Minnesota-based JDC MotorSports will field a United SportsCar Championship entry, starting with the Sebring 12 Hours in March.
The team will expand on its current multi-car ‘Road to Indy’ programme and IMSA Prototype Lites operation into a United SportsCar entry under JDC-Miller MotorSports, missing the opening round of the year in Daytona, but competing in the remainder of the races throughout the season.
JDC MotorSports has been a very successful junior open-wheel teams in North America, taking 11 championship titles, including three Pro Mazda Championship titles with Dane Cameron, Adam Christodoulou and Tristan Vautier, who currently competes in the IndyCar Series.
A prototype programme will not be new for the team, having fielded a two-car team in the IMSA Prototype Lites Championship in recent years, consistently running near the front and finishing as runners up in the 2012 series.
“We are extremely excited about our expansion into the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship,” said John Church, owner and President of JDC MotorSports. “We wanted to expand our current USF2000, Pro Mazda, and IMSA Prototype Lites programs, and looked at several different options. Since we already run multiple car programs in USF2000 and Pro Mazda, we felt we should look at different alternatives outside of open-wheel racing.”
“We are currently in discussions with several full-time co-drivers who are interested in running with us,” continued Church. “That’s the beauty of it. There are a lot of talented drivers who have driven for us in the past, as well as potential drivers out of our current open-wheel programs who could be added to the driver lineup for the Prototype Challenge program.”
The team has secured its first Oreca FLM09 Prototype Challenge car, as well as a yet-to-be-announced driver, and plans to start testing in December in preparation for the 2014 season.
“We decided it would be best to skip the season-opening 24 hours of Daytona race, since this would not be the right venue to start a new program. Starting our season at Sebring also will provide us with more lead time in order to be ready,” added John Miller, co-owner of JDC Miller MotorSports and a long-time supporter of JDC MotorSports. “I have been a friend of John Church for many years now, and we have raced together in several series, including winning the F2000 Championship Series in 2009. I always told John that I would be interested in getting more involved under the right circumstances. With the unification of sports car racing in North America, I felt it’s the right time to get involved. This is a long term commitment for 2014 and beyond. We have everything in place to be a full-time program which can be competitive in the series.”
