Core autosport has finalized its driver lineup for the American Le Mans Series LMPC–championship winning 06 Oreca FLM09: Venezuelan champion Alex Popow will team up with Grand Am driver Burt Frisselle and IndyCar’s E.J. Viso for the season-opening Sebring 12 Hours.
Popow will drive for Core through the full ALMS season; his co-driver for the rest of the year has yet to be determined.
The 36-year-old Popow, winner of multiple Venezuelan championships and currently a driver for Grand Am’s Starworks Daytona Prototype team, Popow brings 12 years of experience gained in prototypes, GT and formula cars as well as three seasons of off-road racing.
Popow was part of the team which finished second in the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona, and had driven 12-hour and 24-hour GT races in Abu Dhabi and Dubai this year; 12 hours at Sebring are well within his capacity.
“I originally was planning to do the WEC season, but plans changed and I wanted to run in ALMS instead,” Popow said on the Core website. “I was looking for the best team, so I contacted some of the people I know best to ask their opinion—Peter Baron, Starworks team owner and Ryan Dalziel, who is a good friend of mine. Peter is good friends with Jon Bennett [Core autosport team owner] and Morgan Brady [Core autosport team manager] and of course Ryan drove for the team in 2011. They told me that CORE had a car available, a winning car that could fight for the championship with the right co-driver.
“I’ve never driven an LMPC car and I’ve never driven at Sebring. It’s going to be a challenge, but I have driven all types of cars all over the world—in 2012 I have already done two 24 hour events and one 12 hour – so I think it shouldn’t be a problem.
