16 Feb 2012
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Source: americanlemans.com
Performance Tech Motorsports will bring Ricardo Vera on board for next month’s 60th Anniversary Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida. Last year’s Cooper Tires Prototype Lites powered by Mazda Lites 1 champion stands to be a key cog in the team’s attack on America’s greatest sports car race alongside Anthony Nicolosi and Jarrett Boon.
Vera, now 18, began racing karts at age 12 and spent time racing formula cars in Europe and Mexico before competing in Prototype Lites in 2011. He’ll now move up the IMSA prototype ladder to the LMP Challenge class and the ORECA FLM09 prototype.
The addition of Vera to the Performance Tech driver line up is consistent with the team’s past efforts to use drivers from the development series to compete in the ALMS. Nicolosi, one of the team’s LMPC drivers in 2011 & 2012 ALMS races, moved into that seat after winning the last IMSA Lites race of 2010.
“Our mission at Performance Tech Motorsports is to provide an opportunity for drivers to develop in one series and move up as they wish into the professional racing arena,” explained Performance Tech owner / team manager Brent O’Neill. “With five of our customers running Lites cars in 2011, we had plenty of opportunities to see Ricardo Vera display exceptional talent and driver maturity, while he won the LITES championship. We are extremely happy to have him, his family and his fans become part of our LMPC program.”
