ALTON, Va. — Skip Barber Racing will expand its presence into the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series with an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for the 2024 season.
Anchoring the team’s driver lineup will be a homegrown talent, veteran Skip Barber Racing School instructor and recipient of the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship Ken Fukuda.
“In March of 2023, I applied for IMSA’s Diverse Driver Development Scholarship,” Fukuda explained. “After months of review and workshops with IMSA, I was told that I would be the recipient of their 2024-2025 Scholarship.
“At age 10, seeing a diecast IMSA GT1 car at the mall was what started the racing dream for me,” Fukuda continued.
“Now at age 36, after 26 years of sleepless nights, a myriad of twists and turns, and so many peoples’ help — especially that of Anthony DeMonte, the entire DeMonte Family, and the Skip Barber Racing School — I now get to come full circle and pilot the No. 16 Skip Barber Racing School Aston Martin GT4 in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series.”
Joining Fukuda for the opening round of the season will be a pair of drivers with just as strong of ties to the Skip Barber Racing School as himself — Director of Instructors Carter Fartuch and current Skip Barber Racing driver Will Lambros.
“Everyone at the Skip Barber Racing School is beyond excited and ready to take on this season in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series,” Fartuch said. “With the talented and experienced team at Skip Barber Racing, we have high hopes for our inaugural season in IMSA.
“Ken and I have very lofty expectations when it comes to the product we produce for our Racing Schools and we believe carrying those same expectations to the Skip Barber Race Team will bring us success,” Fartuch added.
Completing the lineup for the four-hour endurance race will be Lambros, who is a graduate of a multitude of Skip Barber Racing School programs.
“I’m thrilled to be racing at the Daytona Int’l Speedway in the new Skip Barber Racing School Aston Martin Vantage GT4, especially with Carter and Ken,” Lambros said. “They have been my biggest mentors throughout my racing career with the Skip Barber Racing School. From when I was 16 in the Skip Barber Race Series, to SRO in the Honda Civic Si FE1, and now into IMSA in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4, they’ve been there for me.”
Skip Barber Racing gathered four wins and 19 podiums across a variety of SRO America series last season, including a podium in the opening round of the uber competitive SRO GT4 America championship.