To Drive Its Acura Courage in the ALMS
Highcroft Racing owner/driver Duncan Daytonmade it official today and announced that Stefan Johansson will join DavidBrabham and him on the driver roster for the team's new Acura Courage entry inthe LMP2 division of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) for 2007.Johansson has been successful in Formula One, champ car and endurancesports car racing. He won the 12 Hours of Sebring twice (1984 and 1997), andhe was also victorious at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1997).The 50-year-old driver from Vaxjo, Sweden who currently lives in ShermanOaks, Calif. has driven for some of the top factory efforts, including Ferrari,McLaren, Porsche, Mercedes, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Audi.Johansson reached the F1 ranks in 1980 and drove in the World Championshipfor 11 years, competing in 103 F1 events. He switched to CART champ cars in1992, running primarily with Bettenhausen Motorsports. He was immediatelyimpressive, winning the series' Rookie of the Year Award that season. He hasthree Indy 500 starts (1993, 1994 and 1995) prior to the IRL's first race in 1996.
He's also been an Indy Lights, CART and an ALMS team owner. Most recentlyhe drove one of the Champion Audis in the ALMS and at Le Mans in 2004; hewas one of Chip Ganassi's drivers in the Grand American Rolex Series in 2005;and last year he was one of the stars of the GP Masters series. A successfulbusinessman and entrepreneur, Johansson designs and markets a line of highqualitywatches and he is also involved in driver management, guiding other starssuch as 2003 IRL champion Scott Dixon.
"I'm very excited to join Highcroft Racing and Acura in their new sports carproject," Johansson said. "I've known Duncan Dayton for several years as agreat racing driver, and when he invited me to come and join his team it was avery easy decision for me.
"The team has already assembled a group of very high-quality people. Some ofthem are old friends, like Danny Sullivan, who adds a tremendous amount ofexperience and expertise to the program," Johansson added."The factory is one of the best I have seen anywhere, and Duncan's attention todetail is a great indication that this is a very serious effort onall levels," he continued.
"It's also a great pleasure to work with Honda again," Johansson said. "I startedmy Formula One career with them, many years ago now, and I have very fondmemories of the experience of working with them. Knowing how they approachtheir racing, there is no doubt that this project will be very successful."I'm proud to have been chosen as one of their drivers, and I look forward to thechallenge of making this a successful relationship," he concluded.
The team's first race with its new Acura Courage will be the Mobil 1 TwelveHours of Sebring in Sebring, Fla., March 17. All three drivers will compete in thatevent. Brabham and Johansson will share the car equally in most of the otherraces, which are typically two-hour-and-45-minute sprints. All three drivers alsoplan to participate in the series' annual winter test at Sebring Jan. 22-24."I'm very pleased to announce that Stefan will be joining Highcroft Racing’s 2007ALMS program," Dayton said. "His experience and talent will undoubtedly bevery helpful in the development of our new Acura LMP2 package, and aseveryone can clearly see, he is bloody quick.”
"Stefan and I have been friends and competitors for over 25 years," saidDanny Sullivan, Highcroft Racing's senior advisor. "He has proven to be verycompetitive in all forms of the sport that he has competed in, but moreimportantly he brings a wealth of experience in prototype sports cars. As a verynew entry in the ALMS, we believe that both Highcroft and the Acura program willbenefit from Stefan's years of experience. We are really excited to have such astrong driver lineup in Duncan, David and Stefan, and are looking forward to achallenging and very competitive season."
