After opting to forgo the North American Endurance Cup for 2015 to focus on their first year in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Tequila Patron-backed Ligier JS P2 Hondas of Extreme Speed Motorsports have gone through challenging times in their opening year in the LMP2 category of the WEC.
"Major learning year"
Team owner Scott Sharp and the team knew it would be a "major learning year" for them, especially with chassis changes and things of that nature. Nonetheless, Tequila Patron ESM plans to return to FIA WEC for the 2016 season.
"We're going to continue here in WEC," Sharp told Sportscar365.
Sharp notes that the Florida-based Extreme Speed Motorsports team has been challenged in learning the tracks on the WEC calendar as drivers and as a team, but their hope is that they'll be much more prepared to be competitive in 2016.
“I’ve been incredibly surprised and impressed with the professionalism and momentum the WEC has,” said Sharp. “For us, it’s a big challenge here."
Racing against teams that have experience at the tracks is a "detriment," says Sharp.
"That's why we're trying to learn as much as we can."
Targeting podium on home soil
The upcoming round of the FIA WEC, the Six Hours of COTA set for later this month, will see the Florida-based team return to the States for the joint Lone Star Le Mans weekend with the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
Sharp says that as their first season in the WEC reaches its halfway mark, they are beginning to aim for podium finishes.
“For us, it’s really just about bringing it all together now,” he said. “I think we have a much better understanding of the car from a driver’s perspective as well as an engineering perspective."
Potential WeatherTech Championship rounds
Beyond contesting the full WEC calendar for their second consecutive season in 2016, the team could field entries for select races in next year's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - pending conflicts with the WEC schedule.
Sharp says races they'll compete at in the U.S. next year are to be decided on in the next few months.
“We’re still looking at a couple we’d like to do but nothing for sure yet,” he said.
Noting that the Prologue ended up being "really rough" for the team this year with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring being just a week prior, Sharp says they "really don't want to bring that on again."
"So we just have to see how the schedule [unfolds].”
Entering the weekend later this month at Circuit of The Americas, the pair of Ligier JS P2 Hondas of ESM sit fourth and sixth in the LMP2 team standings, with the No. 31 car 62 points behind the leading No. 47 KCMG entry and the team's No. 30 10 points further back.
Stay tuned to @VAVELSportsCar on Twitter for comprehensive coverage leading up to and during the Lone Star Le Mans weekend, set for September 17-19.
Aaron Durant is the editor of the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @DoubleA291.