Vasser Sullivan is an American

motorsports Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the po ...

racing team. It was founded in 2010 by James “Sulli” Sullivan as SH Racing to compete in

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...

. In 2011, the team partnered with

KV Racing Technology KV Racing Technology was an auto racing team that last competed in the IndyCar Series. The team was originally formed as PK Racing before the 2003 season by Australian businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and former Formula One team manager Craig Pollo ...

to form KVSH Racing. Following a two-year hiatus after the demise of KV Racing Technology, Sullivan and former KV co-owner

Jimmy Vasser James "Jimmy" Vasser Jr. (born November 20, 1965) is an American former racing driver who competed primarily in the Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART series and Champ Car World Series, Champ Car. Vasser won ten CART series races and won the ...

announced that they had formed Vasser Sullivan. The organization has competed in racing series including: the Red Bull

Global Rallycross Global Rallycross (known as Red Bull Global Rallycross for sponsorship reasons) was a rallycross series operated by businessmen Colin Dyne in conjunction with Sponsor RedBull. The series ran for seven seasons, primarily in North America, from 201 ...

Series under the SH Rallycross/DRR banner, the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

where it has competed as co-entrants with KV as well as with

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series and Indy NXT. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known ...

, and the

IMSA SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (I ...

where it formerly partnered with Aim Autosport as Aim Vasser Sullivan before later competing independently.

James Sullivan

Sullivan founded SH Racing after graduation from

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

in 2003 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in entrepreneurship. In addition to racing, Sullivan co-founded sports nutrition supplement firm Protein Bullet and the Dallas-based private equity fund Modena Capital Group.

SH Rallycross

SH Racing competes in Global Rallycross. With Scott Speed behind the wheel it competed in the 2013 X GAMES Los Angeles in a partnership with

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is an American automotive racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and Nitrocross. The team is owned by Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis BMW, Infiniti, Volkswagen, Mini (marque), MINI, and Subaru dealer D ...

. SH Rallycross/DRR was launched as SH Rallycross in 2014 to compete in the Red Bull Global Rallycross Series. The team captured the bronze medal, earning its first podium finish, in its third event at the 2014 X GAMES, in Austin, Texas. SH Rallycross/DRR is led by Sullivan, Dennis Reinbold and Jimmy Vasser. In 2016 it fielded a Ford Fiesta ST. SH Rallycross/DRR has made 33 RBGRC starts, earning 17 heat race wins, eight finals podiums and one finals victory. The team finished fourth in the championship standings in 2014 and 2015. It had its best season in 2015 with four podium performances in the finals, including a win in Washington, DC. It was the only Red Bull Global Rallycross SuperCar team to make it to each main (final) event.

KVSH Racing

KVSH Racing is co-owned by venture capitalist Kevin Kalkhoven 1996, Indy car champion

and Sullivan. The group was formed in 2011, finishing eighth in the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

. The team won the Indianapolis 500 in 2013 with driver

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed "TK", is a Brazilian racing driver who is the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He is best known for racing in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) from 1998 to 2002, an ...

and fielded an entry in the IndyCar Series for four-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais. Bourdias is the only

Indy car IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis 5 ...

driver to win four consecutive championships, from 2004 to 2007. Bourdais finished 10th in the championship standings in 2014 and 2015. He was placed 14th in 2016 on the strength of 11 top-10 finishes in 16 races, including a victory at Detroit Race 1.

Sports Car Racing

Vasser Sullivan Racing announced a partnership with AIM Autosport and

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

in October 2018 to form the AIM Vasser Sullivan team which debuted in

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

competition at the 2019 Rolex 24. The combined effort recorded their first win in the third race of the 2019 season with

Jack Hawksworth Jack W. Hawksworth (born 28 February 1991) is a British professional racing driver from Bradford, West Yorkshire. , he competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for AIM Vasser Sullivan. He has also raced in the Star Mazda Championsh ...

and Richard Heistand finishing at the front of the GTD class at Mid-Ohio. The partnership resulted in numerous podiums and wins over the 3 seasons that it existed but in late 2020, Vasser Sullivan announced that it was splitting from AIM Autosport in order to establish a new team base in North Carolina. The team was rebranded back to just Vasser Sullivan Racing for the start of the 2021 season and has been operated out of their

Charlotte, NC Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

base since that time. Team manager Greg Cates, who has a history with multiple sports car teams ranging from

Joest Racing Joest Racing is a German sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany. Between 1998 and 2016, Joest Racing were strongly linked with ...

3GT Racing 3GT Racing is an American racing team formed by Paul, Tony and John Gentilozzi. 3GT competed at the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship with two Lexus RC F GT3 under the brand 3GT Racing, with Scott Pruett and Sage Karam as two of the drivers. Team ...

was hired in 2020 and the rest of the crew was built out with engineers, mechanics, and other technical personnel hired from experienced

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

, and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

teams.

Geoff Fickling was appointed as the race engineer for the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 bringing experience from sports car and open wheel cars while Chris Andrews was appointed as the race engineer for the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 with experience ranging from sports cars to NASCAR. Former Porsche mechanic and pit coach Travis Morgan was brought in as the car chief for the No. 14 while NASCAR veteran Jesse Goldin was appointed to be the car chief on the No. 12. Vasser Sullivan saw further expansion ahead of the 2022 season as Lexus Racing signed

Ben Barnicoat Ben George Barnicoat (born 20 December 1996) is a British racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Vasser Sullivan and in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Akkodis ASP; he serves as a factory driver for Lexus. ...

who joined

in the No. 14

RC F GT3 that competes in the GTD Pro class of the

WeatherTech Sportscar championship. Barnicoat joined the team at the behest of Hawksworth who was the person to reach out to him to bring him into the fold. With Barnicoat being added to the No. 14

Aaron Telitz Aaron Telitz (born December 13, 1991) is an American auto racing, race car driver. He currently competes full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving for Jimmy Vasser, AIM Vasser Sullivan. Career Born in Birchwood, Wisconsin, Tel ...

was moved to the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 alongside

Frankie Montecalvo Frank Montecalvo (born December 28, 1990) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Early life A native of Highlands, New Jersey, Montecalvo attended high school at St. John Vianney High Scho ...

. Richard Heistand and

Townsend Bell Townsend Lorenz Bell (born April 19, 1975) is an American professional motor racing driver competing in the International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and also as a motorsports commentator for FOX Sports’ I ...

would return to join the No. 12 Lexus at the

Rolex 24 at Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layout, ...

while

Kyle Kirkwood Kyle MacLean Kirkwood (born October 19, 1998) is an American auto racing driver. He competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 27 Dallara-Honda for Andretti Global. He is a two-time victor of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, winning in 2023 and ...

joined the No. 14 squad in the same race and for the remaining endurance races that season. Hawksworth and Barnicoat even took up an apartment together in Huntersville, NC which is near the Vasser Sullivan shop and the Lexus Racing facilities. Vasser Sullivan Racing won the IMSA GTD Pro championship with the No. 14

RC F GT3 for the 2023 season and retained

and

as full season drivers for the 2024 season. Vasser Sullivan Racing also placed third in the IMSA GTD championship but elected to swap in

Parker Thompson Parker Thompson (born 2 March 1998) is a Canadian race car driver from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. Career Early career Thompson began racing at the age of eight, competing in the Calgary Kart Racing Club a short distance from his family resi ...

into a full-season role alongside

for the 2024 season.

will return in an endurance driver role.

Results

Complete IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results - No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results - No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3

( key)(Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results - No. 17 Lexus RC F GT3

( key)(Races in bold indicate pole position) ^† Points only counted towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup and not the overall GTD Championship. ^* Season still in progress.

Complete IndyCar Series results

( key)

References

External links

KV Racing Technology
{{IMSA GTD teams Auto racing teams established in 2010 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams American auto racing teams IndyCar Series teams