ELMS: Starworks plans LMP2 return in 2016

Florida-based Starworks Motorsports, winner of the LMP2 title in the 2012 World Endurance Championship, is eyeing a return to the category in the European Le Mans Series next season.

Starworks was unable to defend its P2 teams' title the following season for financial reasons and withdrew from the championship, but is now working to put together its first campaign outside of North America since 2012. Team boss Peter Baron explained that the expanded six-race ELMS announced earlier this month was potentially attractive to paying drivers and partners.

"Five races was a tough sell, but six with the addition of Spa and the hope of doing the Le Mans 24 Hours is an attractive program," he told AUTOSPORT. "There are definitely a lot of people interested."

Baron, whose team ran the HPD ARX-03b chassis in the 2012 WEC, revealed that he would be meeting with ORECA this weekend at Circuit of The Americas about the possible purchase of one of its 05 coupes. He explained that the ORECA was the only chassis choice that would make sense for next year because it can be updated to the new LMP2 rulebook that will come into force in 2017.

Starworks also has ambitions to return to the Prototype class in next year's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after his program for 2015 with a Riley-Dinan/BMW MkXXVI came to an end following the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Baron said that he favored remaining with a Daytona Prototype for IMSA rather than moving to a P2 car.

"I think a DP still races best; the P2s are fast as hell, but it is difficult to convert that into results," he said.

Starworks has retained a presence in the IMSA in the Prototype Challenge class. It will run two cars at Austin this weekend, for the first time since Daytona in January, and at the Petit Le Mans finale at Road Atlanta in October.

Originally on Autosport.com