Harrison, Racers Edge Aiming for Additional Acura Program

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Racers Edge Motorsports is looking to complement its IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup program with a potential WeatherTech Sprint Cup campaign and/or return to Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS according to Ashton Harrison, who is focused entirely on the Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 this year.

Harrison, who won last year’s GTWC America Pro-Am class title with Mario Farnbacher, has teamed up with Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal to take on the entire four-round Endurance Cup, with Ryan Briscoe completing the lineup for next weekend’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The program, run by Racers Edge but receiving technical assistance from Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, could expand further, although Harrison said details are still being worked out.

“There’s a possibility [of a full season], but right now we’re focused on Endurance Cup and I think we have some other things in the works so I’m excited for those to come to the surface, but for right now Endurance Cup is kind of where our main focus is,” Harrison told Sportscar365.

“The Sprint rounds aren’t out of the question. We want to do them, but trying to make the schedules work but also just making sure that it puts me in a position to continue to grow.”

Harrison confirmed that she will be focused on driving the Acura this year, no matter the program, after a year splitting her time with the NSX GT3 Evo22 and Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2.

“Because even though I did so well last year with the SRO program, I was also sharing that year with another car so now I finally get to focus just one car,” she said.

“The two cars last year could not have been more different. Everybody was like, ‘It’s got a wing and they’re both super fast.’ It’s total opposites.

“So I’m excited to focus on one car this year and that’s about as much as I can [say].”

While having made a previous WeatherTech Championship start at Sebring last year in GTD Pro with Racers Edge/WTR, Harrison said this program has been thought out longer in advance, which has helped preparations.

“We’ve had some time to prep and get everything together leading up to this event and I was thrilled to get the next two weeks started because I’ve been to the Roar and the Rolex numerous times with the No. 10 car program but it’s nice to kind of be in the mix for all of it,” she said.

“I used to stand where I am know and watch Ricky [Taylor] and Filipe [Albuquerque] and everyone get their headshots and now I get to do mine.

“So it’s just the little things, they make a big deal for me and I’m excited for the team.

“They’ve been working really hard and thankfully we gave them more time than we did at Sebring last year to prepare for it. So I’m feeling good about it.”

Harrison said she’s also excited to bring both Formal and Marcelli on board, having been part of the WTR family with their involvement in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America.

She said: “Danny and Kyle have been my teammates with WTR for the last couple of years and I’ve known Ryan for a while, so I was thrilled when I asked Ryan and he was like ‘yes.’

“He had other things that he could have done and I was just to thankful that he considered us and he’s just been a great add-on. I feel like we have a really mega team.”

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