RSR Confirms PC Lineup, Closing in on FIA WEC LMP2 Effort for 2015

Photo: IMSA

RSR Racing is likely to be competing on multiple fronts in 2015, as the team has finalized a return to the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship in Prototype Challenge, while also closing in on a LMP2 program in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Team principal Paul Gentilozzi confirmed to Sportscar365 that Jack Hawksworth will return to the wheel of the No. 08 Oreca FLM09, teaming again with Chris Cumming, the same pairing that took the team to victory at Indianapolis in July.

The 23-year-old Briton, who has recently signed with AJ Foyt Racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series, will contest all non-conflicting TUDOR Championship rounds, with the remainder of the driver lineup for the endurance races still to be determined.

PC conflict weekends occur the last weekend of June, when IndyCar is at Auto Club Speedway and the TUDOR Championship at Watkins Glen and July 12, with Milwaukee and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

What would have been another PC-IndyCar conflict, on Aug. 23 has been averted with PC’s date at VIR moved to Detroit on May 30.

While Gentilozzi said he’s in talks with multiple parties for the team’s second season-long PC entry, he is also close to finalizing an all-new program that would see the Michigan-based team expand to the FIA WEC with an Oreca 03R Nissan.

“We’ve got to push that one way or another in the next ten days at most,” Gentilozzi told Sportscar365. “We’re looking hard at that and we sure would love to do it.

“We have about two-thirds of the funding we need to get this done. If we can’t get enough money to do WEC, we’ll just do ELMS as it’s a lot smaller of a budget.”

Gentilozzi has recently made multiple trips to Europe and said he’s currently in advanced talks with two funded drivers for the program. Team regular Bruno Junqueira is likely to complete the lineup, should the deal be given the green light.

“The target is ultimately WEC and Le Mans,” he said. “The way the schedule works, it makes the most sense. If you go to Le Mans, you certainly can’t go to Detroit with a P car [because of the mandatory Le Mans Test Day].”

Its proposed FIA WEC program would mark RSR’s return to Le Mans for the first time since its ill-fated Jaguar XKR GT2 program in 2010.

“The last time we went to Le Mans in 2010, we didn’t do very well,” Gentilozzi said. “There are two endurance races in the world that are at the top of the food chain: Le Mans and Daytona. We’ve had success at Le Mans decades ago but we need to come back and do it right.”

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