Ian Lacy Racing brings Aston Martin to GTWC America

While most of the prospective teams still have to confirm plans for the 2021 GT World Challenge America, the early January already presented good news as GT4 team Ian Lacy Racing makes the step up to GT3 competition for a full season in the flagship US series from SRO.

The choice to tackle the new challenge is the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for Pro-Am Cup honors, with the driver lineup already decided too, being composed by Drew Staveley and Frank Gannett, who are with the team for a long time, and this factor may be useful for both Staveley and Gannett as the team jumped not only to a new class, but also to a new manufacturer after coming from Ginetta in 2018 and Ford in the last two years. Their bond will also be handy as both drivers will also face an increase in race length compared to the rather short GT4 Sprint races, going from 50 minutes to 90 minutes split between them.

Ian Lacy Racing and G3 Racing joint effort bring Aston Martin to the GT3 ranks in SRO America competition for the first time since 2018, still in the old Pirelli World Challenge rules, as TRG brought the old V12-powered Vantage GT3 for a run.

Staveley himself has some accolades to add to the team's reputation, being a GT4 Am champion and a consistent frontrunner in recent years, missing the 2020 GT4 Sprint Pro title only to Michael Cooper.

The 2021 GT World Challenge America season will start on 6 and 7 March at Sonoma, with the end of the season being with the Intercontinental GT Challenge at the Indianapolis 8 Hour on 17 October, with the full endurance race counting points to the GT World Challenge America standings as the new rule.

PHOTO: SRO