Crowdstrike Racing announced Tuesday (Dec. 13) that they have entered into a partnership with Algarve Pro Racing to field an ORECA 07-Gibson in the four Michelin Endurance Cup as part of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under the branding of Crowdstrike Racing with APR. Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz will be in the car in all four races along with Ben Hanley and Matt McMurry. For Daytona, former Formula 1 racer Esteban Gutierrez will round out the driver lineup.
“This is a big step forward for the growth of CrowdStrike Racing,” Kurtz said in a press release. “I really enjoy long-distance endurance racing and the challenges it presents. These races will test the team and drivers on the same track used by some of the top competitors in the world. The team aspect of endurance racing is important to me – for success to be achieved, everyone must do their job. It’s one way the world of business matches the world of racing. I can’t wait to get started with our new team. ”
Crowdstrike Racing comes to IMSA after running full-time last year in SRO America’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS and GT America Powered by AWS with partnership with Riley Motorsports. Kurtz won the SRO3 championship in GT America on the strength of 10 victories. In Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS, Kurtz and Colin Braun scored an overall victory at Watkins Glen and three Pro-Am class victories en route to fourth in Pro-Am points.
Kurtz’s experience in IMSA is rather limited in scope. For the past two seasons, he has made seven starts for the now-defunct CORE autosport in their LMP3 class Ligier JS P320-Nissan. He has one career class victory in the 2021 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring and four career podium finishes.
Algarve Pro Racing competes full-time in both the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) in the LMP2 class. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the team also had a partnership with G-Drive Racing (G-Drive is a line of premium fuels owned by Gazprom, the Russian oil company). That relationship ended when G-Drive could no longer race under the Russian flag.
In 2022, Algarve Pro Racing fielded two LMP2 cars in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the team’s first start in IMSA. One car failed to finish, but the No. 68 entry shared by Francois Heriau, Ed Jones, Oliver Rasmussen and Rene Rast ended up fifth in class.
Hanley has five career IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship…
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