From Drawing Board to Podium, LAP Motorsports Coming Off Successful Debut

When the 2015 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season opened in January at Daytona International Speedway, LAP Motorsports was back at its shop in Brownsburg, Indiana, building a pair of new MINI John Cooper Works to debut in the series.

When the final checkered flag waved at Road Atlanta in October, the new team finished up the year by scoring a second-place finish in the Street 

Tuner (ST) class for one of its three entries.LAP’s MINI John Cooper Works Team debuted at Sebring, returning MINI to the Continental Tire Challenge for the first time since 2012 while racing the company’s high-end model for the first time. The team raced two cars at Sebring – with its No. 37 MINI of Remo Ruscitti and Dan Clarke finishing 18th. LAP Motorsports went on to field two cars in all but two of the remaining eight races, ending the campaign with a three-car entry for Road Atlanta.“I have to say it was a successful year,” said team principle Luis Perocarpi. “The series is tough. There’s good competition, and it’s not easy to be competitive. Also, we never had the opportunity to test throughout the season.”MINI was a staple of ST competition from 2001 through 2012, winning three races and seven poles with the MINI Cooper S. Its most recent victory was with RSR Motorsports at New Jersey Motorsports Park in 2011, driven by Owen Trinkler and Sarah Cattaneo.In 2015, the best finish for the No. 37 MINI John Cooper Works was 10th at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with Ruscitti and Zach Meyer. The team’s No. 52 MINI also had its best finish in that event, with Wei Lu and Glenn Nixon placing 21st. “We had some opportunities and were competitive in a few races – we were really strong at Watkins Glen and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. We were a bit disappointed that we couldn’t capitalize on those strong performances early on in the season.”The team ended the season with Mat Pombo and Derek Jones placing second in the first race for the No. 73 MINI, while Stephen Simpson and Zack Meyer placed 13th in the No. 37 entry. Dr. Ramin Abdolvahabi and Tyler Stone took 27th in the No. 52 car.“At the end of the season, we finished at Atlanta,” Perocarpi said. “We showed up with three cars, and all three were actually quite strong. We learned how the competition races. We know the strengths of the other cars.”Despite the podium finish, Perocarpi felt it could have been even better in the finale.“We had a few bad calls early on in the race that put both of our fastest cars several laps down,” he explained. “We came back, we were fast and we were able to capitalize on the wave-byes to get back on the lead lap. Then we were able to drive through the field, missing a win by 10 seconds. You can always be a Monday morning quarterback and say we should have done this or that, and have had many three cars in the top five, but that’s a learning experience. We made a bunch of mistakes, but thankfully the team did a good job and the cars were fast, the drivers were good, and we were at least able to make it up on the podium.”Now, with the break between campaigns, Perocarpi has a few tricks up his sleeve for 2016.“We had several things we wanted to try, but there wasn’t enough time between the races to do some changes to the cars,” he said. “We knew halfway through the season some of the things we wanted to change on the cars, but we just weren’t able to. But now the cars are at the shop, getting those changes. We’ll be OK for sure at Sebring.”But what about the opening race at Daytona?“We didn’t do Daytona this past season, so we have no idea where we’re at for Daytona,” Perocarpi admitted. “It’s a fast track. The car is not very aero friendly, so we have no idea. Daytona might not be as good as we were in Atlanta, but at Sebring and on should be really, really strong. I don’t think we’ll be bad at Daytona, but I have no idea what to expect.”“We also got the opportunity to spend quality time with MINI USA over the past month,” Perocarpi said. “The whole program came together so late in the off-season, MINI had no time to prepare, and they had to plan through the year. They didn’t have time to spend time with the team or focus on their racing program. But they were getting real excited, and having the podium at the end showed what we can do for next year. Now, they are real excited. It will be a good year, regardless of the performance.”LAP is currently building two new cars, with the goal of racing three cars for the full season. “We’re not sure if we’ll run a fourth car, but it will be nice to have a rolling spare,” Perocarpi said. “Now, we’re talking with different drivers, filling the different cars.”Last weekend, Perocarpi was in Mexico, repeating as winners of the TT Spec class in the Baja 1000 while wrapping up the season championship in the SCORE International off-road event.“I didn’t this year, but I was be part of the team,” Perocarpi said. “The program is running real strong – Larry Connor won every race this year in SCORE International. Now, we need to do the same thing on the Continental Tire Challenge side.”