Crowdstrike Racing will enter the four Michelin Endurance Cup races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship 2023.
They have teamed up with Algarve Pro Racing, who will run the car at the four MEC races – the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 hours of Sebring, 6 hours at Watkins Glen, and 10 hours at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
George Kurtz will be the centre of attention. He has raced in the LMP3 category for the past two years in IMSA with CORE autosport, but since they have shut down their programme, he had to move to a different team.
Ben Hanley and Matt McMurry will share the ORECA 07 Gibson LMP2 car with Kurtz at the four races. Hanley is super experienced in LMP2 racing, and has been a fixed part of the DragonSpeed team, racing for them in IMSA, ELMS, FIA WEC and the NTT IndyCar Series. McMurry has been a bit here, there and everywhere throughout the years. He has previously raced with APR in series like the Asian Le Mans Series in LMP2.
Photo: Crowdstrike Racing
For the 24 hours race in Daytona, they will be joined by Esteban Gutierrez as the fourth driver. The former Formula 1 driver moved into sportscar racing in 2022, where he did the full season for Inter Europol Competition in the FIA WEC. He is still active for the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team.
This is the first time for APR to compete in more than the 24 hours race in Daytona. The team has plans about that in 2022 as well, but the Ukraine war ended those plans, with Russian drivers and sponsors no longer being allowed in the sport.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship 2023 starts with the ROAR test on 20-22 January.
