Nasr, Derani to Continue in Whelen Cadillac DPi for 2020

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani will continue at Whelen Engineering Racing for the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, Action Express Racing has confirmed.

It ends rumors of Nasr potentially making a move to the NTT IndyCar Series, after having tested for Schmidt Peterson Racing earlier this year.

The Brazilian pairing, who won this year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring alongside Eric Curran, currently sit second in the DPi points standings heading into this weekend’s penultimate round of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Tuesday’s news also confirmed the return of Whelen Engineering as title sponsor, a partnership dating back to 2015, but was up for renewal at the end of this year.

“We’ve worked really hard to have a strong team, and being able to build on what we’ve learned each year is very important so I’m pleased to have Pipo and Felipe return to race for us again next year,” said team manager Gary Nelson.

“We plan to have a lot of familiar faces in our pit box and in the garage again next season, Chris Mitchum, Director of Operations, Iain Watt, Technical Director, Tim Keene, Performance Coordinator and Bill Keuler, Crew Chief, along with many others, will continue in their current roles.”

While not confirmed, it’s expected Curran will continue as the team’s third driver for the Michelin Endurance Cup races.

The No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R is the first announced entry from the North Carolina-bases squad, with no news on the No. 5 car, which is currently driven by Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque.

Sportscar365 understands that Barbosa could scale back to an Endurance Cup-only role, with a number of other drivers having been in talks to drive for the team in 2020.

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