Strakka confirm World Endurance Championship entry with HPD

Strakka Racing has announced plans to contest the FIA World Endurance Championship next season with an all-new Honda Performance Development LMP1 prototype.

The independent British squad stepped down from sportscar racing’s premier class at the end of 2009 to successfully run HPD’s LMP2 chassis at the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the LMS. That partnership continues into 2012 with the new ARX-03a, a chassis again designed by Wirth Research.

Current drivers Danny Watts, Jonny Kane and Nick Leventis have been retained for the new seven-race world championship which includes Le Mans as a points scoring round. Testing will begin later this year in the USA, before the car is transported to its new home at Silverstone.

Team Principal and Technical Director Piers Phillips revealed that the close partnership formed between Strakka and HPD over the past two seasons had made the decision to graduate an easy one.

“I’m extremely thrilled and excited to be in the position to announce Strakka Racing’s plans for 2012 in the FIA World Endurance Championship so early ahead of the official programme announcement and before the end of the current season,” said Phillips.

“It’s a fantastic position to be in and it reflects not only the strong relationship that exists between Strakka, HPD and Wirth Research, but also all the hard work that’s gone into the previous two and a half years. Any successful programme is a journey and our first two years were always going to be a learning curve and the plan was always to spend them in P2.

“The timing of this new opportunity to move into P1 has been impeccable, with the availability of the HPD-ARX 03a, the ACO and FIA’s creation of a brand new world championship and the position that Strakka is in in terms of its growth and development. It’s now ready to step up for the next challenge. We’re delighted to be able to run a car that’s undoubtedly going to be competitive from the word go due to the technical support of HPD, Wirth Research and Michelin, and we’re looking forward to relishing every challenge that next year throws up.”

HPD’s past record in LMP1 is encouraging with the firm’s existing ARX-01e petrol-powered prototype finishing second overall at this year’s 12 Hours of Sebring despite the wealth of diesel entries. Its pre-cursor, the ARX-02a, won the American Le Mans Series crown outright in 2009. 

Catch ALMS and LMS coverage on Motors TV in 2011.


Tom Hornsby