With no points in the standings due to a disappointing start to the 2015 season, the Tequila Patron ESM team has decided to not participate in the North American Endurance Cup; the team will instead shift their undivided attention to the FIA World Endurance Championship. This decision means that they will no longer be competing in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship during this 2015 season.
The team cites financial and logistical reasons behind this decision.
Team-owner Scott Sharp said all of the following to SportsCar365:
“We ended up with no points at both Daytona and Sebring for the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup, so there’s no championship for us to run for [anymore].
"We’re obviously spending quite a lot of money, switching from all these chassis.
“Now that we’re committed to the Ligier and we’re over here in Europe, the costs to bring these cars back to try to run [Watkins] Glen would be round-trip $250,000 to $300,000.
“If you’re not on the WEC travel plan, you’re doing that on your own. It just doesn’t make financial sense right now.”
The Ligier JS P2 Honda that he mentions they are committed to is the new car they debuted at last weekend's Six Hours of Spa endurance race.
There is one more race in America on the schedule for the Florida-based team, though, as the FIA WEC will have a round at Circuit of The Americas this coming September.
Krohn Racing, who was also registered for the four races of the Patron Endurance Cup, has made a similar decision; they will be shifting their focus to the European Le Mans Series with their Ligier-Judd LMP2 entry.
The next race for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship will be the second 100-minute sprint race between the concrete walls of a city/street circuit so far this year for the series after a stop on the streets of Long Beach. On the final weekend of May, the series heads to Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic.