Photo : Copyright - ESM

 

Founded in 2010 by American driver Scott Sharp in the wake of his American Le Mans Series (ALMS) title with David Brabham, the ESM outfit (at the time known as Extreme Speed Motorsports) quickly evolved into a major player in ALMS platforms then the Tudor United SportsCar (TUSC) Championship - first in GT with the Ferrari 458 Italia, then in prototypes with Honda HPD as of 2013. Last year, ESM achieved a remarkable showing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with two podiums: third place in the LM P2 class at its very first race (the 6 Hours of the Circuit of the Americas), then second place at the 6 Hours of Shanghai.

In 2015, ESM will initiate the ARX-04b, Honda HPD's new LM P2 closed cockpit prototype (unlike the 2013 and 2014 ARX-03b). Two models are entered for major involvement in the World Championship as well as in the NAEC (North American Endurance Cup), which consolidates the four longest races on the TUSC calendar: the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta (1,000 miles – or 1,600 km – or 10 hours). ESM now includes in its ranks two drivers who have stood out at the 24 Hours of Le Mans these last few years: Scottish driver Ryan Dalziel; winner in the LM P2 class in 2012 with another American team, Starworks Motorsport; and Danish driver David Heinemeier-Hansson, victorious in LM GTE Am in 2014 with Aston Martin. Other than Scott Sharp himself, the other 2015 ESM drivers are Johannes van Overbeek, Ed Brown and Jon Fogarty.

Scott Sharp: "It’s with huge anticipation that ESM heads into Daytona this week! After months of planning and work on the new cars and adding new faces all lead up to the start of an incredible 2015 schedule for us!"

Ryan Dalziel: "Going back with a closed cockpit car shouldn’t change things too much, but the obvious stuff will be a new learning curve, like visibility and driver changes. Scott and I are starting our second year together as teammates and we really have things very connected between us and so far David has slipped into his role perfectly."

David Heinemeier-Hansson: "The most important thing for me at the Rolex is to adjust to a how the closed-top LMP2 car deals with visibility in traffic, how comfortable can we make it for the long runs, how does it react when fighting for position in a draft. Many unanswered questions, but that’s what makes it so exciting. We have plenty of new challenges ahead of us this weekend!"

The first round of the 2015 TUSC, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, will take place Saturday and Sunday, January 24-25, 2015.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
(Quotations from ESM press release)

Photo: ESM was highly successful in its livery for the ARX-04b, the new Honda HPD LM P2 prototype that will make its debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.