ASIA, HERE WE COME!

Albufeira, Portugal — Algarve Pro Racing announced today that it has recruited 18-year-old American Matt McMurry to contest two of the four rounds in the Asian Le Mans Series in which its regular professional drivers are unavailable due to other commitments.

The up-and-coming youngster will participate in rounds one and three at Zhuhai International Circuit Oct. 28-30 in China and Chang International Circuit Jan. 6-8 in Thailand, respectively. He will be paired with Italian Andrea Roda in the team’s Ligier JS P2 in both races, and gentleman drivers Tacksum Kim at Zhuhai and Michael Munemann at Chang.

“It’s a very nice fit for us. We first met at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2014, where Michael was in the sister car at Greaves Motorsport when Matt tackled the youngest driver record,” said Team Principal Stewart Cox. “We were impressed then by what he was accomplishing at such a young age and have watched his progression since, including the work he did in the Ligier JS P2 with Michael Shank Racing.”

During 2015, McMurry ran in the P class with Michael Shank Racing for the 24 Hours of Daytona and Petit Le Mans, as well as extensive testing with the team at NOLA Motorsports Park, Road Atlanta and Watkins Glen, where he proved to be very quick. During the same year, he finished 3^rd in the IMSA Prototype Lites Championship with multiple poles, track lap records and podiums.

“China and Thailand will be new places for me. They look like great circuits for prototypes and I’m excited to be back in the Ligier again. It’s a fantastic car and our goal is to help Algarve be in a position to take the ALMS championship,” said McMurry. “I can’t thank Stewart and Algarve enough for staying in touch and giving me this opportunity.”

McMurry has spent a good bit of 2016 learning the GT ropes, competing in the GTD class of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup in a Porsche 911 GT3 R with Park Place Motorsports. He sits 6^th in the point standings of the highly competitive class. As well, McMurry has kept his prototype work up with a number of races in the lead car at BAR1 Motorsports in the LMPC class of the WeatherTech IMSA SportsCar Championship.