Farano to Return to Racing in Tower LMP2 Lineup

John Farano will return to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition for the first time since May, forming Tower Motorsports’ full season lineup together with Charlie Eastwood.

The Canadian Bronze-rated driver has been out of action since suffering injuries in the Motul Course de Monterey event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca earlier this year.

It notably rendered him out of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, while Farano was replaced by a variety of Bronze-rated drivers for the rest of the WeatherTech Championship campaign, including Salih Yoluc, Rodrigo Sales and Ari Balogh.

Now the 2022 LMP2 champion returns with Eastwood as his full season co-driver, although the Belfast native will not join the team at Daytona and is instead set to compete with AWA in the GTD class instead.

Farano and Eastwood will be joined by Michael Dinan for the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds as the American racer steps up from several seasons racing in GT machinery.

For Daytona, the lineup for the No. 8 Oreca 07 Gibson will be bolstered by the returning Scott McLaughlin and Ferdinand Habsburg.

NTT IndyCar Series star McLaughlin joined the team last year at Daytona, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans, most notably securing a class victory at Sebring.

Habsburg, meanwhile, was recently confirmed to be part of Alpine’s Hypercar lineup in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The Austrian raced with Tower at Daytona in 2022 and finished third in class.

“I am very happy to be returning to a full program and can’t wait to be back with the team,” said Farano.

“I am excited to welcome both Charlie Eastwood and Michael Dinan to our program, who we know will fit right in immediately.

I am also thrilled to have Scott back with us for another run at the Rolex 24, and looking forward to welcoming Ferdinand back, who I am sure will be fighting for the victory after coming so close with our team in 2022.”