Ram Racing Planning Full Season 24H Series Effort

Photo: John Dagys

Following their runner-up finish in this weekend’s Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai, Ram Racing is closing in on securing a full-season effort in the new FIA recognized 24H Series.

The former European Le Mans Series championship-winning squad, which was forced to curtail its 2014 program in the FIA World Endurance Championship, has shifted its focus to GT3 racing, with Creventic’s international endurance series being the primary target.

“We’re hoping we can get a program together to do the rest of this championship,” team CEO Dan Shufflebottom told Sportscar365 prior to the race. “That’s our focus at the moment.

“If some other stuff comes off the back of that, then great, we’ll look and see what we can do. I think we’d really like to do this.

“Some of the other races aren’t as strong as this one, in regards to the level of drivers are at. We’d intend to go do it with a similar level of drivers, if not the same ones. So there’s a good chance of the championship.”

The 24H Dubai kicked off the six-round championship, with Ram having fielded a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 for Tom Onslow-Cole, Adam Christodoulou, Cheerag Arya and AMG factory driver Thomas Jaeger.

Shufflebottom feels the 24H Series, which kicked off in Dubai as the first of the six-round championship, provides an ideal platform for GT3 teams.

“As soon as they make it a championship, everyone wants to do it,” he said. “I think because of that, you’ll see that the other races get a lot more interest from some of the bigger teams as well.”

The British squad has undergone some significant changes in the past six months, including a switch from Ferrari to Mercedes-Benz, as Shufflebottom hopes can build a relationship with the German manufacturer.

It could be particularly advantageous with the launch of AMG’s new GT3 car set for 2016.

“Our philosophy has changed a bit as a team,” Shufflebottom said. “We’re going to focus on GT3 and if we can build a good relationship with AMG.

“There’s no reason why we wouldn’t get the new car if the opportunity was there to do so, in regards to the budget and the program we’re going to do.

“We’ll look at that when the new car comes out and hopefully will get some more information about it soon and we can start to see what we’ll do moving forward into next year. For now, the SLS and trying to do the full championship is the focus.”

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