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GRAND-AM
SPORTS CAR: 2012 Driver Of The Year, Ryan Dalziel
Flying Scot earns class wins at Sebring, Le Mans, Petit Le Mans, helps take Starworks and CORE autosport to class championships in dream season...
Ryan Dalziel enjoyed a storybook year with wins at Sebring, Le Mans, Petit Le Mans as well as helping seal team championships in the FIA WEC, GRAND-AM and ALMS. (Photo: John Dagys)
When looking back at the 2012 sports car racing season, there wasn’t much Ryan Dalziel didn’t accomplish.
From class wins at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans to helping take both Starworks Motorsport and CORE autosport to their respective class championships, it was a banner year for the flying Scot, who was arguably not only the most successful, but also busiest driver of the year.
READ: Sports Car Team of the Year, Starworks Motorsport
The 30-year-old former open-wheel ace had season-long drives in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and FIA World Endurance Championship, both for Peter Baron’s Starworks squad, while also entering a partial season of the American Le Mans Series with CORE autosport.
Coupled with one-off drives in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bogota, Dalziel made a total of 29 starts worldwide, remarkably earning podium finishes in 20 of those races, including eight class victories.
Dalziel’s dream season started off in the United Arab Emirates, as part of a two-race enduro “warmup” with fellow Starworks drivers Enzo Potolicchio and Alex Popow, which saw their United Autosports-run Audi R8 LMS score a hard-fought third place finish in the Gulf 12 Hours.
One week later, he took the brand-new Starworks Riley-Ford to a surprise pole for the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona and came within six seconds of becoming a two-time Daytona winner. It ironically turned out to be the only major enduro he didn’t win in 2012.
A stunning LMP2 class victory and third place overall finish at Sebring soon followed, in the first race of Starworks’ new WEC program with Potolicchio’s HPD ARX-03b. Three months later, Dalziel, Potolicchio, Tom Kimber-Smith and team boss Baron celebrated on the top step of the podium at Le Mans following a bullet-proof run in the French endurance classic.
While Dalziel and Starworks were on top of the world in the WEC, with a further class win in the Six Hours of Sao Paulo, which helped propel them to the LMP2 World Championship, both battled tough times in GRAND-AM, which saw their Riley-Ford at an alleged performance deficit to the rival Corvette DPs.
And despite season-long co-driver, and principal backer, Potolicchio, pulling the plug on his DP entry mid-year amid controversial officiating calls at Indianapolis, Dalziel soldiered on to take victory at the following round with Lucas Luhr and keep his Rolex Series title hopes alive.
While ending up a career-high runner-up in the DP championship, he also made a serious impression in the ALMS. Taking part in all of the non-conflicting GRAND-AM rounds, Dalziel teamed with fellow Starworks pilot Popow for three class victories in CORE autosport’s Oreca FLM09, including the season-ending Petit Le Mans, which completed his endurance race trifecta for 2012.
More impressively, Dalziel failed to finish off the podium in his five ALMS starts with CORE. The consistency and impressive runs put in by the former Atlantic star helped take the Jon Bennett-owned squad to back-to-back PC championships, as well as co-driver Popow’s first drivers’ title.
Even with the GRAND-AM, ALMS and WEC seasons having all drawn to a close by November, Dalziel was still out setting the endurance racing world on fire with an overall win in the Six Hours of Bogota in early December, and just one week later, a pole and repeat podium in the Gulf 12 Hours.
There was no stopping Ryan Dalziel, who won in virtually everything he entered in 2012. After years of primarily DP racing, he also proved to be a quick adapter, coming to grips of the more technical PC and LMP2-class prototypes, while also trying his hand back in GT racing to bookend one memorable season.
As a result, this year’s SPEED.com “Sports Car Driver of the Year” wasn’t much of a contest, as there arguably wasn’t any other driver that came close to level of success Dalziel achieved.
With wins at Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans already achieved in his relatively short sports car racing career, Dalziel has risen to become one of the sport’s top drivers of this decade.
And there doesn’t appear to be anything stopping this fast Scot from achieving more of the same in 2013, with a full-season of GRAND-AM with Starworks already confirmed and additional programs in the works.
No doubt, Dalziel has to be one of the most sought-after drivers in the paddock following his dream 2012 season, one that would be tough for anyone to repeat in the years to come.
PHOTOS: Ryan Dalziel 2012 Year In Review
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
From class wins at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans to helping take both Starworks Motorsport and CORE autosport to their respective class championships, it was a banner year for the flying Scot, who was arguably not only the most successful, but also busiest driver of the year.
READ: Sports Car Team of the Year, Starworks Motorsport
The 30-year-old former open-wheel ace had season-long drives in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and FIA World Endurance Championship, both for Peter Baron’s Starworks squad, while also entering a partial season of the American Le Mans Series with CORE autosport.
Coupled with one-off drives in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bogota, Dalziel made a total of 29 starts worldwide, remarkably earning podium finishes in 20 of those races, including eight class victories.
Dalziel’s dream season started off in the United Arab Emirates, as part of a two-race enduro “warmup” with fellow Starworks drivers Enzo Potolicchio and Alex Popow, which saw their United Autosports-run Audi R8 LMS score a hard-fought third place finish in the Gulf 12 Hours.
One week later, he took the brand-new Starworks Riley-Ford to a surprise pole for the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona and came within six seconds of becoming a two-time Daytona winner. It ironically turned out to be the only major enduro he didn’t win in 2012.
A stunning LMP2 class victory and third place overall finish at Sebring soon followed, in the first race of Starworks’ new WEC program with Potolicchio’s HPD ARX-03b. Three months later, Dalziel, Potolicchio, Tom Kimber-Smith and team boss Baron celebrated on the top step of the podium at Le Mans following a bullet-proof run in the French endurance classic.
While Dalziel and Starworks were on top of the world in the WEC, with a further class win in the Six Hours of Sao Paulo, which helped propel them to the LMP2 World Championship, both battled tough times in GRAND-AM, which saw their Riley-Ford at an alleged performance deficit to the rival Corvette DPs.
And despite season-long co-driver, and principal backer, Potolicchio, pulling the plug on his DP entry mid-year amid controversial officiating calls at Indianapolis, Dalziel soldiered on to take victory at the following round with Lucas Luhr and keep his Rolex Series title hopes alive.
While ending up a career-high runner-up in the DP championship, he also made a serious impression in the ALMS. Taking part in all of the non-conflicting GRAND-AM rounds, Dalziel teamed with fellow Starworks pilot Popow for three class victories in CORE autosport’s Oreca FLM09, including the season-ending Petit Le Mans, which completed his endurance race trifecta for 2012.
More impressively, Dalziel failed to finish off the podium in his five ALMS starts with CORE. The consistency and impressive runs put in by the former Atlantic star helped take the Jon Bennett-owned squad to back-to-back PC championships, as well as co-driver Popow’s first drivers’ title.
Even with the GRAND-AM, ALMS and WEC seasons having all drawn to a close by November, Dalziel was still out setting the endurance racing world on fire with an overall win in the Six Hours of Bogota in early December, and just one week later, a pole and repeat podium in the Gulf 12 Hours.
There was no stopping Ryan Dalziel, who won in virtually everything he entered in 2012. After years of primarily DP racing, he also proved to be a quick adapter, coming to grips of the more technical PC and LMP2-class prototypes, while also trying his hand back in GT racing to bookend one memorable season.
As a result, this year’s SPEED.com “Sports Car Driver of the Year” wasn’t much of a contest, as there arguably wasn’t any other driver that came close to level of success Dalziel achieved.
With wins at Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans already achieved in his relatively short sports car racing career, Dalziel has risen to become one of the sport’s top drivers of this decade.
And there doesn’t appear to be anything stopping this fast Scot from achieving more of the same in 2013, with a full-season of GRAND-AM with Starworks already confirmed and additional programs in the works.
No doubt, Dalziel has to be one of the most sought-after drivers in the paddock following his dream 2012 season, one that would be tough for anyone to repeat in the years to come.
PHOTOS: Ryan Dalziel 2012 Year In Review
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
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