IMSA: Career reboot for Rojas

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Memo Rojas had every intention of spending his ninth season with the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Daytona Prototype team. Changes within the organization’s long-term plans with Ford left the popular Mexican driver without a ride less than a month before the new TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season was set to open at the Roar Before the 24, and with most seats already taken, he prepared to spend 2015 on the sidelines.

And then he received a call from someone else that departed the Ganassi team last year.

“My friend Tim Keene, who was my team manager at Ganassi, called me after he heard I was no longer with Chip and offered me a job with the DeltaWing team,” Rojas told RACER. “We worked so well together; I won four [Daytona Prototype] championships with them, and he knows me – he knows what kind of person I am, what kind of driver I am, and he told me I could really help with what they were doing with the DeltaWing.”

It didn’t take long for Rojas to realize his role at DeltaWing offered what had been unavailable: A full season of racing and a hearty development program designed to make the promising DWC13 coupe a front runner in the Prototype class.

“I think I got calls from every single [Prototype] team; I’m not kidding, and they were all very nice and some had good things to discuss, but most of it was about only the endurance races, and some of them wouldn’t start until after Daytona,” he said.

“I want to race full-time, not just the long races or a few events here and there, and I really liked what Tim had to say about the team, and about how I could really help to improve the car and make it reach its full potential. So we agreed and now I’m headed to drive it at the Roar. I’m really excited about this.”

Rojas will have IndyCar veteran Katherine Legge as his teammate, along with Gabby Chaves and Andy Meyrick in the car for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. After nearly a decade with Ganassi’s Scott Pruett as his mentor and co-driver, Rojas is looking forward to working with his new teammates. He and Legge share open-wheel backgrounds, and with the Briton responsible for the majority of the DWC13’s development to date, Rojas knows he has a wealth of knowledge to draw from.

“I don’t know Katherine too much, but her reputation is very impressive and I know she has done a lot of the work to make the car what it is today,” he noted. “We come from backgrounds that are similar, and I expect we will work very well together. And my other teammates are also very experienced, so for once – it has been quite some time – I’m looking forward to being the new guy.”