Stevens Drafted into Tower Motorsport Lineup for Mid-Ohio

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Will Stevens has been drafted into Tower Motorsport’s lineup for this weekend’s Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio, subbing for European Le Mans Series points leader Louis Deletraz.

Stevens, who competes full-time in the FIA World Endurance Championship with JOTA in LMP2, as well as being Wayne Taylor Racing’s Michelin Endurance Cup pilot in DPi, joins full-season driver John Farano in the Florida-based operation that won last time out at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

According to team manager Ricky Capone, Stevens was always in the frame to sub for Deletraz had the Swiss driver not been able to compete due to conflicting races.

Deletraz is competing in this weekend’s ELMS round at Imola with Prema.

“There was talks early on with Louis about potentially not making some races,” Capone told Sportscar365. “Will was always in that window. If he couldn’t make it, Will was always going to be that guy to replace him.

“But it’s only for this race. We’re happy to have him and I’m sure he’ll do a stellar job for us.

“Unfortunately he’s never been to Mid-Ohio. He’s a bit different profile than Louis so it’s [doing] the standard seat fit and all of that.

“He did great at the WEC race. I think JOTA ended up third [at Spa]. We’ll see what happens.”

Farano and Deletraz currently sit second in the LMP2 championship standings, 33 points behind Era Motorsport’s Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman, who have yet to win this year.

The Bronze-rated Canadian, however, currently leads the Jim Trueman Award standings after two points-paying races.

Capone, a former lead mechanic for Extreme Speed Motorsports who has been put in charge to run Farano’s LMP2 effort, said he’s been pleased with the team’s performance this year.

“It’s been good,” Capone said. “John [Farano] — he’s entrusted me to put the team together. It’s a lot of old faces with [ex] ESM crew and stuff like that.

“Between Mathieu Leroy our engineer, Erwan [Barreau], he’s our lead mechanic, and me being team manager, it’s just an easy group.

“We have a great group of guys. These guys work so hard. We’ve tried to elevate the program every race from the start of the season until now and I think it’s starting to pay off.

“We’re just going to try and keep building on it and hopefully we stay in the championship hunt.”

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