Starworks Motorsport owner Peter Baron has a reputation for assembling some of the most creative driver lineups each year at the Rolex 24, and his roster for this month’s 53rd running of the Daytona could be the best so far.
The Florida-based TUDOR United SportsCar Championship team will race the No. 7 Riley-BMW Daytona Prototype with Formula 1 legend Rubens Barrichello, 2012 IndyCar Series champion and 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, factory Porsche LMP1-H pilot Brendon Hartley, open-wheel and sports car veteran Tor Graves, and Starworks regular Scott Mayer in the 5-driver rotation.
Starworks entered the Riley DP with a Steve Dinan-built BMW last year before shifting its attention to developing Honda’s twin-turbo V6 DP motor at select events. With the car reverted to its proven BMW V8 package, Baron expects to go into this week’s test at Daytona and the race itself on Jan. 23-25 with no distractions.
“We enjoyed working with Honda, and last year, a lot of teams were looking to find manufacturers to partner with,” Baron told RACER. “We were close to doing that with BMW; then Ganassi dropped BMW for Ford, and that changed BMW’s dynamic for the season and we came together with Honda.
“We were still talking about continuing with Honda – it would be another development year, and in the end, we’ve chosen to go back with the Dinan motor – we know can go out and be competitive at the Rolex 24 with it.” A strong run at Daytona and Round 2 at Sebring could see the No. 7 campaigned on a regular basis.
Baron’s Rolex 24 lineup in 2014 was mostly a South American affair with New Zealand’s Hartley and America’s Mayer sandwiched by Colombian IndyCar driver Sebastian Saavedra, and Venezuelans Alex Popow and E.J. Viso. For 2015, he’ll have a pair of Americans in RHR and Mayer, his favorite Kiwi Hartley, Thailand’s Graves, and Brazil’s Barrichello to form an incredibly diverse collection of Silver-rated Pro-Am drivers and lethal Pros to battle with the full-season entries.
“I’ve got Tor and Scott as my Silvers, and then I’ve got Hunter-Reay, Rubens and Hartley as my Pros, so we’re pretty happy with how the lineup has come together,” added Baron. “It’s a good one – there’s a little bit of everything in there.”
Baron’s 11-time F1 race winner agrees.
“It’s a great honor to be driving for Peter and alongside some great drivers,” Barrichello told RACER. “Peter’s had a lot of success, and I want to help him get the big trophy he’s missing from Daytona. I love racing in America, and really wanted to do this in a DP, so this is wonderful for me.”
Starworks’ quintuplet will turn their first laps in the No. 7 DP on Friday as the three-day Roar Before the 24 test gets under way. Be sure to follow RACER.com’s coverage of the Roar throughout the event.
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