside Eastwood and Salih Yoluc, after being classified as a Bronze.

Despite retiring from the Imola season-opener, the trio remain in mathematical title contention heading to next weekend’s Monza decider, trailing TF Sport teammate Jonny Edgar by 22 points.

However, Dempsey’s comeback has also netted him the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Bronze Sprint Cup title after adding an extra program in Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, he won the Am class in the Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour in a Mad Joker Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and he plans to contest this winter’s Asian Le Mans Series.

When asked if he expected such a successful season — which included LMGT3 victory in the Brazil WEC round — Dempsey told Sportscar365: “No, I’m a very ambitious individual and I trust my ability, so I hoped that it would go as well as my brain was thinking it would, and thankfully it’s gone really well.

“I’ve had a lot of cool opportunities to do a lot of different stuff and to still be in the (LMGT3) championship fight from starting with a DNF at Imola, to come back and win a race and have a podium and be in the points apart from two of the races is phenomenal, so I’m really happy with that.

“I never thought in my wildest dreams I would have a chance to go back racing and to be able to do with it Charlie, too — who I’ve known nearly his whole life.

“To win a race in Brazil and I’m a huge Ayrton Senna fan growing up so to go to Brazil and win my first time there, was incredible — I just ticked a lot of boxes I never thought I would have the chance to do.”

But Dempsey admitted that his racing comeback could prove to be brief, saying he is “not the fastest Silver around” as much as he would like to continue.

“If there’s an opportunity to do something, I would definitely grab it — I would love to go back and do Le Mans,” he added of next year.

“I have one year experience and did a good job there so maybe Le Mans is an option, we will see. But I’m not really relying on it.

“I’ve been able to bring my wife and kids to most of the races and to go back and race at a high level again is something I never thought I would have the chance to do and I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Dempsey considered the GTWC Europe class title an “additional bonus” from his return to racing.

“It wasn’t easy to win a championship in that because I had to get used to a new championship, a new car, a new team — there was a lot going on,” he explained.

“I’d only driven the Corvette until the Porsche so it was a bit of a learning curve the first few events — not so much the car but the racing style of GT World Challenge Europe and how different it is to WEC.

“Once, I figured it all out, I loved it and we won the last four races on the bounce in our class so that was nice.”