{"id":2887,"date":"2021-01-26T23:15:14","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T04:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=2887"},"modified":"2023-05-03T15:38:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T19:38:23","slug":"joao-barbosa-seeks-fifth-rolex-24-victory-with-new-team-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/26\/joao-barbosa-seeks-fifth-rolex-24-victory-with-new-team-in-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Joao Barbosa Seeks Fifth Rolex 24 Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sean Creech Motorsports makes LMP3 debut in 59<\/i>th<\/sup><\/i>\u00a0Daytona classic<\/i><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"\"DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (26 January 2021) \u2013 Joao Barbosa will return to the Rolex 24 At Daytona for the 19th time in 2021, racing a new car with a new team in an all-new class. However, the Portuguese driver will bring the same approach he\u2019s carried throughout his career when he drives the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Exelixis Ligier JS P320 Nissan in the LMP3 class in America\u2019s premier endurance race.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The event (NBC 3:30 PM Saturday, January 30) will mark the first-ever inclusion of the global LMP3 platform into the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship category.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cEvery time I go to the Rolex 24, it\u2019s with the same mentality,\u201d said Barbosa, who will co-drive with Wayne Boyd, Yann Clairay and Dr. Lance Willsey. \u201cI try to do the best job I can, and come home with the watch. Winning a fifth Rolex would be very, very special, after a really tough year in 2020.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Barbosa is seeking his fifth victory in the event, adding to his collection of Rolex Cosmograph Daytona watches, which is the elusive first-place prize for drivers in the event. After winning the GTS class in 2003 \u2013 co-driving with legend Andy Wallace in a Mosler MT900R \u2013 he joined Action Express Racing for overall triumphs in 2010 and 2014 in a Corvette DP, and in 2018 in a Cadillac DPi.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Barbosa earned back-to-back podium finishes at Daytona International Speedway in 2020. He finished third in both the Rolex 24 and the Daytona 240 \u2013 IMSA\u2019s July 4 return following more than a five-month shutdown due to the pandemic \u2013 co-driving with Sebastien Bourdais for JDC-Miller Motorsports.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

After running in the lead class in the Rolex GRAND-AM Series from 2006 through 2013, and then in the WeatherTech Championship since 2014, Barbosa and Willsey will be running for the championship in LMP3,\u00a0 the newest class in IMSA\u2019s premier series.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a new team, a new car, a new class \u2013 a lot of \u2018new,\u2019\u201d Barbosa said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be very different. There\u2019s a lot to figure out, and I\u2019m pretty excited about the opportunity to race with Sean and Lance. That\u2019s why we go there \u2013 we want to go there and win our class, and have the best possible result. While Daytona doesn\u2019t count for the points in the season championship, it\u2019s a great way to start the season. The Rolex 24 is always my favorite race of the year.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He has tested twice at Daytona with Sean Creech Motorsports, once with last year\u2019s Prototype Challenge car and once with the brand-new Ligier machine.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThe car had just arrived for our test, so there is still a lot to figure out and fine tune,\u201d Barbosa said. \u201cBut the team is on it, and is doing a great job preparing it the best way possible. They\u2019re putting together all the tools and everything they need to be part of the WeatherTech Series. It\u2019s a step up for them as well. It\u2019s pretty exciting to start almost from zero and help them build a great WeatherTech team.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Driving-wise, Barbosa feels it will be a smooth transition from the DPi to the new LMP3.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThis car is definitely different [from the DPi],\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a lot less horsepower, and it has steel brakes instead of carbon fiber. And the performance is a little slower. But that\u2019s about it. The car feels really nice to drive and is a lot of fun.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI think this is a great class for IMSA, and I\u2019m super happy that they decided to make it part of the WeatherTech [Championship],\u201d Barbosa continued. \u201cIt\u2019s an entry point to the series, at a financially reasonable rate, with great cars that are really fun to drive. It\u2019s going to make great racing, because there\u2019s no BOP, it\u2019s going to be up to the teams and the drivers to make the difference. It will be really exciting for the fans to watch.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Official practice for the 58th Rolex 24 At Daytona will begin on the following Thursday, Jan. 28.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sean Creech Motorsports makes LMP3 debut in 59th\u00a0Daytona classic   DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (26 January 2021) \u2013 Joao Barbosa will return to the Rolex 24 At [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-feature","category-sean-creech-motorsports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2887"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2891,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887\/revisions\/2891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}