APR Motorsport names Mark Scott lead engineer
Scott – originally from England, now residing in Indianapolis – was almost literally born with gas in his veins when he was born above the gas station owned by his father. Beginning as a mechanic and amateur driver, Scott's motorsports career spans nearly forty years and covers everything from Formula Ford to Formula 1. While a mechanic at McLaren International, Scott was a part of the 1976 World Championship team with driver James Hunt. In 1984, Scott came to the United States for the first time as a Lead mechanic of Mayer Motor Racing's Indianapolis 500 team, before moving to a Chief Mechanic and trackside engineering role for the Buick Indy program.
In North America, Scott is best-known as half of former chassis constructor Riley & Scott. The company's best-known creation, the Riley & Scott Mk. III, dominated prototype racing in IMSA and the USRRC with 48 wins – including three wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona – 38 pole positions, six driver's championships and three constructors' championships. Riley & Scott also designed and developed the Cadillac Northstar LMP as well as chassis for the Trans-Am series. Returning to open-wheels, Scott operated the company's IndyCar program in 1998 and 1999.
More recently, Scott has operated Prototype Development, which creates prototype parts in the auto racing, marine, and aircraft industries. Over the past two seasons, Scott has served as the race strategist and team manager for Genoa Racing in the American Le Mans Series and European Le Mans Series.
"I've always had a passion for sports car racing, and joining APR Motorsport is very exciting for me," said Scott. "The Audi R8 Grand-Am is a very impressive car and I'm glad to have the chance to work with the team and its drivers to develop the car into a winner, especially in such a competitive season of GT-class racing. I have many great memories from the Rolex 24 at Daytona and am looking forward to being back for the 50th anniversary of the race at the end of the month."
Scott's first race weekend with the team will be the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona, which takes place in two weeks on January 28-29 at Daytona International Speedway.
"We are thrilled to welcome Mark to APR Motorsport," said Jeff Mishtawy, Director of Motorsport for APR. "We recognized that Mark will bring a lot of skill to our Rolex Series program with our new Audi R8 Grand-Am. With the amount of success that he has enjoyed in endurance racing, we feel he will immediately make an impact with our program."