Photo: John Dagys
One of the front-running LMP2 entries in the FIA World Endurance Championship could end up in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship next year.
Sportscar365 has learned that Pecom Racing is considering taking one of its Oreca 03 Nissans Stateside for the entire 11-round series, which kicks off at Daytona in January.
Owned by former WRC driver Luis Perez Companc, the AF Corse-run effort has contested the globe-trotting championship since 2012 but has effectively ruled out a full-season return to the WEC next year, according to the Argentinean.
“After two years here in the WEC, I think it’s a good step for me to go to America to race in this new championship they’re still putting together,” Companc told Sportscar365.
“But we still don’t have confirmation of that because the regulations are not very clear. I don’t know where we stand with a P2 car.
“I still haven’t made a decision on this. It’s strange. You don’t have the rules and they’re asking you to confirm the entry. It’s got to be now, before the end of the month. We’re looking at it.”
Companc, who has made two previous starts in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, said there’s currently a 50/50 chance of the program getting the green light, which would see AF Corse continue to run the car.
A return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans also appears to be in the cards.
However, with the TUDOR Championship Prototype class technical regulations yet to be finalized, it’s put Companc in a tough situation to finalize his 2013 plans without knowing how his Oreca-Nissan will stack up to the DP competition in the U.S.
“They’re giving too many things to the Daytona Prototypes,” he said. “They have to [nearly] develop a new car. It’s also difficult to develop a car in such a short [period] of time. It’s really a difficult decision.
“I don’t want to go in with blind eyes to race in America. If I do it, I want to be competitive and fight for the championship.”
Companc said a final decision will be made in the next two weeks, prior to the WEC season-ending Six Hours of Bahrain on Nov. 30.
Pecom’s No. 49 entry of Companc and co-drivers Nicolas Minassian and Pierre Kaffer sit second in the WEC LMP2 championship heading into Saturday’s penultimate round of the season in Shanghai.
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