DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Spirit of Daytona Racing has taken delivery of their new Cadillac DPi-V.R to campaign during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Spirit of Daytona and team owner Troy Flis picked up their Cadillac DPi-V.R prototype two weeks ago and preparation has begun for the new season and the upcoming Roar Before the 24 test on Jan. 5-7 at Daytona International Speedway.
The No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R will be driven by Matt McMurry and Tristan Vautier for the full season.
Having raced his way up the American open wheel ladder on his way to racing in IndyCar, Vautier scored the 2011 Pro Mazda championship with Rick Cameron (Spirit of Daytona engineer) as his engineer. Vautier has also established himself as a fierce fighter in international GT3 competition and he sees his move to IMSA Prototypes coming at the right time.
“I’m honored to be joining this team, they achieved well in difficult circumstances last year so I think it is a good group,” said Vautier. “I want to race against the best drivers and the best teams, and that is what IMSA is becoming with the DPi so I’m very excited. It is so competitive and I think it will be difficult to compare the depth of field in 2018 even to last year. As a racer that is very exciting for me. I’m also very happy to be working with Rick (Cameron, Spirit of Daytona engineer) again because we have a good history together and hopefully Matt and I can continue that this season.”
McMurry, who is in his second year of college as he pursues a degree in aerospace engineering, will bring his Asian and European Le Mans Prototype as well as IMSA GT experience into the cockpit with him as he steps into the Cadillac DPi-V.R.
“The Prototypes have so much grip, these cars are really amazing to drive and I cannot wait to see what this Cadillac is like,” said McMurry, who will also compete in Formula SAE this year as part of his studies. “IMSA is so competitive and I’m very excited to be stepping up into Prototypes with a winning team like Spirit of Daytona. I think Tristan and I will mesh well together, we’ve got similar personalities and approaches. We’ve also both raced GT cars so have experience being the slower traffic so we understand what that perspective is like and hopefully we can put that to good use this year.”
Additional drivers for the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona will be announced at a later date.
Flis is confident that the team can reap the rewards of working with such a proven package in the Cadillac DPi-V.R, as well as the people behind it.
“The big thing is the opportunity to work with some of the same folks that we were so successful with when we were racing the Corvette Daytona Prototype,” said Flis. “Hopefully that will help us get up to speed with this car quickly. IMSA is going to be even more competitive in 2018 and we are really looking forward to being a factor this year with our new Cadillac package.”
“We welcome Troy and his team to the Cadillac Racing family,” said Rich Brekus, Global Director of Product Strategy for Cadillac. “Spirit of Daytona Racing sports a successful track record, taking third last year at the Rolex 24 and winning at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. I am looking forward to seeing the Vector Blue Cadillac DPi-V.R on track next month in Daytona.”
Source : speedsport.com
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