John Pew Joins Starworks for COTA

Photo: GRAND-AM

Starworks Motorsport will make its official American Le Mans Series debut this weekend at Circuit of The Americas with a new, yet familiar driver lineup for its Oreca FLM09.

The Peter Baron-owned squad confirmed Tuesday that GRAND-AM veteran John Pew will join Ryan Dalziel at the wheel of the spec prototype. For Pew, a two-time Rolex Series Trueman award winner, it will mark his first PC start after nearly seven seasons in the Daytona Prototype ranks with Michael Shank Racing.

Pew will be filling the seat of Alex Popow, the car’s owner, who according to Baron has other commitments this weekend.

“We were crushed to find out Alex Popow could not make this event after all the planning,” Baron told Sportscar365. “He was pivotal in making this happen.

“With Alex’s absence, we thought it would be great to have John Pew with us, who is a talented Silver driver that knows the track quite well after racing against us in the DPs at COTA this year.

“I think John is as equally as excited to get on track in this car as we are.  The pairing of John and Ryan should be pretty stout this weekend.”

Popow purchased the team’s Oreca FLM09 from RSR Racing last month, which ran under the Starworks colors at Baltimore but crewed by the Paul Gentilozzi-run squad. RSR, meanwhile, plans to debut a new PC car this weekend with drivers Bruno Junqueira and David Heinemeier Hansson.

“This is an important step for Starworks,” Baron added. “Naturally racing in the top Prototype class in the new USCC series is part of the equation for next year, but the current ALMS PC class is a big part of our 2014.

“This class has been incredibly stable and offers a place for all those uncertain about the costs and dramas of the DP/P2 integration.”

Baron has laid out plans of competing in both the Prototype and Prototype Challenge classes next year with up to two cars each.

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