The IndyCar Regular Is Rejoining Tower Motorsports for the Season Finale
October 3, 2023
By Jeff Olson
IMSA Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – One by one, Scott McLaughlin is living his dreams.He always wanted to race at Daytona. In January, he did. He always wanted to race at Sebring. In March, he did.Now, he’s preparing for another prized event and track: Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. “To be a part of a race that’s so cool and rich with history, it means a lot,” McLaughlin said. “I’m just ticking them off, one by one. I’ve done Daytona, Sebring and now Petit. Whether it’s outright or in a class, I’ve just always wanted to compete. I’m super pumped to have the opportunity.”The former Australian Supercars star and current IndyCar competitor will rejoin Tower Motorsports next week for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale. The team’s No. 8 ORECA LMP2 07 is fourth in the standings for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class with an outside shot at repeating as the LMP2 season team champion.In March, McLaughlin teamed with John Farano and Kyffin Simpson to propel Tower Motorsports to a class victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. In January, McLaughlin, Farano and Simpson were joined by McLaughlin’s IndyCar teammate, Josef Newgarden, to finish fifth in class in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Next up on McLaughlin’s wish list is the 10-hour race around Michelin Raceway’s 12-turn, 2.54-mile circuit. While McLaughlin, a 30-year-old native of Christchurch, New Zealand, was winning Supercars races at legendary Australia tracks like Bathurst, Sandown and Adelaide, he was fascinated by American road courses and their most prestigious events. Petit Le Mans was among them. When he joined Team Penske’s IndyCar team in 2020 after four seasons with Penske’s Supercars team, McLaughlin realized that occasionally competing in WeatherTech Championship races was possible.“I’ve always known of this race and wanted to be part of it,” he said. “I always thought it would be super cool to be a part of. With me coming to America, I thought, ‘Well, this might actually work out one day.’”After acquainting himself with Michelin Raceway during a test session Thursday, McLaughlin offered a rave review on X, formerly Twitter: “Testing today at Road Atlanta now a top 5 track for me. Awesome place.”McLaughlin’s habit of winning races has carried over to the States. A winner of 56 races and three championships in Supercars transferred well to the IndyCar Series, where he’s won four races in three full seasons.Newgarden, who will join the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class with regular drivers Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr for Petit Le Mans, has been working together with McLaughlin on their Petit adventure despite being in different classes.“I’ve been able to do a lot of work with him getting up to speed and what-not,” McLaughlin said. “Obviously, the cars are very different. As we found out at Daytona and Sebring, it’s all well and good to be really, really quick in those cars, but the main thing is getting through traffic and being able to save everything and looking out for the car. A place like Road Atlanta definitely makes you want to do that – makes you want to look out for everything.”His only regret is not having raced at Michelin Raceway earlier.“I probably would have done it earlier having been here in America now, but I’ve had a couple of pretty busy years,” McLaughlin said. “It’s something that for sure I always wanted to compete in and at least continue to try to get drives in it. It’s an opportunity to keep driving and stay sharp in some way.“An added bonus is that I’m racing tracks and races that I’ve always wanted to race in. It’s super cool to be a part of that. It’s one of the biggest races of the year. I count myself pretty lucky.”Peacock’s live coverage of the 26th annual Motul Petit Le Mans begins Oct. 14 at 11:40 a.m. ET. USA Network joins the coverage at 6:30 p.m. |
