As revealed by Sportscar365 on Tuesday, Change Racing will expand into a two-car operation beginning with next weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, with the addition of Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell to its lineup.
The longtime driver pairing join the Robby Benton-led Change squad following the ceasing of operations of fellow Lamborghini squad O’Gara Motorsport, just one race into its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign.
“Tom O’Gara is a close friend and I’m happy he turned to us to continue what he started,” Benton said.
“It took a tremendous amount of effort and planning for us to prepare and be ready for the move up to IMSA WeatherTech with our own team, but a lot of that work actually put us in a good position to be able to grow to a two-car team like this.”
Sweedler and Bell will continue to race the same No. 11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3, but now under the Change banner, as teammates to the No. 16 entry of Spencer Pumpelly and Corey Lewis.
Lamborghini junior driver Richard Antinucci will complete the lineup alongside Sweedler and Bell for Sebring.
“While the situation that precipitated the new deal with Change Racing is highly disappointing in principal, Townsend and I determined during pre-season testing that Robby Benton’s leadership at Change Racing was going to make it a serious contender based on his significant background in NASCAR and his desire to win,” said Sweedler.
“This deal could not have been possible without our friends at Lamborghini Squadra Corse, Boardwalk (Lamborghini Dallas), as well as personal support from Tom O’Gara.”
The No. 11 Lamborghini will be crewed by a mix of staff, including some former O’Gara personnel, while others have moved on with Shane Seneviratne to the newly reborn US RaceTronics operation for the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America series.
As the inaugural Super Trofeo North America championship-winning team, Change’s Benton has built up a winning organization of his own and is excited to expand efforts with the addition of Sweedler and Bell.
“To have the defending champions join us reflects well on our organization, and having guys of that caliber to build on a great driver roster that we have with Spencer and Corey puts us in a very advantageous position,” Benton said.
“Lamborghini has done an outstanding job to help us with this transition as we ramp up and we are very focused on executing and delivering all year long.”