Tequila Patrón ESM Determined to Achieve Victory at Sebring
A Patrón-worthy combination of home track advantage
and return of Honda ARX-03bs

Riviera Beach, Fla., – March 17, 2015 – Tequila Patrón ESM has some unfinished business at Sebring International Raceway and this weekend’s TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race – the 63rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida. Following last year’s runner-up finish, the Florida-based team returns to its home track more determined than ever to win the annual Sebring event and the second round of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. To help with those tasks, Tequila Patrón ESM has enlisted two old friends – the Tequila Patrón-sponsored Honda Performance Development (HPD) ARX-03b race cars.

The Tequila Patrón ESM team recalls last year’s 12 Hours of Sebring as vividly as it remembers yesterday. Despite dominating and leading the second half of the endurance event, a late-race caution flag jeopardized the No. 1 Tequila Patrón ESM team of claiming victory. It was a bittersweet podium celebration for Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel and David Brabham. The second-place finish marked the first podium of the season for the team, but a race win was a mere four seconds out of reach.

Characteristically the roughest, bumpiest and most challenging circuit on the TUDOR Championship schedule, Sebring International Raceway is typically a favorite of the Tequila Patrón ESM team. Overall victory has eluded both Tequila Patrón ESM and Honda at the 3.7-mile, 17-turn circuit – a statistic both are looking to change this weekend.

The 2014 season marked the second year of Tequila Patrón ESM running the ARX-03b chassis. In 21 races with the ARX-03b prototypes, Tequila Patrón ESM earned two wins (Long Beach 2013 and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca 2014), four pole positions and 16 podiums.

Earlier this month, Tequila Patrón ESM and Honda Performance Development mutually agreed that it would be competitively advantageous to run the ARX-03b at Sebring while the ARX-04b coupe continued development. The ARX-03b prototypes last at-track appearance was the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) 6 Hours of Shanghai in November, a race that concluded with Sharp and Dalziel earning runner-up honors.

Sharp and Dalziel return to Sebring in the No. 1 Tequila Patrón HPD ARX-03b, and are joined by David Heinemeier Hansson. Dalziel won the 2012 LMP2 race in the same ARX-03b chassis with the Starworks Motorsports team. Heinemeier Hansson brings one LMP2 podium finish and two Prototype Challenge (PC) podium finishes with him to Tequila Patrón ESM.

The No. 2 Tequila Patrón ESM driving team of Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek has two top-five finishes at Sebring International Raceway aboard the ARX-03bs. The duo finished fourth in 2013 and then third in 2014. Brown and van Overbeek eagerly return to the ARX-03b prototype – it is the same vehicle in which they earned their first TUDOR Championship overall race win in 2014.

In one of van Overbeek’s first Sebring races, he co-drove with Hans Stuck, the grand marshal of this year’s 12 Hours of Sebring. The California native seeks his first Sebring win to go along with his three podium finishes (runner-up in 2006 and 2007, and third in 2005). Jon Fogarty – van Overbeek’s teammate this year as well as for the 2006 and 2007 podium finishes – has five top-five finishes at Sebring.

The Sebring race will be the first time Heinemeier Hansson and Fogarty will drive the ARX-03b Honda chassis.

A quick glance at the calendar shows the team heads to Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France, immediately following Sebring for the pre-season test for the FIA WEC. In less than a month, Tequila Patrón ESM will compete in the 6 Hours of Silverstone, the first of FIA WEC eight international races on the schedule. Victory at Sebring would be a Patrón-worthy beginning to Tequila Patrón ESM’s FIA WEC season.

On Friday, fans have the opportunity to meet the 2015 Tequila Patrón ESM driver lineup during the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Autograph Session beginning at 11:30 a.m. Following the autograph session Tequila Patrón ESM will host a live auction in the paddock area benefiting the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer, with exclusive team items for bid. The auction starts at noon (ET).

The second race of 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is the 63rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida on March 19-21. Qualifying for prototype cars takes place at 5:35 p.m. ET on Friday, March 20. Green flag for the 12 Hours of Sebring is 10:40 a.m. (ET) on Saturday, March 21.

The Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) includes the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and the season finale Petit Le Mans. Watch the Tequila Patrón ESM drivers explain the significance of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance.