BAR1 Motorsports Ready To Kick Off Year Five

BAR1 entry practices

Celebrating their fifth year racing IMSA Prototype Challenge, BAR1 Motorsports kicks off their 2016 campaign with a two car Prototype Challenge entry to WeatherTech Championship, the Roar Before The Rolex 24 test and the 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

"We're pretty upbeat and anxious to get our fifth season underway," said team owner, Brian Alder. "We've been busy in the off season making updates to the cars, so it's going to be nice getting back on track. This week we'll be testing setups and looking at a few additional drivers. Johnny Mowlem will be here along with Ryan Eversley helping to shake down the cars and work with the other drivers. Don Yount and Marc Drumwright will also be with us getting themselves ready for the 24, along with Adam Merzon and Lucas Auer."

BAR1 began their racing endeavors back in 2011 racing in the American Le Mans Series. In 2013 they fell just one point short of winning the championship. In the past five years, the team has enjoyed podium finishes at Mid Ohio, Watkins Glen, Sebring, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Road America and finishing first at tracks like Road Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas and Virginia International Raceway.

In the team's IMSA Lites program, while advancing drivers through their ladder system, BAR1 has won three IMSA Lite Championships.

"We're proud of our accomplishments," noted Alder. "On one hand we're a young team with a long future, but on the other hand, we've made a nice name for ourselves by showing up and performing like veterans. As we put the finishing details on our driver lineup for 2016, I think we're coming into our own."

The 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship makes its debut this weekend at Daytona International Speedway with a 54-car field entered for the three-day Roar Before The Rolex 24 At Daytona test this Friday through Sunday, Jan. 8-10.

The test sessions – which are open to the public – will feature the debut of many new WeatherTech Championship race cars, particularly in the series' two GT classes. The GT Daytona (GTD) class features the most entries, with 22, followed by 13 Prototypes, 11 GT Le Mans (GTLM) entries and eight Prototype Challenge (PC) cars.

Three days of testing for the WeatherTech Championship get underway Friday morning at 10:15 a.m. ET with the first of eight scheduled sessions through Sunday afternoon. In addition to the WeatherTech Championship, the Roar Before The Rolex 24 test also will include three days of testing for the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, which opens its season on Friday, Jan. 29 with the BMW Performance 200. Live Timing & Scoring data from every on-track session will be available on IMSA.com.