IMSA: Sharp confident about ESM's 2016 makeover

2015 was a painful affair from start to finish for Scott Sharp. His Tequila Patron ESM team endured a combined season of FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship action where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The year started with the late and disastrous introduction of the new and under-developed HPD ARX-04b LMP2 chassis at Daytona. As frustration set in with the recalcitrant coupe, it was ditched in favor of the old, open-top ARX-03b for Sebring (BELOW), and with its weary crew wondering what would happen next, the need to build new Ligier JS P2s for the WEC pushed the team to the brink of exhaustion.

For all the effort – three different P2 models built between major endurance events in America and Europe, and the team's first-time expansion outside North America to establish a base in the UK for its WEC program – a positive result of some kind would have been welcome. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

Zero wins in IMSA, coupled by zero wins in the WEC, left Sharp and ESM co-owner Ed Brown staring at the calendar waiting for 2016 to arrive with a clean slate of new opportunities. The team is back at Daytona, this time with a proven Ligier JS P2-Honda which topped the time sheets at the recent Roar Before the 24 test (pictured, TOP), and Sharp is confident ESM can finally put the struggled of 2015 to rest.

"Last year seemed like one of those deals where you could never catch up, which makes arriving this year with a fully-sorted package much, much nicer," Sharp told RACER. "The early issues with the [ARX-]04b, certainly contributed, taking longer to fully decipher what was wrong with the car and the type of extensive development that still needed to be done on it. That just backed everything else up and it was like we really never caught up after.

"We were supposed to start running the [ARX-04b] in November, that pushed to December, and immediately, there were issues left and right and we basically got no running time. All that did was push us farther and farther back, just trying to understand the major issues of the car. At that point, eventually we went back to the [ARX-]03b, then finally got our hands on the Ligier heading into Le Mans. You figured, geez, if we could have just started our winter testing with the Ligier, where would we be now? We got through it, and here we are now."

The sense of relief in Sharp's voice was palpable. The sheer pace of the Ligier chassis and proven nature of Honda's twin-turbo V6 engine makes ESM one of the favorites to win this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona. And with the 9-race WEC season set to start in April, the team's two-car P2 program should also be a contender for podiums and victories.

"Last year was a real eye-opener in the WEC with the level of the competition," Sharp said. "We went in against P2 teams that know all those tracks, that have fully sorted the cars out, teams that all have great drivers; you have to really have your act together to go succeed over there.

"Entering the season, we're hugely stronger this year than last year. We're excited to feel like we got that learning process behind us. We learned a lot in our first try in WEC, and now, with a properly sorted car, we can really mount a challenge."

Although ESM will race at Daytona with Honda power, its WEC entries will switch from one Japanese brand to another as its cars receive Nissan V8s for the April 17 season opener at Silverstone.

"Certainly the motor you want to run in P2 at the moment in the WeatherTech Championship is the Honda," Sharp said. "We're converting our cars to Nissan for WEC, which is not that simple; it's a pretty extensive conversion. It's a lot of bodywork, electronics as well as the engines themselves. Once that's done, we'll start some early testing over there."