Visit Florida Signs Bomarito for Petit Le Mans

Photo: Michael Levitt/IMSA

Visit Florida Racing has signed Jonathan Bomarito for next weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans, replacing Rene Rast as the team’s endurance driver.

The Mazda regular has been left without a ride since the program was put on hiatus earlier this season but will make his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship return at the Road Atlanta race.

He joins full-season drivers Renger van der Zande and Marc Goossens in the team’s No. 90 Ligier JS P217 Gibson, which won last time out at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The 35-year-old has two series podiums to his name this season after finishing third at Long Beach and Watkins Glen. 

“I am really looking forward to the opportunity to work with Visit Florida Racing,” he said. “I have known Troy [Flis] for a while now and he has a great program.

“I have worked alongside Marc in the past and I know Renger pretty well, so I think it will be a good fit. I just want to do a solid job as a third driver and make the transition as seamless as possible for the team.

“I am also thankful to Mazda for agreeing to let me compete at one of my favorite venues of the year!”

Rast served as Visit Florida’s third driver earlier in the season at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring but will be otherwise engaged in his DTM duties with Audi.

“Rene is in an awesome fight for the DTM championship so it makes sense for him to concentrate on that, and with Jonathan being available, it worked out that Mazda let us borrow him for the race,” said Flis.

“We have a great relationship with John Doonan and the Mazda team so I reached out to them to see if they could help. Jonathan was eager to help so Mazda agreed to share him with us for Road Atlanta.

“Rene did an awesome job for us earlier this year and we all hope that he comes home with the big prize in DTM.”

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.