Champion Motorsports fielded two cars in January’s 2022 VSCA SportsCar Championship Series season-opener - the No. 79 Dallara P217 P2 prototype driven by Thomas Fisher, Adrian Fernandez, Cameron Barker, Kris Hudson and John-Taylor Tami, plus the No. 78 BMW M4 GT3 driven by Brett Stephens, David Anderson, Marc Johnson, Julie Redmon and James Sauceman.

Although both cars performed admirably throughout the race, fighting up through the field from their 18th and 31st starting positions respectively to eventually even lead several laps in the race, it was the GT3 car that suffered a brutal crash Sunday morning, with less than seven hours remaining in the race.

The crash, which was the most spectacular one of the event, took the No. 78 BMW team out of contention, as the car was heavily damaged. Miraculously, the team was able to return to the race later, after a lengthy repair stop, but by then had already dropped to the back of the field.

Champion Motorsport’s P2 prototype meanwhile continued to show quick pace throughout the race and spent most of the race inside the top ten, challenging for a spot on the podium until a small contact right at the end.

Running in fourth position just 30 minutes from the checkered flag, Adrian Fernandez was caught by off guard by the No. 27 BMW of Twenty7 Motorsport holding the inside line going into turn six and the two cars made contact.

While Fernandez was able to avoid damage on the No. 79 machine, Pedro Lanca Gomes in the Twenty7 Motorsport BMW wasn’t as lucky as he hit the tire barriers hard.

Race control issued a one-lap post-race penalty against Champion Motorsports’ No. 79 P2 Prototype, ultimately dropping them to a fifth-place finish, ending any hopes of a podium finish.

No. 79 Champion Motorsports P2 Prototype at Daytona had a strong run, until a crash 30 minutes before the end and ensuing post-race penalty prevented a podium finish.

After a month and a half have passed, the team still takes pride in displaying strong pace at Daytona and is now looking to improve on both car’s finishing positions when in the upcoming second championship round at Sebring.

Speaking with the No. 79 P2 prototype driver Thomas Fisher, he stated that the teams goal was to “be consistent throughout the series, keep [their] noses clean and just get to the end.”
“Sebring is a real car and mind breaker. I mean, honestly all but three or four corners are medium to highspeed corners here. If you’re going side-by-side through there, you’re just asking to have an incident at worst, or it will cost you two or more seconds at best”.

Champion Motorsports team owner David Anderson spoke of his confidence in his teams going into Sebring:

“I have full confidence in the team. Overall, I think we feel optimistic, after getting that top-five in the P2 class with our prototype at Daytona. And our BMW GT3 ran strong, too for what it’s worth.”, explained Anderson.

Anderson’s confidence probably is also founded on all his organization’s drivers putting in a lot of effort towards their preparation for Sebring.

The P2 Prototype team took the time to visit Sebring right after Daytona, on a detour on their way back to the team factory in Oregon. Due to logistical issues stemming from being a west coast team, the P2 Prototype team of Champion Motorsports was not able to attend the official VSCA SportsCar Championship test sessions at the beginning of this week, though the team did send its BMW GT3 team to attend.

In the remaining days before the 12 Hours of Sebring, the team will also spend a lot of time in the simulator before arriving back at the track in time for first free practice on March 19th.

“Oh yeah, the guys are extremely confident about their ability to perform and fight for the top step of the podium at Sebring.”, Anderson answered the question what his team driver’s confidence level was.

“All that is left is to put their feet through the floor and, as Zak Brown would say, ‘Mess some stuff up’ (laughing).”