Riley Technologies LLC is an American auto racing constructor and team specializing in the design and manufacture of complete race cars, as well as prototype development for racing and manufacturing applications.
In 2001, Bob Riley and son Bill, formerly of Riley & Scott, formed Riley Technologies. The company moved their headquarters to Mooresville, North Carolina in late 2006.
Riley Technologies was the leading constructor of the Daytona Prototype chassis for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. The Riley chassis was dominant in terms of both numbers of cars on the grid and results.
Riley chassis have won seven 24 Hours of Daytona races with different engines, the 2005 race was won by the SunTrust Racing Pontiac-Riley and 2006, 2007, and 2008 victories went to Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus powered Rileys. The 2009 race was won by a Brumos Racing Porsche powered Riley. In the 2010 race, another Porsche-powered Mark XI from Action Express Racing won. The 2011 race was again won by Chip Ganassi Racing, this time with a BMW engine.
When the United SportsCar Championship was created in 2014, Riley continued as Daytona Prototype supplier, with Gen3 rules adopted to make the cars competitive versus the former ALMS LMP2 cars. The company supplied the Ganassi, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings, Shank and Starworks teams. Ganassi became the only full-time team in 2015, and no full-time entry used Riley chassis in 2016.
In 2017, Riley became one of the four LMP2 and DPi chassis manufacturers with the Riley-Multimatic MkXXX. The car was developed in partnership with Multimatic. Multimatic would take charge over the carbon fiber tub, vehicular bodywork and aerodynamic aspects of the car, whilst Riley would design and manufacture the majority of the mechanical components on the Mk30, including the suspension and assembly of the car. [1] [2]
On 15 June 2017, Multimatic revealed that it had taken the lead role in the Riley-Multimatic LMP2 programme, a departure from the initial shared lead, that had Riley leading the commercial aspects of the LMP2 programme, and Multimatic focusing on the DPi aspect of the programme. [3]
Riley developed the Mazda RX-8 chassis for SpeedSource, that won the GT class in the 2008 race. Also unveiled in 2008 was the BMW M6 GT race car, and the GT2-class Chevrolet Corvette Riley built and raced in the 2008 American Le Mans Series. [4] The car also raced at the 2009 Petit Le Mans, where it beat both Corvette Racing factory cars in qualifying.
In 2012, the SRT Viper debuted at the American Le Mans Series GT class, with drivers Dominik Farnbacher, Marc Goossens, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tommy Kendall, Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer. In the 2013 ALMS, the team finished 3rd in the GT class championship. The car made its debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2013, where it finished eighth in class and 24th overall. In 2014, the team entered the IMSA SportsCar Championship GTLM class, winning the teams championship and driver's championship by Kuno Wittmer. Following the end of the 2014 season, Chrysler discontinued the factory program by SRT Motorsports.
The Viper GT3-R was also jointly developed by SRT Motorsports and Riley Technologies. It competed in the IMSA GTD class, the Pirelli World Challenge GT class, and Dutch Supercar Challenge Super GT class.
In 2017, Riley competed in the IMSA GTD class with two customer Mercedes-AMG GT GT3s. The #33 of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen was runner-up in the teams championship, whereas the #50 of Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeannette was 9th. In 2018, Keating and Bleekemolen drove a single Mercedes-AMG GT for Riley, placing third in points. In 2019, the duo finished 7th in the overall championship, and won the Endurance Cup.
Riley had Lawson Aschenbach and Gar Robinson as drivers of their single Mercedes-AMG GT for the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech Championship, resulting 7th in the GTD class overall standings.
A derivative of the Riley Daytona Prototype chassis is also raced in the GT300 class of SuperGT as the Mooncraft Shiden.
In April 2008 Riley Technologies announced plans to build a track day car to meet the growing demand for high-performance vehicles for use at private track facilities. The newest Riley will utilize a mid-engine crate motor with over 500 horsepower (370 kW) and is designed to minimize operating costs normally associated with operating a race car.
Riley Technologies built the Chevrolet Camaro GS.R that competed in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in the early 2010s.
In 2019, Riley entered the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with a Mercedes-AMG GT4 with drivers Jim Cox and Dylan Murry, finishing 6th in points. The duo won the Daytona season opener with Jeroen Bleekemolen as third driver.
Cox and Murry will continue with Riley in 2021, but switching to the LMP3 class of the IMSA WeatherTech Championship.
Colin James Braun is an American racing driver. He is the 2014 and 2015 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype Challenge Champion and currently drives the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 for Meyer Shank Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the No. 04 CrowdStrike Mercedes AMG-GT3 in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Series. Driving the ARX-06, he was part of the winning team of the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona. He formerly competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the Xfinity Series. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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 (IMSA). It is a result of a merger between two existing North American sports car racing series, the American Le Mans Series and Rolex Sports Car Series. At its inception, the name was United SportsCar Championship, which subsequently changed to IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2016. Rolex SA's Tudor brand was the championship's title sponsor in 2014 and 2015, and since 2016 WeatherTech has served as title sponsor.
The 2014 United SportsCar Championship was the inaugural season of the International Motor Sports Association's new series created out of a merger of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series and the first to be held under the name as the United SportsCar Championship. It began with the 24 Hours of Daytona, the first time since the 1997 IMSA GT Championship season that IMSA sanctioned an event at Daytona International Speedway on 25 January and ended on 4 October at Petit Le Mans. It was the 44th overall season of IMSA GT championship racing tracing its lineage to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship.
Benjamin Edward Keating is an American amateur racing driver and business owner operating out of Victoria, Texas. Keating is the owner of 28 car auto dealerships across Texas, The Keating Auto Group. Since starting auto racing in 2006, he has competed in many auto races worldwide, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, Twelve hours of Sebring, and most recently the World Endurance Championship. He is the only American driver to have won multiple World Championships. Keating began racing in 2006 after receiving a weekend track driving course as a Christmas present from his wife.
The 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship was the 47th season of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) GT Championship that traces its lineage to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. It was the fourth season of the United SportsCar Championship and second under the name as the IMSA SportsCar Championship. It began on 28 January with the 24 Hours of Daytona, and ended on 7 October with the Petit Le Mans.
The 2017 BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix was an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned sports car race held on the Long Beach Street Circuit in California, United States, on April 8, 2017 as part of the Long Beach Grand Prix event weekend. The race was the third of twelve scheduled rounds of the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and was held for the Prototype, Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) categories. The race was the shortest of the 2017 WeatherTech Championship calendar.
The 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship was the 48th motor racing championship sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). It was the fifth season of the United SportsCar Championship and third to be held under the name as the IMSA SportsCar Championship. It began on January 27 with the 24 Hours of Daytona, and ended on October 13 with the Petit Le Mans.
The Riley-Multimatic MkXXX, also known as the Riley-Multimatic Mk.30, or simply the Riley Mk.30, is a Le Mans Prototype 2 built to the 2017 FIA/ACO regulations. This car can be raced globally in the European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series, the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the IMSA sanctioned WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. It made its racing debut at the 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona, scoring a podium finish, with Spirit of Daytona Racing.
The 2019 24 Hours of Daytona was an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned endurance sports car race held at the Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, on January 26–27, 2019. It was the 57th running of the race, and the first of 12 races in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the first of four rounds of the 2019 Michelin Endurance Cup. The race was ended ahead of the 22nd Hour, due to heavy rainfall. The race was won overall by Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor, Fernando Alonso, and Kamui Kobayashi in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. The LMP2 class was won by the #18 DragonSpeed Oreca 07, piloted by Pastor Maldonado, Roberto Gonzalez, Sebastián Saavedra and Ryan Cullen. The GTLM class was won by the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE of Connor de Phillippi, Augusto Farfus, Philipp Eng, and Colton Herta. The GTD class was won for a second consecutive year by the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Rik Breukers, and Christian Engelhart.
The 2019 Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, and was the fourth round of the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship was the 50th racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). This was also the seventh United SportsCar Championship season and fifth under the name as the IMSA SportsCar Championship. The series began on January 25 with the 24 Hours of Daytona, and ended on November 14 with the 12 Hours of Sebring.
The 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship was the 51st racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) which traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. This was also the eighth United SportsCar Championship season and sixth under the IMSA SportsCar Championship name. The series began on January 30 with the 24 Hours of Daytona, and ended on November 13 with the Petit Le Mans after 12 races.
The 2021 24 Hours of Daytona was an endurance sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The event was held at Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, on January 30–31, 2021. This event was the 59th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the first of 12 races across multiple classes in the 2021 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as well as the first of four rounds in the 2021 Michelin Endurance Cup.
The 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship was the 52nd racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), which traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. This was also the ninth season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship since the merger between the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014, and the seventh under the sponsorship of WeatherTech. The series began on January 27 for the 24 Hours of Daytona, and ended on October 1 with the Petit Le Mans after 12 races.
The 2021 Petit Le Mans was the 24th running of the Petit Le Mans, and was held on November 13, 2021. It was the 12th and final race in the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the 4th race of the 2021 Michelin Endurance Cup. The race was be held at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. This race was the last ever race for the GTLM Class.
The 2022 12 Hours of Sebring was an endurance sports car race held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida from 16 to 19 March 2022. It was the second round of both the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the Michelin Endurance Cup. JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing entered as the defending overall winners of the 12-hour event.
The 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship is the 53rd racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association, which traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. It is also the tenth season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship since the merger between the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014, and the eighth under the sponsorship of WeatherTech. The 2023 season marks an overhaul season for the championship, with a change in class structure and a new race on the season calendar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The championship began with the 24 Hours of Daytona on January 28 and is scheduled to conclude with the Petit Le Mans on October 14 after 11 races.
The 2023 24 Hours of Daytona was an endurance sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The event was held at Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, on January 28–29, 2023. This event was the 61st running of the 24 Hours of Daytona since its inception in 1962, and the first of 11 races across multiple classes in the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship, as well as the first of four rounds in the 2023 Michelin Endurance Cup. The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura, driven by Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Hélio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, took the overall win, but were later penalized for tire pressure data manipulation, resulting in penalties, fines and probation for those responsible. This was Meyer Shank's second Rolex 24 win in a row, and their third in four events. The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura finished second overall and scored the most points towards the GTP championship.
The 2019 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, on August 25, 2019. The race was the tenth round of the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet won the race overall in the #911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR leading home a 1-2 for Porsche who clinched the GTLM manufactures championship. In GTD, the #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen took their first win of the season.
The 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship is a planned motor racing championship, set to be the 54th racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association, which traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. It will also be the eleventh season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship since the merger between the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014, and the ninth under the sponsorship of WeatherTech. Following a change in class structure for the 2024 season, the IMSA SportsCar Championship is poised to see a major expansion of its full-time grid across all of its classes.