Barbosa, Sean Creech Taking “Underdog” Approach With Ligier

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Sean Creech Motorsport is relishing its position as “underdogs” in LMP2 in fielding the only non-Oreca 07 Gibson in the class for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

The LMP3 front-running squad has acquired a Ligier JS P217 Gibson for its 2024 program that will see team veterans Joao Barbosa and Lance Willsey remain at the wheel.

“The opportunity came about to run the Ligier,” Barbosa told Sportscar365. “Lance was all about it, Ligier had some great support to support this car in this change to LMP2.

“We didn’t want to just be one more.

“It’s a big challenge. In the past, [there’s] a reason why everyone went to the ORECA so we’re playing catch-up big time with years of data that ORECA has that we don’t have.

“We’re trying to cram as much of the program as we can in these two days [at the IMSA-sanctioned Daytona test].”

Barbosa and Willsey have been joined by F3 drivers Jonny Edgar and Filip Ugran at the wheel of the Ligier during this week’s two-day test, which marked the first time IMSA could directly compare the performance between the two cars in the current configuration.

Both the Oreca and Ligier are running to the same weight and power levels, with Barbosa downplaying any potential Balance of Performance change.

“We’re not expecting any BoP,” he said. “It is what it is. The P2 car is a spec class.

“Our main goal is to accumulate the miles in the next couple of weeks and be ready for the Roar and come to the Roar in a much better place.

He added: “The progress has been there. Sometimes we lose a little bit of time to make changes to understand the car.

“We had a really good test at Sebring a couple of weeks ago. We were really happy.

“At this track at Daytona with the low downforce, we’re struggling to get the car a little bit more in the happy place. That’s why we’re making big changes mechanically to see what works and what direction it needs to go with the low downforce.

“We’ve had very positive feedback for now. It’s good.”

Barbosa praised the level of support from the French constructor, which, in part thanks to SCM, has remained in the WeatherTech Championship paddock full-time despite the demise of the LMP3 class for 2024.

“Ligier is helping in any way they possibly can, which is a great partner to have,” he said.

“It’s going to be a dogfight compared to all the other ORECAs fighting. We’re definitely the underdogs but I think it can be a pretty exciting season for us.

“It’s good to be the underdog for sure. I like this part of developing the car again and see where it can go.

“The team has been doing a great job. The Ligier car has been really strong on reliability; we’ve just been humming laps and laps and see what would break or not.

“But our expectation in the [Rolex 24] is to have a clean race, free of trouble and see where it takes us.”

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