TF “Open to Anything” With GM; No Expansion Before 2025

Tom Ferrier said TF Sport is “open to anything” when it comes to entering additional events and championships as part of its new partnership with GM and Corvette, although he stressed the team won’t commit to any significant expansion until the second year of the program.

The British squad recently debuted its pair of Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs in the FIA World Endurance Championship season opener in Qatar, where one car finished in tenth place while the other retired.

TF’s involvement with Corvette is currently limited to just WEC, with the team still set to run the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in the European Le Mans Series.

While Ferrier is enthusiastic about the prospect of campaigning the new-for-2024 GT3 challenger elsewhere, he stressed that year one should be viewed as a learning year for the new alliance.

He echoed comments made by Z06 GT3.R program manager Christie Bagne, indicating that the team should be careful not to stretch itself too thin in the first year of the program.

“We’d love to do as much as we could in that sense, but I think equally as much as they are doing a bit of a rollout, for us it would be a similar feeling,” Ferrier told Sportscar365.

“I think I’d have a heart attack if I had six of them arriving to the workshop in one go and trying to do multiple championships.

“Year one is learning, we’re going to take a third car in the summer when we can get one and we’ll try and do some European testing with that.”

Ferrier added that the plan is to then later also take delivery of a fourth car ahead of the 2025 season, floating the possibility of entering Asian Le Mans Series as a means of preparation for the second year.

The Brit also expressed an interest into expanding into selected events on the Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar like the Nürburgring 24 or the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

It last entered both events in 2022, running an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at the Nordschleife as well as providing technical support for a Pro-class bid from The Heart of Racing.

GM is known to have an interest in both events, with Bagne notably leading a delegation of Corvette personnel on a fact-finding mission at both events last year.

“Obviously, if they want to do any programs that they need any support with as GM, we’d love to do it with them,” Ferrier said.

“I think we’d love to do like an IGTC [program], blue riband stuff would be great for us. I think it’s very hard sitting here right now, but I would say we are open to anything we could do with them, really.”

Ferrier’s outfit is set to continue running Aston Martin machinery in the ELMS as part of an effort that will also see the team field a top class LMP2 entry in conjunction with AO Racing.

Running under the ORLEN Team AO by TF banner, last year’s WEC LMP2 champions Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz will team up with series newcomer Jonny Edgar.

“I guess the LMP2 thing for me is [that] we’ve really enjoyed it,” Ferrier said.

“It’s a very different mentality of racing, which I think as a team helps because there’s no BoP in it. Everyone’s got the same thing, so it is the finite margins that make a difference.

“I think it’s quite a good education over the last couple of years that you can get quite lazy with BoP and think, ‘Oh well, we’re just on the wrong side of BoP, we don’t need to try.’

“There’s no hiding, no pace management. There’s nothing. So it’s good.

“We’ve always wanted to run a pro car. Obviously with the help of the AO guys and that deal we’ve put together there, it’s happening.

“We’re very excited to have those three in the car. I think there’s lots of strong lineups. I don’t think it’s going to be a walk in the park at all. I think it’s going to be a real ding-dong.”