Changes in the Works at Dempsey Racing

Photo: Dempsey Racing

Changes are in the works at Dempsey Racing for 2015, which will see the Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster-owned squad expand to Europe while potentially scaling back its involvement in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Foster confirmed to Sportscar365 that the team will announce its international program next month at the LA Auto Show, including full sponsorship for the effort.

Dempsey Racing’s two previous overseas outings came at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including a fourth place GTE-Am class finish in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR run in cooperation with Proton Competition.

The Hollywood actor/racer, meanwhile, hasn’t hidden his ambitions of competing in a full season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, should the right partners fall into place for such a program.

On the domestic front, Foster denied reports of the Georgia-based team shutting its doors, but admitted they could be faced with a reduced TUDOR Championship effort, largely due to higher-than-expected operating costs.

“We’re doing the best we can to stay in the series,” Foster told Sportscar365. “Last year, we were the first team to put two full-season entries in. We still feel that level of commitment, we just have to make the business case work.”

Foster said the operating costs of each of the team’s Porsche 911 GT Americas ended up being $1 million more than its 2013 budget in the GTC class of the American Le Mans Series.

Talks have continued on the possible continuation of the Snow Racing program, which the team adopted mid-season, although Foster said he’s yet to confirm any full-season GTD entry for the team.

However, he remains optimistic in the expansion of its effort in the IMSA-sanctioned Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge series.

“We’re trying to put TUDOR programs together and our intent is also to expand the GT3 Cup side,” Foster said. “We only ran two cars [in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge) this year and we’d like to run four next year.

“The car count in the stable may indeed go up, even if we don’t run TUDOR full-time.”

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