Toronto, Ont. – ST Racing announced today their plans for 2019 which include a new teammate for Canadian driver Samantha Tan. Twenty-four-year old Jason Wolfe will be co-driving the #38 GPI-BMW M4 GT4 in the GTS SprintX Pro-Am class alongside Tan.
“I am extremely happy with the opportunity to be able to join Samantha in the beginning stages of her path to 24-hour races. Racing together with Sam back in 2015 with Kinetic Motorsports showed we worked well together as a team and I noticed right away she had a lot of passion for the sport. More importantly, during that time I saw a lot of things click and develop with her driving. To me, this shows a lot of promise for the years to come. I have kept up on her racing these past few years and she has clearly grown as a driver. I am excited to see what we can accomplish together as we share the car in 2019.”
Born in Mount Vernon (Ohio) in 1994, Wolfe started karting in 2004, then moved over to open-wheel racing in 2010 with Skip Barber Racing, Formula BMW, and Formula Enterprise Club Racing. As he gained more experience, Wolfe went over to USF2000 in 2012-13. However, fate would take him to Pirelli World Challenge sports car racing in 2014 with Kinetic Motorsports where he promptly scored 11 podiums with six wins in the TCA class. It became clear that the young American was destined to succeed in sports cars, as the following year, he collected more podiums and captured the 2015 Pirelli World Challenge TCA Championship with eight wins. In 2016, Wolfe ran a mix of PWC TCA and GTS races, along with the 24-Hour of Portimao. In the last two years, Wolfe competed in Europe in the ADAC TCR German Touring Car Championship and then switched over to British GT driving a Jaguar GT4 in the PRO/AM class with Invictus games, racing with wounded ex-servicemen as co-drivers.
Photo: Left (Chris Wright) Center (Samantha Tan – Hard Charger Award)
Photo: Right: Jason Wolfe – 1st Place TCA – Kinetic Motorsports – Utah 2015
“Thinking about the new season” said Tan, “I am extremely excited to be able to go racing again! I’d like to give a warm welcome to my new teammate Jason Wolfe. We actually first met and were teammates in my first year of Pirelli World Challenge with Kinetic Motorsports. I think it’s great that we are able to work together again and I am excited to see how this season goes for us! I’d also like to give a big thank you to my close friend and teammate Nick Wittmer”, she added. “He has definitely helped me develop into a better driver and made every weekend so much fun. Although we won’t be on the same team again this year, I wish him all the best!. I know that with his fast driving skills and extensive racing knowledge, he will be successful wherever he chooses to go.”
Tan plans to continue to put all her energy and focus on both her university studies and her racing in the upcoming season. Being a full-time student means having two full-time jobs. Not an easy task. However, the young Canadian racer has everything it takes to succeed, and she plans on doing so, no matter what it takes. PWC’s changes to the GTS-SprintX program and schedule has made this slightly easier as she does not have to travel as far to the race tracks from her home in Irvine, CA.
A new coach with years of experience in motorsports has also been brought on board for both ST Racing drivers. Coach Niclas Jonnson, a racer himself, wasted no time in putting together an elaborate physical fitness program and nutritional performance diet for his proteges. Serious training starts after the Holidays. Jonnson will be coaching both drivers at all the races.
Team Principal Kenneth Tan commented on the Team’s goals for 2019. “We’re very excited about our plans for 2019 and the new direction we are undertaking for the years ahead. It’s basically an evolutionary strategy for Samantha and the team and will improve our capabilities. To help us make that goal a reality, we are joined by Nic Jonnson, a highly-respected and deeply experienced race car driver in both Europe and North America, and Jason Wolfe, a two-time champion at PWC, to become Samantha’s coach and co-driver, respectively. Their addition tremendously increases our team’s capabilities and will be instrumental in fulfilling Samantha’s and the team’s goals. Having said that, we do have a lot of work ahead of us but I feel we will have improved as a team for 2019. I can’t wait for the new season to start!”
ST Racing’s season starts on March 1st at the famed F1 Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Four other race weekends will make up the 2019 West Championship for the Pirelli GT4 America. The schedule is as follows:
March 1-3 COTA
March 29-31 Laguna Seca
June 7-9 Sonoma
July 12-14 Portland
Oct 18-20 Las Vegas
Samantha Tan’s race fans can follow her on samanthatanracing.com, Instagram (@samanthatan_racing) (samanthaatan), Facebook (STRSamantha) and on Twitter (@STR_Samantha).
About ST Racing:
ST Racing was officially launched last October (2016). A Team of highly experienced guys were put together for the 2019 Pirelli World Challenge season. Both ST Racing drivers, Samantha Tan and Jason Wolfe are driving the BMW M4 GT4 in the GTS SprintX class. Kenneth Tan is the Team Principal, Ben Distaulo the team manager, and Alex Dupré, team engineer.
About Pirelli GT4 America
The GT4 America championship utilizes GT4 homologated race cars in two popular race formats – Sprint and SprintX. The past season has seen explosive growth in the GT4 category and has resulted in a wide range of cars that are eligible to race in the GT4 America Series, including the BMW M4 GT4, Chevy Camaro GT4.R, Audi R8 LMS GT4, Ford Mustang GT4, and the Mercedes-AMG GT4. Among other GT4-spec cars are the successful Porsche Cayman GT4 CSMR, McLaren 570S GT4, Panoz Avezzano GT4, and many others.
GT4 America offers two regional series integrated within our SprintX Championship -West & East. Each regional series is designed to offer new drivers a localized race program that is cost effective and competitive, with all the benefits of racing in a professional national championship. Each region will consist of five (5) rounds at top-tier circuits in North America in a two-driver, Bronze-rated format.
SRO Motorsports Group: the global leader in GT racing
With more than 25 years’ experience at the forefront of a continuously evolving industry, SRO Motorsports Group is the established international leader in GT racing.
Best known for the development and implementation of the GT3 and GT4 regulations, SRO promotes and organizes championships that embrace professional and amateur competitors. Its portfolio of highly regarded series spans Europe, America and Asia, while its flagship Intercontinental GT Challenge contests events on five different continents.
The 2019 the season will see more than 100 races run under the SRO Motorsports Group banner, highlighted by the prestigious Total 24 Hours of Spa. In addition to promotion and organisation, the company operates SRO Race Centre by MMC – a high-level technical centre at Circuit Paul Ricard – and provides the ultimate driving opportunities on world-renowned facilities through Curbstone Track Events.
SRO Motorsports Group is chaired by company founder and CEO Stephane Ratel. With offices in London, Paris, Liège, Hong Kong and Austin, its work is facilitated by a dedicated global team of full-time and freelance staff.
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