IMSA – New Teams Shake Up Continental Tire Challenge

In many respects, it’s business as usual for the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Both the Grand Sport and Street Tuner classes and their respective champions – along with most of the teams – will be returning for 2014, beginning with this weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24 testing at Daytona. Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi will be looking to give Rum Bum Racing its third consecutive GS team title in the familiar No. 13 Porsche 997 while Terry Borcheller and Mike LaMarra will defend their ST crowns in the No. 23 Burton Racing BMW 128i.

While many of the contending teams and drivers will return, there are a number of key changes that will make for a very interesting 2014 campaign. Here’s a look at a few of the key moves:

Automatic Racing: The long-time BMW entrant switches to two Aston Martins, including the No. 99 Invisible Glass entry for Rob Ecklin Jr.

BimmerWorld Racing: James Clay returns with a quartet of BMW 328s, including the No. 80 for new team drivers Corey Fergus and Kevin Gleason.

Compass360 Racing: In addition to returning with its fleet of contending Honda Civic Sis in ST, the Canadian team will have at least one Subaru WRX-STi in GS for Ray Mason and Ryan Winchester. While testing with different co-drivers at the Roar in the No. 75 Honda, Ryan Eversley will return with Kyle Gimple in the No. 74 for the ST season.

CRG: With RSR Motorsports no longer competing, Sarah Cattaneo and Owen Trinkler have a new team with a pair of Honda Civic Sis.

Doran Racing: BJ Zacharias and Brad Jaeger return in the No. 14 Nissan 370Z, while the team adds the No. 41 Tower Events Nissan for 2012 champions John Farano and David Empringham.

Fall-Line Motorsports: The team has yet to announce its full lineup for 2014, but will have BMW factory driver John Edwards, 18-year-old Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock in the lineup.

Irish Mike’s Racing: The team returns to run in CTSCC fulltime, debuting the Hyundai Genesis to the ST class. Drivers expected for the Roar are Sebastian Landy, Rich Golinello, Todd Buras and Rahmin Abdalvahabi.

Multimatic Motorsport: After running Aston Martins the past two years – winning a handful of poles but no races – the team returns to the Ford Mustang. They will be partnering with Miller Racing, running in tribute to the late Roger Miller. Scott Maxwell and six-time 2013 pole winner Jade Buford return in the No. 15. They will be joined by Ian James and Billy Johnson in the No. 158.

Stevenson Motorsports: Runner-up for the GS championship the last two years, the team has shaken up its driver lineup. Matt Bell returns in the No. 9, joined by Andy Lally, while Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis join the series full-time in the No. 6.

Team Sahlen: Running in DP in 2013, the team returns to its roots with a pair of Porsche Caymans in ST. Joe Sahlen returns to drive with the three Nonnamakers- Joe, Will and Wayne.

These are only a few of the changes in store for 2014. Additional teams and drivers are expected for this weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24, leading up to the opening race on Friday, Jan. 24 at Daytona.

Fonte: http://www.imsa.com