Phil Hanson is set to make his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP class debut in 2024 with JDC Miller MotorSports.
Hanson, who has FIA WEC and ELMS LMP2 championship wins with United Autosports on his CV, has signed with the American team to drive its Porsche 963 in the five Michelin Endurance Cup rounds.
“I’m happy to be a part of the endurance races, and there’s plenty of testing involved,” Hanson told DSC. “The IMSA WeatherTech championship is a place I have wanted to be for a while now, so to be in with such a good opportunity with JDC is fantastic.
“We had a few conversations throughout this year, I was clear that my objective was to get to GTP and it all fell into place.
“They are an underrated team that has had a lot of success in the past. I am excited to see what we can achieve together.”
The 963, Hanson feels, is a strong package which has matured nicely during the 2023 season, winning multiple races in the USA and achieving podiums in the FIA WEC.
“There’s added benefits to the Porsche, it’s the car that is running the most because there are factory cars and customer cars racing around the world,” he continued. “The development process is much faster and it’s already a very competitive package.”
Beyond the IMSA Endurance Cup races Hanson is still working on a second programme for 2024, which he hopes will be a full-season FIA WEC drive in the Hypercar class.
“In the long run I’d love to move to a full-time IMSA seat,” he said. “My ambition is to chase that, but I am also talking to a couple of teams in WEC too.
“If I can have a WEC programme alongside my commitments to JDC that would be ideal. Doing the Endurance Cup means I can commit to the whole season of WEC. This is the best compromise and gives me the chance to do both.
“I am not sure how it will pan out. If that fails, I have enjoyed being in the ELMS, maybe it would be good to keep a foot in that paddock.”
Next season, as part of his new IMSA programme, Hanson will visit Indianapolis and Road Atlanta for the first time. Hanson has four IMSA starts to his name, all with United Autosports in 2018 and 2020, two at the Rolex 24 Hours, and single appearances at the Sebring 12 Hours and Six Hours at The Glen.
“I’m really excited to get to some new tracks, especially Road Atlanta,” he said. “I was watching Petit Le Mans this year and it looks like such a fun place to race.”
“We are very proud of what JDC-Miller MotorSports achieved in their first season of racing the Porsche 963,” Volker Holzmeyer, the President and CEO of Porsche Motorsport North America concluded.
“They were the first to make the commitment to take on the challenge of customer racing in the GTP class. Each week we learned more together, and I see no reason this won’t continue into 2024.
“To attract a driver the calibre of Philip Hanson to the team speaks well of the programme that has been built. I think we will see the true potential of customer race teams against the works programmes in the class. This is like what we saw in the 1980s with the 962 and that speaks well for the future.”
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