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Le Mans / ALMS
LE MANS: Foster, Dempsey Looking Towards The Future
Split from Mazda, new partnership with soccer star Alessandro Del Piero, highlight Dempsey Racing's transformation for 2013 and beyond...
Joe Foster, left, and Patrick Dempsey, right, have a new team partner in Italian soccer star Alessandro Del Piero. (Photo: LAT)
For some, last week’s announcement of the formation of Dempsey/Del Piero Racing came out of left field. But for team co-principal Joe Foster, the addition of soccer hero Alessandro Del Piero as a new team partner serves as the next chapter for the Georgia-based team, which is set to take on a new challenge for 2013.
After a six-year relationship with Mazda, Dempsey and the Japanese manufacturer have gone their separate ways, forcing the team to rethink its objectives, nearly from the ground up, according to Foster, who spoke with SPEED.com during last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.
"It's really coming down to the wire,” he said. “We're working very hard to try to figure out what we're doing exactly. We're trying to also read the tea leaves of the sport, now that the merger is happening. We need to understand how to position the team as good as possible for 2014 and beyond.”
Wholesale changes were made to the team this past month, with Dempsey and Foster joining forces with 2006 World Cup Champion Del Piero, considered one of the top stars in soccer. The 38-year-old Italian, who now plays for Sydney FC, brings a lot to the table, including a passion for motorsports, according to Foster.
"He's really excited about it,” Foster said. “It's a partnership where I was interested in doing it with him from an operational perspective because he's obviously a champion. He's a winner, he's a team builder.
"I think we have to look outside the box a little bit. Racing is so competitive that bringing in an element from the outside can give you an advantage."
The Dempsey-Del Piero connection came through Los Angeles attorney Michael Avenatti, a mutual friend of both, who has also occasionally raced in the American Le Mans Series with a GTC class Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
Avenatti will be one of the team’s full-season drivers in the ALMS and also compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Dempsey and Foster in their yet-to-be-announced entry, which was submitted earlier this month.
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest will confirm its entry selection for Le Mans on Friday, which should help Foster plan out the remainder of the team’s program in the ALMS.
It’s expected, however, that Dempsey’s P2 program will take a back seat in 2013, with a focus more towards the production-based GTE and GTC ranks during the transitional year. Foster expects further announcements to be made later this week.
"We're trying to figure out how to get through 2013 without any super-tight manufacturer ties because you don't know what the next season will look like,” Foster said. “Every team has their assets of what they're best at. What we have is the ability to generate general interest media value with Patrick.
“So we have to be careful how we position that. And if you bring Alessandro in; he has way more Twitter followers than Patrick does. Outside the U.S. in particular, he's really, really big. So we have an opportunity to marry those two from a PR perspective to generate good media value.
“Then you have to be careful how you sell that. So the idea is to get through 2013 without having sold the farm, so to speak, and figure out which manufacturers you want to be hooked up with, but also which have the best capability of activation with Patrick and Alessandro.”
With a two-car ALMS program planned, along with the team’s debut at Le Mans, entry-permitting, and its Mazda connection now in the rear view mirror, it appears that Dempsey and Foster are beginning to lay new roots of their own for the years to come.
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
After a six-year relationship with Mazda, Dempsey and the Japanese manufacturer have gone their separate ways, forcing the team to rethink its objectives, nearly from the ground up, according to Foster, who spoke with SPEED.com during last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.
"It's really coming down to the wire,” he said. “We're working very hard to try to figure out what we're doing exactly. We're trying to also read the tea leaves of the sport, now that the merger is happening. We need to understand how to position the team as good as possible for 2014 and beyond.”
Wholesale changes were made to the team this past month, with Dempsey and Foster joining forces with 2006 World Cup Champion Del Piero, considered one of the top stars in soccer. The 38-year-old Italian, who now plays for Sydney FC, brings a lot to the table, including a passion for motorsports, according to Foster.
"He's really excited about it,” Foster said. “It's a partnership where I was interested in doing it with him from an operational perspective because he's obviously a champion. He's a winner, he's a team builder.
"I think we have to look outside the box a little bit. Racing is so competitive that bringing in an element from the outside can give you an advantage."
The Dempsey-Del Piero connection came through Los Angeles attorney Michael Avenatti, a mutual friend of both, who has also occasionally raced in the American Le Mans Series with a GTC class Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
Avenatti will be one of the team’s full-season drivers in the ALMS and also compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Dempsey and Foster in their yet-to-be-announced entry, which was submitted earlier this month.
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest will confirm its entry selection for Le Mans on Friday, which should help Foster plan out the remainder of the team’s program in the ALMS.
It’s expected, however, that Dempsey’s P2 program will take a back seat in 2013, with a focus more towards the production-based GTE and GTC ranks during the transitional year. Foster expects further announcements to be made later this week.
"We're trying to figure out how to get through 2013 without any super-tight manufacturer ties because you don't know what the next season will look like,” Foster said. “Every team has their assets of what they're best at. What we have is the ability to generate general interest media value with Patrick.
“So we have to be careful how we position that. And if you bring Alessandro in; he has way more Twitter followers than Patrick does. Outside the U.S. in particular, he's really, really big. So we have an opportunity to marry those two from a PR perspective to generate good media value.
“Then you have to be careful how you sell that. So the idea is to get through 2013 without having sold the farm, so to speak, and figure out which manufacturers you want to be hooked up with, but also which have the best capability of activation with Patrick and Alessandro.”
With a two-car ALMS program planned, along with the team’s debut at Le Mans, entry-permitting, and its Mazda connection now in the rear view mirror, it appears that Dempsey and Foster are beginning to lay new roots of their own for the years to come.
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
Monterey
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