How Do You Approach the Off Season?

Subtitle:TUDOR Team Principals Will Be Busy for Remainder of 2014

As they gathered to celebrate the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship last Monday night at TUDOR Night of Champions in New York City, a number of team principals fielded questions about their plans for the off-season.

The consensus was that the majority of them are already hard at work preparing for the 2015 campaign, which gets underway with the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test on Jan. 9-11 – the only official test prior to the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 24-25.Gary Nelson, Action Express Racing team manager: “We were in the shop on Monday. I think a lot of teams took a day off after Road Atlanta, but we were in the shop. We’ve got the No. 9 car completely stripped to a bare chassis, and it will get built back up for Daytona. The No. 5 car would be that way, but we needed to bring it to New York (it was displayed outside the Cipriani 42nd Street in Manhattan, site of the TUDOR Night of Champions). Fortunately, with that situation, we’re able to start testing next week with this car. “We have a test planned where we are going to try a few of the 2015 things and try to check off some of the things on our list that we didn’t get a chance to test during 2014. We looked at each race: what did we do right, what could we do better. We only won three, so we’ve got to raise that bar a little bit for next year.”

Sylvain Tremblay, SpeedSource team owner: “Our season actually started when the checkered flag fell at Road Atlanta. We’ve got lots of new components that we are testing. The guys are on the dyno next week, and we’re on the race track on Nov. 3 and a couple more times before the Roar. “It’s going to be a busy winter for us. We’re planning lots of upgrades. We’ve learned a lot this year. We’ve done a lot of what people said couldn’t be done. We’re looking forward to doing more of the same for next year.”Bill Riley, Riley Motorsports team owner and car builder: “We have some new projects planned, but we’re not ready to announce them yet. We’re working on some new cars and teams. We’re putting everything together, and getting ready to start testing.”Kevin Buckler, AMR-TRG team owner: “After all these years, sports car racing is hot, and I want to be on the front edge of that. You’ll see a few announcements coming in the next couple of weeks, which is great. “We’re busy. We just came from Road America and a couple days of testing with some new drivers and corporate partners. We’re preparing for several weeks of intensive ramping up for business-to-business and sponsorship and corporate relationship things that we’re doing. We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire for next year, which is great. We have a big test at Sebring in November, and we’re just getting ready for next season. I want to be in a good place. It took a long time to build this, and we’ve got something special right now.”Mike Hull, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates managing director: “Chip Ganassi Racing never really celebrates an off season, whether we have something to celebrate or whether we’ve had someone beat us up and watch them celebrate, one or the other. We’re working really, really hard for next year. Our IMSA program is coming along. We have a test next month for Ford (at Daytona), and we’re looking forward to doing that. We’re getting ready for another great season of IMSA racing.”Paul Miller, Paul Miller Racing team owner: “We’re taking a big break and enjoying a little time off for everybody. It’s been a really hard year, competitively. I know everybody else has had their ups and downs, but we’ve been learning a new car. It’s been a fairly steep learning curve. Coming from a Porsche RSR, it’s a big transition to the Audi. “It’s been a real learning experience this year for us, to win the major race at the end, the Petit Le Mans, is just really big. We feel really blessed that we were in the shape we were in at the end of the race. We’re real excited about next year.”Peter Baron Starworks Motorsport team owner: “We’re still working on getting back into the P class. It’s great coming to an event like this and getting recognition for all your accomplishments. “Hats off to Action Express and Joao and Christian for winning the championship, but that kind of burns a hole in your stomach, because you want that, and it’s a good motivation to get working on next year. The (ceremony-ending) slide said ‘the Roar before the Rolex 24 starts in 88 days.’ I’ll be back in the office tomorrow, and we’ll start working to make it happen.”Alex Job, Alex Job Racing team owner: “We are flat out. Basically, it’s not an off season anymore. We’ve already announced that we’re going to return with the No. 23 Team Seattle car, and it’s probable that we’ll return with the No. 22 car as well. “We’re going to be doing some testing in the off season, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done on the equipment and getting all the bits and pieces into place for the beginning of the new season. Daytona will be here in a hurry.”Will Turner, Turner Motorsport team owner: “There’s an off season? As you know, there’s no off season in sports car racing. We’re already getting all our equipment fixed and inventoried, and all the stuff that you have to do. It’s all about figuring out what we’re going to do next year and how we’re going to do it. “Hopefully, we can be as successful in 2015 as 2014 was for us. We’ll have the BMW Z4 again for sure. It was awesome for us. It wasn’t the fastest car, but we made it the most reliable car, and it was a fun car to race all season.”