Rick Ware Racing is venturing into another racing series this season, fielding an Acura NSX GT3 for Ryan Eversley and Aidan Read in the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup, the eight non-endurance races on the SportsCar Championship schedule.
RWR, which fields teams in the NASCAR Cup Series and has partnered with Dale Coyne Racing on an NTT IndyCar Series entry, will make its GTD debut with the Sprint Cup opener April 9 in the Grand Prix of Long Beach, California.
RWR has dabbled in sports car racing, partnering with other teams and running a team with Cody Ware in the Asian Le Mans Series a few years ago.
It also has a working relationship with Eversley, who made his NASCAR Cup debut with RWR last year at Road America (finishing 39th after a mechanical failure).
“Last year we competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona in the LMP2 class, and had a great run, finishing fourth,” team owner Rick Ware said in a release. “Later in the year, an opportunity arose for Ryan Eversley to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut with RWR at Road America. After that weekend, Ryan and I continued to have conversations about running full-time in IMSA for 2022. It’s been a long journey, but I can’t think of a better driver to jumpstart our IMSA program.”
Eversley, 37, is an accomplished sports car veteran and podcast host who has been a factory driver for Honda Performance Development the past eight years and helped with the development of the NSX GT3. Read is a GTD winner (at Watkins Glen International with Turner Motorsport) who also works as an engineer on Ware’s No. 53 Cup team — where the Australian worked with Eversley last year at Road America.
“I’m very happy to be racing in the WeatherTech Series for Rick Ware Racing and Acura,” Eversley said in a release. “Rick, HPD and I have been working on putting something together for a while, so it’s great to show the fans what we’ve built. I’m very excited to represent Acura at their home race coming up in Long Beach, as well as the rest of the Sprint Cup schedule in our Acura NSX.
“Aidan and I got to work together in the NASCAR Cup Series last year, as he was my engineer and I think that gives us a unique place to build from as co-drivers. We’re both very eager to get to the race track and I know the fans are going to love this NSX program.”
Said Read: “It’s going to be an exciting year for me working with RWR; as both an engineer in NASCAR and driver in IMSA. On the sports car side, I am confident that Ryan Eversley and I will be strong competition in the GTD Sprint Championship with the Acura NSX. Rick and the entire RWR team have always been very supportive, and I am thrilled to be part of this new program.”
After Long Beach, the IMSA Sprint Cup schedule will continue at Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio, Detroit, Motorsport Park, Lime Rock, Road America and VIR.
