Photo: Trident
Max Esterson has landed a seat in the IMSA sportscar series’ top GTP class, which is for hypercar prototypes, for Petit Le Mans this weekend.
The 10-hour race ends IMSA’s season, and Esterson will be driving JDC–Miller MotorSports’ Porsche 963 alongside the team’s regular driver Tijmen van der Helm and Neel Jani, a World Endurance and A1GP champion.
Indy Nxt racer Bryce Aron shared the car with van der Helm for the season-opening Daytona 24 Hours along with two other drivers, and Esterson has become available to race at Road Atlanta after ending his Formula 2 season early.
“This will be my first ever endurance race (and first ever race in a car with a roof!) and although I’m jumping in at the deep end with the 700hp plus 50kW of hybrid power Porsche LMDH car, I feel I’m well prepared having had a solid test with the team last month,” said the 23-year-old American in a written statement.
“I last raced at Road Atlanta five years ago in a Formula Ford with 110hp, but fortunately I’ve driven a few other cars since then, and the Porsche LMDH performance isn’t so different from my normal FIA F2 car.”
He added: “I enjoyed my test, and especially the ability to run multiple performance laps in succession – something I’ve not had in F2 or Formula 3 over the last several years as the tyre in LMDH is much more durable.”
Esterson’s single-seater career started with FFord races in the USA, then in Britain he won the Walter Hayes Trophy and FFord Festival and built more experience in winged cars with two seasons in GB3. He took one victory and three other podiums.
After two FIA F3 Championship outings in 2023, he stepped up full-time last year and came 21st in the standings with 11 points. He then joined Trident for the last two F2 rounds, and remained with the team this year. However after being points-free 21 races into the campaign, he and the team parted ways three rounds early.
James Roe Jr, who has been racing in Indy Nxt since 2022, will enter Petit Le Mans in the class for LMP2 prototypes with Pratt Miller Motorsports. He has already done three rounds, with ninth in class his best results.
The 26-year-old Irishman came sixth in Indy Nxt last year with two podiums and a pole, then dropped to 12th this season with seventh place his highest finishing position.
Australian-owned single-seater team Evans GP is also venturing into sportscars, by using Toyota 86 cars to train drivers who are being coached through its ‘Evans GP Academy’ programme. Team boss Joshua Evans co-owns the DW Evans GT team which has achieved success in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, and is now partnering with Andrea Todisco’s AT Performance company to further integrate mileage in GT cars into Evans GP’s coaching of young drivers.