Urry: “I’d Like To Be a Part of SprintX”

Sloan Urry says he is eying a move to Pirelli World Challenge SprintX for 2017 as he plans to take the next step in his racing career.

Urry finished second to Alec Udell in the World Challenge GT Cup category in 2016, taking five race wins and finishing off the podium just once in the 19-race season in his TruSpeed Autosport-run Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

That success has Urry planning the next stage of his racing career, and has tabbed the nascent SprintX format as the logical next move.

“For me, I’m looking for a high-level, competitive team to join in SprintX and really try and transition towards the endurance side of the sport,” Urry told Sportscar365.

“I really think that’s where my talents can be highlighted a little bit better, and it’s where my interest lies as well. It’s mostly just the increased team aspect of it.

“Racing is a big team sport. Maybe not in most people’s eyes because they just see the driver out on the track, but I just love the pit stops.

“It’s such a high-energy moment. Everyone has to hit their marks just perfectly, and it really gets everyone involved as far as the winning effort. I enjoy that.

“At the moment, I’m just batting some things around with some teams and see where that takes me.”

Urry said he followed the new format with interest as it made it’s debut in World Challenge last season.

“I definitely paid attention to it because I knew most everyone competing in it,” he said. “I saw it grow throughout the year.

“I think everyone was, maybe, a little bit cautious, just dipping their toe in the water, to see how much of a following it would get, and by the end of the year at Laguna Seca it was a pretty good field. It just continually grew on me a little bit.

“I watched it pretty closely and I’d definitely like to be a part of the action for sure.”

Urry said his longstanding connection with the Porsche brand is a relationship he’d like to see continue, but added that he would be interested in branching out if the right opportunity arose.

“I really do have a deep connection with Porsche,” said Urry. “I love the car, I love how they drive, I love everything about it.

“I’ve been involved with them for many years, even at the factory level doing some events with them and doing the [2014 Porsche Young Driver Academy]. It’s been good running with them. I’ve had a lot of success driving their cars.

“At the moment, I’m just following the opportunities and trying to take my career to the next level, and if that’s in another car, so be it. But I’d definitely like to be driving a Porsche if possible.”

Urry said finding a landing spot that provides the right opportunity for him and his sponsors is a challenging equation to balance.

“First and foremost, it’s all about opportunity for me, the team, and obviously the competitive side of things,” he said. “It would be pretty difficult for me to walk into a team that I wasn’t pretty confident was ready to go for the championship.

“With SprintX, the two driver combination is pretty important. It has to be the right combination of driver and team to make sure we’re favorites when we first show up to the track, and obviously the other side of it is the financial side of it with sponsors and making that work.

“It’s one big formula and we’re just trying to make it so it adds up to the financial part making sense and making sure we have a chance to compete at the front of the field.”