John Martin Set for Rolex 24 Debut with Action Express

Photo: John Dagys

FIA World Endurance Championship LMP2 front-runner John Martin will make his Rolex 24 debut, having joined the joint Action Express/Delta-ADR effort for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season-opener.

The 29-year-old Australian, who won four of the last five FIA WEC rounds in 2013, will team with brothers Burt and Brian Frisselle, Fabien Giroix and Stefan Johansson in the No. 9 Corvette DP.

“Fabien is here and [Delta-ADR team manager] Simon Dowson is here as well. The link came through them, really,” Martin told Sportscar365. “We talked about trying to do it. When the opportunity came up, I jumped at it.

Giroix joined the British Delta-ADR squad for the season-ending Six Hours of Bahrain in November, ahead of a planned two-car assault in the global championship this year.

The UAE-based Millennium Development fund, which will sponsor the Oreca 03 Nissans this year, is also on the Corvette DP for Daytona.

For Martin, it gives the former A1 GP and Superleague driver a chance to tackle one of the world’s classic enduros.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a few years now,” he said. “I don’t really have any expectations at this stage. We’ll go out tomorrow, do a couple of laps, and see where we are, really.

“I’ve got some pretty good teammates. Hopefully I’ll try to learn as much as I can off of them and see how it goes.”

As for his 2014 plans, nothing has been confirmed, although he expressed his desire to join a LMP1 factory team as a test and reserve driver. Martin’s 2013 FIA WEC co-driver Mike Conway recently signed with Toyota for that role.

“I’m still looking at what all of the options are,” Martin said. I obviously have good connections at [Delta-ADR]. Obviously I’d love to be in LMP1 with a manufacturer but it looks to be all closed up at the moment.

“But it doesn’t mean we can’t keep trying… Mike [Conway] obviously got in there [as the Toyota test/reserve driver] so that’s quite good. I’d like to end up there at some stage.”

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