Riviera Beach, Fla., – Dec. 9, 2014 –The Tequila Patrón ESM team completes its driver lineup for the 2015 sportscar racing season. Scott Sharp, Ed Brown, Ryan Dalziel and Johannes van Overbeek return as full-season co-drivers of the two Tequila Patrón-sponsored Honda Performance Development ARX-04b coupes. They will be joined by Jon Fogarty and David Heinemeier Hansson.
Tequila Patrón ESM submitted two full-season entries to compete in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) along with the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup races.
American Fogarty, a Gold-ranked racer, will co-drive with Brown and van Overbeek. Silver-ranked Danish racer Heinemeier Hansson will co-drive with Sharp and Dalziel.
“We are thrilled to have Jon and David join us at Tequila Patrón ESM,” said Sharp. “The 2015 season is going to be incredible for us. Jon and David will be key parts to our success. We’ve competed against Jon for years and we know he is a team player who has proven he is extremely quick. I’m certain he will blend in perfectly with Ed and Johannes.
“David has had great success in the WEC over the last couple of seasons both in P2 and GTE,” continued Sharp. “He knows all of the WEC tracks and will complement Ryan and me in our car perfectly. Tequila Patrón ESM has one of the strongest driver lineups for 2015 with Ed, Ryan, Johannes and now Jon and David. We can’t wait to get started with the new Honda coupes and co-drivers.”
In 1996, Fogarty began racing in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, where he earned series runner-up honors twice. He raced in Indy Lights in 2001, and then advanced to the Toyota Atlantic series the following year. In 2002, Fogarty won the first of his two open-wheel championship titles; the second title came in 2004.
Now as a Tequila Patrón ESM driver, Fogarty reunites with his American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT2 teammate van Overbeek. Fogarty and van Overbeek finished third in the GT2 drivers’ championship in 2005. For the last nine years, Fogarty co-drove with Alex Gurney in the “Red Dragon” Daytona Prototype for GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing. In his nine years of American sportscar racing, Fogarty has two championship titles (2007 and 2009), 16 wins, 54 podium finishes and 30 pole positions.
In his 2011 rookie season, Heinemeier Hansson competed in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, ALMS, IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge, Radical Masters and GRAND-AM Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. In 2012, with then co-driver Martin Plowman, he finished second in the ALMS LMP2 championship with two wins and eight podium finishes. That same year, he earned a seventh-place finish in his first attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
During the 2013 FIA WEC season, he earned runner-up honors with co-drivers Olivier Pla and Alex Brundle in the LMP2 class with five podium finishes in eight races, including a runner-up finish at Le Mans.
In his third attempt at Le Mans, Heinemeier Hansson transitioned to the Aston Martin Racing team and drove to a GTE AM class victory last season, as well as taking the 2014 World Endurance Championship title.
Fogarty and Heinemeier Hansson will test with Tequila Patrón ESM later this year. They will make their first public appearance as Tequila Patrón ESM drivers at The Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway in January.
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Further information:
Susan Pollack
Tequila Patrón ESM
Phone: +1 313 434 6912
magicJack: +1 239 300 6975 or 0109866776
Email: susan@sjp-media.com
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