Extreme Speed Motorsports

Extreme Speed Motorsports–Front-row start for Tequila Patrón ESM at Sebring

Front-row start for Tequila Patrón ESM at Sebring
Soaring Scot Dalziel earns P2 for No. 1; No. 2 to start eighth

SEBRING, Fla., – March 20, 2015 – Ryan Dalziel roared around Sebring International Raceway on Friday afternoon en route to a front-row starting position for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race – the 63rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida. Three-tenths of a second (.303) separated Dalziel from the pole-winning team as he earned Tequila Patrón ESM’s first front-row start of the season.

In its first U.S. appearance this year with Tequila Patrón ESM, the Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) showed it has plenty of fight left in it. Dalziel, in the No. 1 Tequila Patrón ESM HPD ARX-03b, sprinted around the 3.7-mile, 17-turn circuit in 1:51.455 (120.802 mph). The last time this prototype saw sportscar competition was a runner-up finish at the November FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) race in China. Before that, the last time the No. 1 machine competed in the TUDOR Championship was at Road America in August, where Dalziel and co-driver Scott Sharp started from the pole and finished third.

Dalziel will start the race for the No. 1 Tequila Patrón HPD team, Sharp will drive second, and David Heinemeier Hansson will drive third. Each driver is slated to drive at least two stints during the 12-hour endurance race.

Johannes van Overbeek, co-driver of the No. 2 Tequila Patrón ESM HPD ARX-03b, logged the eighth-quickest lap of qualifying with a 1:53.047 (119.101 mph). The last time the No. 2 machine competed in the TUDOR Championship was during Circuit of The Americas race in September. The team wrestled with setup in search of the right combination to maneuver about the rough-and-tumble Sebring circuit. Before tomorrow’s race, the No. 2 team will replicate the setup of the No. 1 machine.

The No. 2 team will have van Overbeek start the race, followed by Ed Brown and then Jon Fogarty.

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. Last year, Tequila Patrón ESM earned a runner-up finishing at Sebring and won the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last May with the ARX-03b.