Clarke, Merrill Confirmed in Two-Car Nolasport Effort

Photo: Nolasport

Former Champ Car driver Dan Clarke will return to professional competition this year as part of Nolasport’s two-car Pro ckass program in Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America.

The 39-year-old British driver will join recent recent Rolex 24 at Daytona winner and Asian Le Mans Series class champion Thomas Merrill in the team’s pair of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars in the single-make series, which kicks off next week at Sebring International Raceway.

It will mark Clarke’s first full season program since taking part in a single season of Indy Lights some 13 years ago.

“I haven’t raced full-time since 2010 so this a fantastic opportunity for me to be back behind the wheel and first time in the Porsche Carrera Cup series,” he said.

“Now a family man, I’m eager to enjoy racing on weekends between dad duties.

“Thomas is a good friend of mine so I was thrilled to learn he will be my teammate.

“We’ve worked together on many events away from racing and he’s a great driver with amazing career achievements recently so Im excited and hopeful together we can represent Nolasport well.”

Merrill, meanwhile, is also set for his series debut in Porsche’s premier North American single-make series.

“I’m thrilled to be back with Nolasport,” he said. “I really enjoyed our brief time together last year in SRO GT4, they are a first class operation with some really good people.

“We didn’t get to do as many races as we planned on that year, so we’ll make up for lost time this year.

“The Carrera cup schedule looks fantastic, full credit to them for adding some really cool venues, I can’t wait to get started.”

Both Clarke and Merrill are taking part in this week’s Carrera Cup pre-season test at Sebring, ahead of the March 15-17 event.

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