8000Inc Racing Commences Climb on the Motor Sport Ladder
Following their successful involvement in the CARIFTA games with the AAAB team (Barbados), 8000Inc through its new subsidiary 8000Inc Racing, is excited to announce that it will be backing international racecar driver Brent Gilkes in the highly competitive F2000 Championship Series.
This is their initial stepping stone into the Formula One circuit. The international race series, which runs at tracks throughout the United States and Canada, supports Indy Cars at the world famous Watkins Glen circuit in New York. It also boasts the highest entry numbers of any open wheel series in North America.
The drivers, who come from as far as Australia and Brazil to compete, are a mixture of young drivers striving to start a career within the top echelons of the sport and veterans who have excelled at the national level and want to race in a seriously challenging professional level series.
8000Inc Racing’s main goal upon establishment has them eventually expanding into Formula Mazda or British Formula 3. The plan is already in place by formulating a team in 2010 for F200, and they hope by 2011 or 2012 to break into either the Mazda or British Series. This ultimately lets them to target a higher rank of open wheel racing in Formula One, either as a team or as a main sponsor.
Thomas Kelly, CEO of 8000Inc, said: “Obviously I am thrilled that Lap 2 Racing, which has been one of the smaller teams in the series, approached 8000Inc. The opportunities discussed will open up a new marketing and publicity avenue for the group and will allow 8000Inc to realize its targets of a presence at the highest levels in Motor Sport, complementing its positions in both Athletics and Cricket.
“I am confident that our support will help significantly. This support will allow us to upgrade the aerodynamic package, use new tires each weekend and have an engineer from Vallis Motorsport at most races working on the car. At VIR I think we showed great potential, running as high as second in Race One of the Masters Class before tangling up with another car two laps from the end while fighting for third place. Now we have to build from that and look forward to the debut of the new car in its completely new livery at Mosport.”
Kelly outlined 8000Inc Racing’s current plan that includes having two professional drivers in a series above F2000 by 2011. They hope to continue racing in a similar capacity today as they have been and to target the young drivers in 8000Inc Racing program. Kelly stated: “It would be tremendous if one of those drivers could come from Barbados and 8000Inc Racing is already looking further into the future with their support of two young local karters.”