The present and future of AJR - Alex Job interview

Alex Job is one of the most respected figures on American endurance racing scene. Since the start of the American Le Mans Series, Alex Job Racing has won the GT title in 2002, 2003 and 2005, as well as class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2003 and 2005) and a GTC championship last season.

Once again, this year Alex Job Racing is fighting for the GTC title with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil. In addition to its Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, the Tavares, Florida based team brings support to the West Racing Ferrari F458 Italia raced by Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell.

Just this year, AJR took class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona with Audi and the 12 Hours of Sebring with Porsche.

As the Tudor United SportsCar Championship takes shape for 2014, Alex Job will be forced to make decisions as the team heads toward a participation in the newly created GTD category.

Before heading to Virginia International Raceway this weekend for the penultimate ALMS round of the season, Alex Job sat down for an interview with Endurance-Info.

From a fan’s perspective, GTC has looked very competitive this year, do you share this opinion? “It’s clear that the GTC class has been the most competitive it has ever been since its inception four years ago. I think it’s to do with the strength of the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Series. The drivers who have come from that series, like Cooper MacNeil or Henrique Cisneros, have made the GTC class even more exciting. The first stint of each race are really fought over, without forgetting that the Pro drivers finish the race.”

You are also managing a Ferrari entry under the banner West Alex Job Racing. How has that gone this year? “The West Ferrari project came to fruition very late in the off season, just before Sebring. Eduardo Espinola, owner of Team West, had a car. Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell, thanks to their contacts, were able to get in touch with Eduardo’s support. The Ferrari package is good but in order to fight at the front in the GT class, we need a more forgiving restrictor package. In addition, Yokohama is an excellent partner but do no have a qualifying or intermediate tire for us to use, which has been a disadvantage at a few races this season. The budget is also an issue. It’s very difficult to rival against two or four cars that receive factory support with money to do testing and development. That’s also the case for teams who have two Pro drivers racing for them full-time.

Petit Le Mans this year will mark the end of the ALMS era. What will you remember most of this ALMS and Grand-Am period? “First of all, I’ll always remember that we were one of the rare teams to have won both in the ALMS and Grand-Am. What’s more we were part of only a handful of teams taking both the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring wins. In ALMS, we won four championships with Porsche. I think that in the long term this merger is good for endurance racing in the USA.”

What are your plans for 2014? “As of now, we are working on a program to enter several cars in the GTD class in USCC.”

What do you think about the DP and P2 cars sharing the same track? “The people establishing the rules and regulations don’t have an easy task. I say bravo for integrating the P2s into the top class of the series. They could have said: ‘you only have four cars in that class in ALMS, bring 10 and we’ll include them in the new championship.’ But they didn’t act like that. They are trying to find the best possible compromise for 2014. I think we’ll need at least a complete season with the cars racing each other to have a more precise idea.”

Will we see Alex Job Racing at Le Mans again one day? “We were involved in two GT programs at Le Mans and of course we’d like to come back. Cooper MacNeil raced there this year, which was a baptism by fire. Le Mans is the biggest endurance race in the world and everyone in this sport has always shown a desire to put that classic event on their schedules…”

Translation by Rainier Ehrhardt, source: Laurent Mercier, Endurance-Info.com