IMSA: Starworks confirms full-season program

Ahead of the Roar Before the 24, Starworks Motorsports has announced its full season lineup for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Pompano Beach, Fla.-based team will return to compete in the Prototype Challenge class, running the No. 8 and No. 88 ORECA FLM09s.

"We're confident 2016 will be a strong year for Starworks," said team wwner Peter Baron. "For the first time since the new integrated series, we have been able to get our programs sorted for the season with two cars before the holidays. This has allowed us to plan and prepare for the upcoming season, which has been a weakness of ours for the last two seasons."

Starworks veterans Renger van der Zande and Alex Popow will return as the two full-season entries for the No. 8 car, with Jack Hawksworth and Chris Cumming joining the team for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Hawksworth, who will run 2016 in IndyCar with AJ Foyt Racing, and Cumming were previously teammates, winning the IMSA Brickyard Indianapolis race in the LMPC class in 2014. No stranger to endurance podiums, 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and WEC Championship winner David Heinemeier Hansen will join van der Zande and Popow for the 12 Hours of Sebring in March and Petit Le Mans at the end of the season.

After most recently competing in the Ferrari Challenge, Mark Kvamme joins the team Championship as the only full season driver for the No. 88.C oming off a highly successful 2015 season where he claimed FIA F3 European Championship, Felix Rosenqvist will come on board for the Rolex 24. After winning the 2012 IMSA GT3 Cup Callenge in 2012, Sean Johnston took his talents overseas to Europe where he went on to finish second in the 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series' 6 Hour at Paul Ricard, then winning the 24 Hours of Barcelona overall.

FIA GT Cup 2015 World Champion Maro Engel and Johnston will join Kvamme to compete in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup, the four endurance races on the 2016 calendar. For the remaining seven sprint races of the season, Kvamme will be joined by Ashley Freiberg, BMW of North America Scholarship Driver. In 2014, Freiberg became the first woman to win a race in the Continental Tire Sportscar Championship, at Daytona.

During the winter, two more significant additions were made to the team lineup. Tom Brown, previously an engineer from PC and GT Le Mans team CORE Autosport joined the Starworks ranks, along with Kent Holden, who had previously been the crew chief at Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates since the team's inception.

"We have fantastic lineups all year in both cars, and have made massive improvements with the team in the off-season," concluded Baron. "With all that we have accomplished in the winter months, I strongly feel we are now the team to beat in 2016."