Visit Florida Confirms Switch to Ligier for Remainder of Season

Photo: Onroak

Visit Florida Racing has confirmed that it will switch to a Ligier JS P217 Gibson for the remainder of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, beginning with next weekend’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America.

As revealed by Sportscar365 on Monday, the Troy Flis-led squad has ditched its Riley Mk. 30 LMP2 car, which it had struggled with in the first half of the season, in favor of evaluating the Onroak Automotive-built prototype prior to making its chassis decision for 2018.

Renger van der Zande and Marc Goossens will drive the Ligier in the final three races of the year.

The team took delivery of the car on Monday at Onroak’s North American headquarters in Denver, N.C.

“We have seen what the Ligier JS P217 is capable of, not only here in IMSA, but also in Europe as well, so we are eager to get to the track and learn about the JS P217 at Road America,” Flis said.

“I’m impressed with the customer support that Onroak Automotive has in place, and I have known Max Crawford for a long time so that relationship is another key element for us and Visit Florida to make this commitment.”

It will mark the second Gibson-powered Ligier on the Prototype grid, joining PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, along with the two Nissan Onroak DPis from Tequila Patron ESM, which are also based on the French-built prototype.

“We are very proud that Troy Flis chose our Ligier JS P217 to continue his team participation in the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship,” said Onroak Automotive President Jacques Nicolet.

“With more than 30 years of experience, of which 13 years in the Daytona Prototype category, Visit Florida Racing is a leading figure in the USA motorsport world.

“We are very much looking forward to Road America and wish a very warm welcome to Visit Florida Racing into the Ligier family.”

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