Ruckus Plotting Selected GTWC America Races Amid GTA Pivot

Photo: Andrew Miterko/SRO

Ruckus Racing is looking to make selected starts in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS this year in addition to a full season campaign in GT America powered by AWS according to team owner/driver Scott Blind.

Blind, who captured four titles in Porsche single-make series competition last year, has stepped up to GT3 racing for the first time, running his new Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo in GT America with the Mike Johnson-led organization.

However, his move to SRO America almost came by chance, after initially pursuing an entry in IMSA’s VP Racing SportsCar Challenge GTDX class for this year.

Instead, Blind and Johnson pivoted after understanding the costs involved to equip the Porsche with IMSA’s mandated wiring harnesses and sensors for its Balance of Performance purposes, which is north of $50,000, not including a special gear stack required for the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

“We were going to do VP Challenge and there were some challenges there, no pun intended,” Blind told Sportscar365.

“There was a lot of scrutineering equipment that we felt, and Mike also agreed, that was probably not necessary when you’re dealing with a bunch of Bronzes.

“It’s hard to BoP a bunch of Bronze drivers with a significant disparity in talent.

“Not many people wanted to do it. We did sign up.”

With the GTDX class in VP Racing Challenge not having a single entry for its opening two events, Blind said he’s happy with the decision they made on landing in the SRO America paddock, particularly in GT America.

“We’ve got a lot of entries here, and they’re all Bronze,” he said. “We’ve got a similar situation in Carrera Cup where we’ve got ten or 11 Masters and it’s no joke.

“Where we’re going to fit in, not sure, we’ll certainly know more by the end of Sunday. We tested the car at COTA and Sebring and I think we are in a very good spot.

“I think we’re going to be competitive.”

In addition to defending his Masters class title in Porsche Carrera Cup North America and the season-long GT America campaign, Blind said he’s targeting several GTWC America outings as well.

It would come with his longtime driver coach Andrew Davis.

“When we had talked about doing VP, we considered running a couple of the GTWC races, with Andrew and I,” he explained.

“I still want to do some races in Pro-Am. If I had to tell you, I love the thought of doing the Indy 8 Hour. I’d love to do Road America and Road Atlanta; I love both those tracks a lot.

“Those would be two of the three-hour races and the eight-hour.

“If we’re doing well, obviously, you want to do more. If you’re getting killed, you have to focus more and maybe you’re less willing to add some of the enduros.”

With a new Porsche 911 Cup car to come to grips with in addition to the 911 GT3 R Evo, Blind said it will very much be a learning year for himself, when asked if there’s any pressure to live up to his record-breaking 2025 success.

“There is a lot to learn,” he said. “Fortunately Andrew is going on four years with me, Mike as well. I’ve got a great group around me that understands.

“We picked up an engineer, Thomas, a young junior engineer from France. He’s learning but he fits in well with this young team.

“We went to a lot of races last year and they performed well. But this is a very new level of competition that’s higher.”

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