PR1/MATHIASEN MOTORSPORTS POSTS FASTEST LMP2 LAP AT THE ROAR

January 8, 2019 PR1 Motorsports

January 8, 2019 – Daytona, Florida – PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports had an impressive first outing in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship posting the fastest lap time of the LMP2 class with a 1:35.930 (133.591 mph) in the #52 ORECA.

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports put together the LMP2 program just in time for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 and were more than ready to get on track after deciding to run the new ORECA 07 chassis at the end of the 2018 season. Matt McMurry and Gabriel Aubry came into the weekend prepared to take on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway and were joined by their third teammate, Mark Kvamme, who got to take his first laps with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.

The Roar Before the Rolex 24 provided a crucial opportunity for teams and drivers to get acclimated with their machines and the 3.56-mile circuit. A specific “qualifying session” also runs to determine where the teams will be placed in the paddock and their garage positions. Despite driving the historic track for the first time, it was Aubry who posted the fastest lap time in the LMP2 category. Running the fastest lap time will put the team in the best paddock and garage position behind the DPi class for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Now, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ primary focus is to keep fine-tuning their race strategy and setup of the #52 ORECA. An announcement of the final driver to add to the lineup will be announced shortly. Activities for the Rolex 24 at Daytona begin on Thursday, January 24 with the green flag set to wave at 12:35 p.m. EST on January 26.

Matt Mcmurry

Driver

#52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07 LMP2

“The Roar this year went very well. We were fast from the start and made great progress improving the setup of the car. I think that the team, Gabriel, and I all worked together well and I’m excited to see what we can do at the Rolex 24!”

Gabriel Aubry

Driver

#52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07 LMP2

"I'm really happy about my first experience in IMSA. The first contact with the team has been great and I had a warm welcome from everyone. We showed good pace from the beginning and we kept on working to improve our car to clinch the best lap time over the 3 test days. It has been a problem-free Roar and this is what we will be looking after for race week!”

Mark Kvamme

Driver

#52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07 LMP2

“I’m very excited to have joined PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. So far, I am impressed with the team and my co-drivers Gabriel and Matt. I hope I can hold my end of the bargain during the race being the old slow guy.”

Bobby Oergel

Team Principal

#52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07 LMP2

“We are really happy with the weekend. This program came together late, but it’s such a great feeling to be the fastest in qualifying. Gabriel and Matt and did a great job. The car was fast right out of the box, so we were able to focus on getting these guys some good track time and working on the setup for the race. It’s always nice to be on the top of the charts, but now we will focus on preparing for the race. We will figure out the right person for the fourth seat and look forward to announcing that soon.”

AFS/PR1 MATHIASEN MOTORSPORTS ACQUIRES NEW ORECA 07 FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE IMSA SEASON →

August 18, 2018 PR1 Motorsports

Fresno, California - August 16, 2018 - AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports announced today that the team has acquired a brand new ORECA 07 LMP2 which it will start using at the next round of the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca next Sept 7-9.

The team will renew its relationship with ORECA after many years of victories, podiums and championships together in the LMPC class. The California based squad plans to enter the #52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 into the last two events of the 2018 championship, in preparation for a full season effort in the newly announced standalone LMP2 pro/am class in 2019.

The team drivers Gustavo Yacaman and Sebastian Saavedra will get a chance to drive their new machine during the first session of the Laguna Seca event, as the duo looks to capture their first podium of the season.

Bobby Oergel

Team Principal

AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports

“I first want to thank the Nicolet and Crawford families and Onroak for their continued support and efforts to help us as a team over the last couple of seasons. Max, Jacques and Pierre have been great to work with and we look forward to continuing that relationship with our LMP3 and F4 programs. On the switch of chassis, It’s a tough time of the year to make this change for sure but there’s no time like the present to make the preparations for next year and push hard to finish off 2018 with a good result.”

Ray Mathiasen

Team Principal

AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports

"This has been an eventful week for the team. The separation of the DPi and LMP2 classes in 2019 is something Leslie and I feel was necessary and a very welcome change for the future. And now we have been able to purchase our new equipment from ORECA in time to be able to compete at Laguna Seca, our home track, and at Road Atlanta. This will give us the valuable experience we'll need to prepare for 2019 giving Bobby and crew the opportunity to once again return to the podium finishes that have escaped us since our move up to the prototype class. We couldn't be any more enthusiastic about the rest of this season and next year. "

Anthony Megevand

Customer Racing Service Manager

ORECA

“We are happy to welcome back Bobby and the AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports team in the ORECA family. We know them since many years from the LMPC era and not racing together in LMP2 was a kind of unfinished story. It’s a strong commitment from the team and we are looking forward to see AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports on track with ORECA 07.

Laguna Seca will be definitely a special race: first time for AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports with the ORECA 07 and on their home race. There will be a learning process but we know how great the team can do and we are ready to take on this challenge by bringing our support.

So far, we have had a successful summer with three overall win in a row and it looks like we have exciting time ahead with Laguna Seca and Petit Le Mans.”

CHALLENGING WEEKEND FOR AFS/PR1 MATHIASEN MOTORSPORTS AT ROAD AMERICA →

August 6, 2018 PR1 Motorsports

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin – August 6, 2018 – AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports leaves Road America with a 13th place finish at the 8th round of the 2018 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship after an incident ended their race prematurely.

It all began as a regular start to the weekend. AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports had not participated in any testing at Road America so practice was spent getting the team's drivers and crew acclimated to the track and developing the setup of the Ligier JSP217. The pace and strategy looked promising going into the qualifying session. On what was set up to be Gustavo Yacaman’s fastest lap, the Columbian suffered a tire puncture on the rear left that put an end to qualifying, leaving him with the 10th place on the grid for the start of the race.

Yacaman’s start was clean and by the time he got to Turn 13 he was fighting with some cars for positions and spun off track but miraculously kept the car from hitting the wall. Yacaman was left stuck in the gravel and by the time he was able to get #52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports machine back to on track, the team was already a lap down. A smart strategy by the team put Yacaman in a position to gain the lap back under a yellow flag, but the red light for the pit lane exit fell just before the #52 could join the rest of the field after their pit stop, which prevented them from recovering their lap, and negated any hopes for a strong result.

Saavedra took over with an hour to go and had an off at Turn 14 shortly after he entered the race. The Columbian made a valiant effort to save the car, but unfortunately, he made contact with the wall, ending the race. With only two rounds left of the 2018 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship, AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports will be back in action September 7-9thfor the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca.

Sebastian Saavedra - Driver

"It was a very challenging weekend for the AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports car. The weekend started in a promising manner, even being a little behind the pace, but we were catching up with a really good solution and wereworking hard with Tim Lewis and Gustavo. Unfortunately, we had a puncture in qualifying along with unfortunate circumstances at the beginning of the race that put us behind. We are still looking through all the data from both incidents to see exactly what happened, but overall it was a weekend to forget and now we are focusing on the next two rounds. It’s been a tough season with a lot of promising areas, but we just haven’t been able to connect all the dots and show the true potential of the team and its line-up. I’m looking forward to Laguna, which is another place I have never raced before, but if the car continues performing we should be looking good.”

Gustavo Yacaman - Driver

“It was a really rough weekend for all of us at AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. We did everything we needed to throughout the weekend with the practice sessions and the strategy, but I made a mistake on the first lap that put us a lap down and we were never able to recover from that. What happened at the end was a shame with Sebastian, but I feel really bad for the team and crew because we have all done a great job all season and have not caught a break. I really hope we can turn this around for the last two races and give the team what they deserve after working so hard all year.”

AFS/PR1 MATHIASEN MOTORSPORTS TAKES 9TH PLACE IN CANADA →

July 9, 2018 PR1 Motorsports

Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada – July 9, 2018 – What looked to be a very promising weekend for AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports turned to be riddled with obstacles at the seventh round of the 2018 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship resulting in a 9th place finish.

The event started off with positive momentum after AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports made huge progress in a very competitive qualifying session. It looked as if the 7th spot on the grid would be where Sebastian Saavedra would start the race, but a penalty sent one of the cars to the back, moving them up to 6th place. The start was fairly tame and eventually, a yellow flag blanketed the field, but the #52 Liger JS P217 stayed out, waiting to pit until another yellow where they changed the left side tires only.

AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports had the pace but struggled to fight with the leaders as the top ten maintained a tight line. In Saavedra's second stint he came over the radio and reported he felt an issue with the car. Shortly after sharing this information, the front right tire fell off. The incident is being investigated by AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, as it’s a very strange failure. This was followed by two more setbacks in the form of penalties, which left Gustavo Yacaman in survival mode to finish the race in 9th and continue collecting points for the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship. AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports will return to racing in the United States at Road America on August 5th.

Sebastian Saavedra - Driver

“This was a very tough weekend for the team, especially after it looked so promising. Unfortunately, a lot of items throughout the race made it tough for everyone involved. We are definitely going in the right direction with the evolution of the car, but just didn’t get the results.”

Gustavo Yacaman - Driver

"It was a pretty tough weekend. We improved the car little by little until qualifying, where Sebastian did a good job and we had a great car. For warm-up and the race, we missed on the setup a bit so we didn’t have the pace to keep up with the leaders. Everything that could go wrong went wrong during the race, Sebastian lost a tire at the end of his second stint so that really set us back. We have a month before the next race so now we need to analyze and figure out how to come back stronger."

WILL OWEN JOINS AFS/PR1 MATHIASEN AT WATKINS GLEN AFTER PODIUM AT 24 HOURS OF LE MANS →

June 27, 2018 PR1 Motorsports

Watkins Glen, New York – June 27, 2018 – AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports welcomes Will Owen to join Sebastian Saavedra and Gustavo Yacaman to take on the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen in the #52 Liger JS P217. The event marks the halfway point of the 2018 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship, being the sixth round of the 12-race season.

Owen is no stranger to the AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports crew after testing a prototype for the very first time with PR1 back in 2016, and making his IMSA racing debut with them at Long Beach in 2017. Since then, the American has made leaps and bounds in his sportscar career finishing second in the 2017 European Le Mans Series championship, fourth at this year’s Rolex 24, and most recently on the podium of the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans just two weeks ago with teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Hugo de Sadeleer. Last year, PR1 Motorsports had a strong showing at the Six Hours of the Glen starting from the front row and finishing 4th, making it their best result of the season.

AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports will be looking to better their 2017 4th place finish after being the top LMP2 car in the past two rounds of the 2018 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship. Track action beings on Friday morning, June 29th at 10:25 a.m. EDT with the first practice session of the weekend. Two more practices will take place before Qualifying goes green on Saturday from 12:25 p.m. to 12:40 p.m. A final warm-up will kick off race day and the battle for the podium of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen will begin at 9:45 a.m. EDT on Sunday, June 30th. You can find more details and who to tune into live sessions at https://sportscarchampionship.imsa.com/events/2018-sahlens-six-hours-glen.

Will Owen – Driver

“I’m glad to be racing back to the USA! I have never driven at Watkins Glen but it is an essential track that every American driver should know. I have played it on the simulator and I can’t wait to get out there for real. This will be the second race I have done with PR1 Motorsports, and I’m excited to catch up with the team again. I have open expectations, but I am hoping that WGI will favor the Ligier over other chassis. No matter what the race will be competitive, and to win we will have to do our best.”

Gary Peterson - Team Principal

“We are very happy to welcome Will to our team, even though I haven’t had the chance to meet him in person I've heard nothing but good things about him and he brings a lot of LMP2 experience with our Ligier JS P217 chassis, not to mention that he's coming off a very strong podium result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It's a shame not to have Roberto Gonzalez with us but we are definitely looking forward to another strong weekend for the AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports team and we hope that the Watkins Glen track will be a good venue for our car."

Bobby Oergel - Team Principal

"We have followed Will's career for years now and we're thrilled that he can join us again for Watkins Glen. He has proven to be a very accomplished endurance racer, and with his experience in Europe, he will be a great addition to our team. Last year we were very strong at Watkins Glen and we are confident that we can once again be fighting for our best result of the season this weekend."