IMSA: Hinchcliffe joins Starworks at Road America

RACER.com's coverage of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is presented by Circuit of The Americas.

circuitoftheamericas.com/wectudor

Fresh off a podium last weekend at the Honda 200 Verizon IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio, Andretti Autosport's James Hinchcliffe will take in another classic Midwest road course when he joins Peter Baron's Starworks Motorsport program in the team's No. 78 Honda Daytona Prototype at Road America.

The Canadian open-wheel star is no stranger to sports car racing, competing in everything from DPs to GTs since 2006. A long relationship with the factory Mazda team saw the relationship continue in 2014 with Hinchcliffe partaking in the first two rounds of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. He'll swap Mazda's diesel-powered P2 for Honda's twin-turbo V6 Riley DP at Elkhart Lake as teammate to Scott Mayer, and told RACER he's looking forward to the challenge.

"It's great to get the call and come be a part of the team," said Hinch. "I've known Peter for a really long time and he has a great operation there. The timing worked out perfectly with having this weekend off between Mid-Ohio and Milwaukee, so I jumped at the chance to drive."

Hinch's ties to Honda and experience with both chassis and engine development work will help the combined effort between Honda Performance Development, Starworks, and Riley Technologies. A problematic debut for the Honda DP at Sebring was met with months of work to improve its cooling, and after successful testing efforts, the Starworks/HPD program is ready to take the next step by entering its second race with the car.

"Before IndyCar went to multiple manufacturers in 2012, I really didn't have much R&D experience as a driver," Hinch continued. "But with all that's gone on since then between Chevy and Honda, I've gotten to do a lot of testing, gotten a proper feel for the kinds of motor development and chassis improvements that come along with testing, and I hope I can bring some valuable input for Peter and the guys from HPD this weekend."

With the IndyCar season coming to an end on August 30, Hinch says he'd welcome the chance to add more sports car races to his schedule this year and in the years ahead.

"I've always been the guy who wants to drive everything I can get my hands on, and I've been fortunate to do a handful of sports car races, but I definitely want to do more," he said. "If I'm available – if I'm free on any particular weekend, I'd love to be racing in a sports car, wherever it is, so I hope I can expand that side of more in the future."