CB Set for IMSA Debut with Hyundai Veloster N TCRs

CB Motorsports is set to make its IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge debut, with the former TC America team confirming the lineup of Caleb Bacon, Mark Kvamme and Trenton Estep for the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

The trio will be at the wheel of a Hyundai Veloster N TCR for the event, with Kvamme and Estep confirmed for the entire ten-round season.

“It’s exciting to be back at Daytona International Speedway for the start of the season with CB Motorsports,” said Kvamme. “While I have driven an assortment of cars at Daytona, the Hyundai Veloster N TCR will be a new and exciting challenge.

“The TCR class has some of the closest racing in IMSA competition and I got a taste of that with a few outings in 2019.

“Returning to the TCR field with Caleb and Trenton as my teammates is an exciting opportunity. They are talented drivers that I get to work with. Together we have a great chance to fight our way to a podium and open the season on a high note.”

Former Porsche GT3 Challenge USA champion Estep will return to IMSA action as Kvamme’s full-time co-driver in the No. 81 Hyundai.

“The Hyundai Veloster N TCR has proven itself time and time again in the last two years of the Michelin Pilot Challenge,” he said. “We have a good opportunity to fight for podiums.

“I know my co-driver Mark Kvamme well and we work well together. I’m excited to be alongside him and to start working with Caleb.

“Mark has become a mentor of mine on and off the track and our journey in Michelin Pilot Challenge is a new chapter for us both. 2021 will be a fun year for the three of us in the No. 81 Hyundai.”

Two-Car Team Planned Beginning at Sebring

CB will field a single entry for Daytona and is “building operations” in preparation for an expansion to a two-car effort starting with the second round at Sebring.

The Mooresville, N.C.-based team is planning the completion of its new 9,000 square-foot shop this spring.

“I’m really excited to be joining IMSA,” said Bacon. “I know that the Michelin Pilot Challenge series is very competitive but with my knowledge of the Hyundai Veloster from SRO I’m hoping that I will be able to adapt quickly.”

Racing is in the blood of the Bacon family with a history in motorsports dating back to the 1980s with Caleb’s grandfather Al Bacon, who raced in the GTU category with Mazda, and has four Rolex 24 class victories to his credit behind the wheel of an RX-7.

The son of the eldest Bacon, Chad Bacon, has been racing since he was five, finding success before stepping out of the cockpit to focus on son, Caleb’s racing starting at the age of four.

The youngest of the Bacon family, Caleb, began racing go-karts in several series around the country before making a move to sports car racing competing in Spec Miata.

The 2020 season saw Bacon enter in the SRO ranks with a Hyundai Veloster R Spec TCA car.

Bacon will turn 16 — the minimum age for IMSA competition — just days before the season-opener.