In 2016, Woodbridge-based AIM Autosport made the switch from IMSA endurance racing with a Ferrari to the Pirelli World Challenge, sprint racing and a pair of Nissan GTR's.

RaceCanada caught up with AIM Autosport team principal Ian Willis to talk about this past season as well as their recent trip to Europe to help run the Nissan GT-R's in a number of Blancpain Series races.

Blancplain Series

You've just come back from running a couple of races in the Blancpain Series, how does that compare to PWC?

Ian Willis: The main differences between series is that Blancpain uses a multiple driver format per car and they have both 1 hour sprint races and endurance races ranging from 3 hours to the SPA 24hr. Both are very competitive series with high quality teams and drivers.

Are there things Blacnpain is doing that PWC isn't that you would like to see done, and conversely is anything PWC does that Blancpain doesn't, but you think should?

Ian Willis: The timing and scoring system in Blancpain is superior to PWC, we got segment times and trap speeds not only for our car but all cars. In PWC we just get lap times at start finish for each car and no trap speed information. The SRO organization of events and communications with teams was very high level, something that PWC is working to improve.

Track time and event scheduling in Blancpain was better however with a lot of PWC events we are part of an Indycar event which are quite packed so track time and scheduling is compromised. The compromise is well worth it as we get so many more spectators at the Indycar weekends. The Blancpain races we ran, Nurburgring 3hr, Misano and Zandvoort sprint races were poorly attended. It will be interesting to see how the PWC Sprint X races are this year as they take a page out of the Blancpain sprint race format with a pit stop for driver change. PWC officials were at Misano and in discussions we had with them they are looking to address the problems Blancpain is having with cost escalation around the pit stops, so I think Sprint X format will have potential for future growth.

You guys have been around for a long time and raced just about every kind of car at just about every track in North America, how different was it to show up to a track you've had no experience at, no reference book to begin with?

Ian Willis: What are you saying, that makes us sound old! Seriously though, that aspect of running the Blancpain races was the most exciting from my point of view. The one thing about racing in North America is that we have so many different types of track, from old school to modern permanent road courses to bumpy street courses. I think this helps us as we are more adventurous when it comes to trying different setups. When we took over the program from MRS we started with a baseline setup and then applied some of what we learned this year to address the handing problems the drivers were experiencing. We were also challenged by poor weather in practice at both Nurburgring and Misano so making the right calls was critical to making the performance gains we achieved. To lead the first third of the race at Nurburgring and have the fastest race lap in both races at Misano was validation of our experience. Zandvoort was more of a challenge for pace but highlighted a problem we have experienced this year on circuits with bumpy braking zones. Something that we will be able to address over the winter with JRM and Nissan.

Pirelli World Challenge Series

As a whole, how successful would you rate this season?

Ian Willis: I am very proud of what our team has accomplished this year, it was a huge success. We took a program from the signed contract stage on February 15th at which point we had no cars, no setup equipment, no spares, nothing; to be on track at CotA March 5th and be a front running team by the 4th event at Barber on April 25th! James was challenging for top three in the championship and Bryan moved from GTA to GT by virtue of his performance from mid-season he was running consistently in the top 5 overall and scored two podiums before the end of year.

What was your biggest, positive surprise this season?

Ian Willis: Two things really: 1) How quick Bryan Heitkotter is and 2) How we were able to figure out the car and be competitive in such a short period of time.

What was your biggest disappointment this season?

Ian Willis: Barber Race 1 when the series took our points away, losing those points cost us a real shot at James winning the Championship.

Looking back, were there any adjustments you made after changing from IMSA and endurance racing to PWC and sprint racing?

Ian Willis: The main adjustment was during the races themselves. In sprint racing there is nothing you can do but watch as without pit stops the crew and engineers don't feel they can help affect the result through strategy or a quick stop.

Did the Nissan's suffer from any Balance of Power issues this year?

Ian Willis: Yes, once we started to consistently run with both cars at the front they started to adjust our balance of performance. Our success coincided with tracks that suit the Nissan platform (long straights and medium to high speed corners) and when we went to the final two tracks that don't suit us as well they had already pulled us back. I do think the series has some workto do in this area looking at the season as a whole rather than race to race. A further point to your second question, Blancpain uses three different BoP's based on different styles of track, something that PWC should consider for future.

After spending a season in the PWC, how would you assess it as a Series moving forward, especially after the change at the top?

Ian Willis: My report card for them would be a C- at the start of the year improving to C+ by end of year. They have more work to do but they are making changes and communicating more with teams, I am positive about the future.

With IMSA switching over to GT3 regulations for the GTD class in 2016, how difficult would it be to run races in both series next season, from a technical and logistics standpoint, budget permitting?

Ian Willis: Budget is the key to answer that question properly. Technically it will be very easy to switch between series, logistically there are challenges even without direct event conflicts. For example IMSA Sebring 12 hour is back to back after the PWC back to back events at CotA and St Pete. Realistically if you are running to win in both Championships you need to have dedicated cars for each series. The IMSA NAEC events alone are 12,000km of car mileage which is one major rebuild cycle, whereas a full PWC season is less than half that mileage. The main differences therefore, between series, is car operating cost per km, extra pit crew and equipment and there is not a capital cost savings because of the requirement for dedicated cars.

As of today, does AIM have anything firm for 2016?

Ian Willis: Our deal with AE/Nissan was a two year program in PWC and we are in the process of taking up the second year option. Plans are to campaign two cars in PWC, possibly a third for a combined GTA and Sprint X program. The two cars we ran this year are up for sale but we may update one or both to 2016 specification if we do not find a buyer and the plan is to purchase a new car if we expand to a three car program. Even though we were able to put everything in place so quickly this year, we certainly do not want to go through that again! We have been discussing an IMSA NEAC program with potential clients but to be competitive and ready for Daytona we would need a dedicated car and commitments in place no later than end of November.