{"id":6496,"date":"2023-09-11T21:40:25","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T01:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=6496"},"modified":"2023-09-11T21:40:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T01:40:25","slug":"indianapolis-represents-history-for-sean-creech-motorsport-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/11\/indianapolis-represents-history-for-sean-creech-motorsport-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Indianapolis represents history for Sean Creech Motorsport team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jo\u00e3o Barbosa won the last IMSA race at IMS, while Creech shares a significant race history with one of the winningest junior open wheel teams<\/em><\/p>\n

JUPITER, Fla. (11 September 2023) \u2013 Sean Creech Motorsport (SCM) joins the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in a return to the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway for this weekend\u2019s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks (Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EDT, NBC).<\/p>\n

Drivers Lance Willsey and Jo\u00e3o Barbosa will pilot the No. 33 SCM Focal One Ligier JS P320 in Sunday\u2019s two hour and 40-minute event, and for Barbosa \u2013 and team principal Sean Creech \u2013 the weekend represents significant moments in each of their racing history.<\/p>\n

Nine years have passed since IMSA last took the checkered flag at IMS. The last man standing on the famed Victory Podium? Jo\u00e3o Barbosa, who led 92 of 108 laps for the victory alongside teammate Christian Fittipaldi, which helped cement their hold on the series championship title. It is a cherished memory for Barbosa, who first learned the history of IMS when he first came to the U.S. from his native Portugal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a very quick car and great fuel strategy in 2014,\u201d said Barbosa. \u201cWe took advantage of all the opportunities we had. It was great to win at Indy and kiss the bricks \u2013 it is one of my best memories. Indy is so special and so historic. When I came to the United States, I saw how important the race was and followed it closely, so it\u2019s great to be able to race here ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

IMS\u2019s open-wheel history is legendary. The Indianapolis 500 \u2013 the largest single day sporting event in the world \u2013 is one of the world\u2019s iconic motor races. Less well known is the open-wheel history of both Barbosa and Creech.<\/p>\n

Barbosa came to the US from Portugal to contest Formula Atlantic, while Creech spent his time balanced between two worlds \u2013 competing in a Formula Ford while also working as a mechanic with Dauer Racing. His expertise with racing cars came to the fore in those early days, with most of his contemporaries racing and working on their cars, and he gained a reputation as a talented technician, understanding every inch of a race car.<\/p>\n

In 1992, Creech asked fellow driver Dominic Cape to come work on the car at the SCCA Runoffs, and the team captured the Runoffs victory in the Sports 2000 class. Dominic Cape considers the win to be the first for what would become Cape Motorsports \u2013 the winningest team in USF2000 series history (the team returned to the INDY NXT series this season.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were good friends back in the day, racing against each other and cooking out together in the evenings,\u201d said Creech. \u201cHe had a Formula Ford, I had a FF2000 and we hung out, working on the cars. I got to know his brother Nicholas and father Reggie as well, so when I got the DB-2, I called Dominic to ask if he wanted to come work on it. It was a good weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creech was set to go to Formula Atlantic in 1993\u00a0but his transporter \u2013 with the car inside \u2013 was stolen in January of that year. Creech then turned his attention fully to sports cars, working with legendary names like Dauer, Doran, Busby and Colucci before starting his own team. But he has always kept in touch with the Capes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve enjoyed seeing their success over the years,\u201d said Creech. \u201cIt will be great to have them out to the Speedway this weekend and compare notes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SCM team tested at Indy in mid-July, experiencing the spectrum of weather conditions over the two days \u2013 from cold and wet to hot and humid. Both Creech and Barbosa know that weather and traffic will be the two main factors affecting Sunday\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned a great deal at the test in multiple conditions, so we have a lot of good data,\u201d said Creech. \u201cTraffic is going to be the biggest challenge \u2013 if it rains, that will come into play even more, because Indy gets very slippery very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to building on the strong result we had at Road America (where the team earned a pole and a second-place finish),\u201d said Barbosa. \u201cWe learned a great deal at the test \u2013 the first day was hot, the second had rain, so it was good to see how the LMP3 car reacted to the different conditions. Lance did a great job and we definitely fine-tuned the car. The LMP3 car is so balanced, with the brakes and power and handling. It might not have the downforce of the P2 car but it was fun to drive at Indy. Traffic will be difficult, with so many cars \u2013 our speed is close to that of the GTD cars so staying out of trouble will be key.\u201d<\/p>\n

SCM thanks partner Focal One for its continued support.<\/p>\n

The TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks takes the green flag Sunday at 1:10 p.m. Eastern. The race will be broadcast live in the U.S. on NBC. International viewers can watch via IMSA.tv, with IMSA Radio also available at IMSA.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jo\u00e3o Barbosa won the last IMSA race at IMS, while Creech shares a significant race history with one of the winningest junior open wheel teams JUPITER, [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sean-creech-motorsports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496","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=6496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6498,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496\/revisions\/6498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}