Daytona Beach, Florida (Saturday, January 18, 2025) – Forte Racing is fielding two Ligier JS P320 cars in the P3 category for this weekend’s ROAR Before the 24. Brian Thienes is back on track behind the wheel of the No. 77 Forte Racing Thienes Engineering Ligier LMP3 for the season opener. He is joined by Jon Hirshberg who is making his first start at Daytona International Speedway this weekend behind the wheel of the No. 86 Forte Racing JR286 Motorsports Ligier LMP3.
Thienes, who has been successful in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge finishing 3rd in the points his first two seasons racing in this series, had an excellent qualifying session this morning, topping the Bronze class and qualifying 4th overall. Thienes has experience in several different disciplines having driven for Shane Seneviratne’s teams in multiple series including the Atlantic Championship Series, Lamborghini Super Trofeo before moving to the VPRC series where he is competitive at every event.
“I am looking forward to being back in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge with Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics,” Thienes said. “We are hoping to continue the momentum from last year winning the bronze championship and third in the overall championship in the prototype class. I am grateful to be a part of a very successful team that always provides a very competitive race car. I am looking forward to working with the team again this year, especially our engineer Pete Jacobs who is a rockstar race car engineer. I am confident that with Forte Racing I will have another successful year.”
On his qualifying efforts, Thienes said, “Although our fourth place qualifying was not at the pace we had expected, I’m more than happy with it. Starting fourth place, we expect to have a good race. Hopefully we can more the car up through the field and get on the podium.”
Having joined Forte Racing’s VPRC program at the end of 2024 for the VIR and Road Atlanta events, Hirshberg is relatively new to the series and is competing at Daytona International Speedway for the first time. Hirshberg has been consistently competitive while competing with Forte Racing in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series. He is excited to be joining the team for his first ROAR Before the 24 and is looking forward to the challenges he’s facing this weekend.
“I am very excited to be joining Forte for another season in VP Challenge,” Hirshberg said. “I am really enjoying learning the LMP3 platform as well as learning multi-class racing and traffic management. Yesterday was my first day at Daytona as well, so getting comfortable on the high banking here has been a challenge. I am happy to be able to also represent JR286 Motorsports with Dakine, Nike, and Vertra.”
Hirshberg was disappointed with qualifying but is looking forward to his first race at the iconic speedway. “It’s super fun here at Daytona,” he said. “It’s an amazing track. The guys are doing a great job getting the car ready and making sure it’s all set for the start of the race. Super fun multi-class racing. We’ll see how this first race goes.”
Forte Racing VPRC Program Manager David Cozart’s thoughts on this morning’s qualifying session. “We arrived to a wet track this morning,” Cozart said. “The GT cars dried it out some, but it was still damp in the bus stop and unfortunately Hirshberg had a slight incident. The car is easily repairable and we expect him to be competitive in this afternoon’s race.”
“We’re extremely happy with Brian’s qualifying result,” Cozart added. “He’s been very consistent in the Ligier P3 car and we expect him to have another good showing today.”
You can watch the action LIVE on Peacock, IMSA.TV and YouTube starting at 1:55 p.m. ET.
*Photos by Brayan Castiblanco
About Forte Racing (Formerly known as US RaceTronics)
Forte Racing is a Los Angeles and Charlotte based Motorsport team, supported by Lamborghini Squadra Corse, competing in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar GTD Championship, the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar Challenge and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series.
While the Forte Racing brand was created in 2023, the team is operated by Shane Seneviratne’s US RaceTronics which was founded in 2005 to compete in the formula car Atlantic Championship. The team finished 5th in points its first year and ultimately amassed a total of 21 podiums, 7 poles, 5 race wins and finishing 3rd in the 2009 Atlantic Championship before the Series was put on hiatus.
Seneviratne fully returned to racing in 2015 managing entries in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North American (LBSTNA) Series. The team won the Team Championship, Dealership Championship, Pro Championship and Amateur Championship that season. That success reignited Seneviratne’s passion for racing and he relaunched US RaceTronics to compete in the 2016 LBSTNA Series. The team has won multiple North American and World Championships since switching to IMSA racing.
In 2023 the team expanded to include an IMSA WeatherTech GTD entry with their Lamborghini Huracan EVO2 GT3, driven by Misha Goikhberg and Loris Spinelli. The team finished the 2023 and 2024 seasons with four top five finishes in each season and included a 2nd-place finish at Indianapolis and VIR, along with a win at the 2023 season-finale Petit Le Mans and a 2nd-place finish at Petit Le Mans in 2024. The team finished fifth in the IMSA WeatherTech GTD Championship in its first two seasons, further solidifying their reputation as a rising force in the GTD Championship.
For more information on how to become a driver with US RaceTronics, learn more about the Series, or attend a race, visit www.forteracing.com.
About Change Racing
Founded by Lamborghini Charlotte CEO and long time real estate developer, John E. Littlefield, Change Racing is the premier championship winning team. Claiming 18 titles in various classes; Change Racing has competed in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series since its inception in 2013.
Most recently claiming the 2021 Amateur World Championship in Misano, Italy. Change Racing also claimed all SIX 2020 North American Championships, including the Pro, Pro-Am, Am and LB Cup class championships as well as the Team and Owner championships.
About O’Gara Motorsport
O’Gara Motorsport was founded in 2014 by owner Tom O’Gara and celebrated winning the 2015 North American Lamborghini Super Trofeo driver and team Championships. The team goal is to achieve victories in the Series as well as showcasing the brands of their sponsors both on and off the track. With a vertically integrated platform that starts at the dealership and accelerates to the top levels of professional sports car racing, everyone at O’Gara is dedicated to providing a comprehensive program for anyone, from the casually curious to the dedicated racer.
