Scott Tucker’s Level 5 Motorsports brings on the Best

The world of motorsports is cutthroat competition-flying around a track with dozens of other cars and one misstep can send a car to the pit, or worse, into a devastating, competition-ending and fiery crash. Although on the track it’s every driver for himself, amazing things can happen when talents collide not in a race situation, but in collaborative relationships that provide the foundation for racing teams to take off.

One such collaboration has been the pair of Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut. Their relationship first was that of teacher and student, as Bouchut was one of the most successful endurance racers in the world by the time Tucker, at age 44, took the competition wheel for the first time in 2006. Previously, Tucker had been chairman and CEO of Westfund, a private equity firm, but had always harbored a passion for auto racing. When the opportunity arose for him to drive competitively, Tucker was an unlikely success story, but he performed in a way that can only provoke the label “he’s a natural.” He began in the Ferrari Challenge before sampling the field with Porsche Super Cup, IMSA Lites and Rolex Series GT competitions. Eventually, he created Level 5 Motorsports and in 2008 moved into Grand-Am prototype contests, where Bouchut joined forces with him.

The mixture of Bouchut and Tucker, with the addition of Luis Diaz this season, has provided exceptional results in the ALMS and ILMC up to this time. Several podium finishes and many victories are evidence that not only is Tucker adding powerful, constant skill to his group, but he himself is also advancing. But as competition warms up for the end of the 2011 season with just ILMC and ALMS championships left go, it’s not crazy to question if competitors could warm up within the Level 5 team as Tucker’s skill level carries on improvement.

Before he joined Tucker, Bouchut won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1993 and has also won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Additionally, he has won three Porsche Carrera Cup France championships, three FIA GT titles and a FFSA GT championship. He is the only triple FIA GT champion in history. His lasting career made him the perfect mentor for Tucker, who needed to stuff decades of experience into as few years as possible to get him up to speed, so to say, with other drivers in his class.

The two made four starts with Level 5 Motorsports in the 2008 Rolex series, including the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Before long, Level 5 was a regular attendee of Rolex races, driving a Daytona prototype. Tucker maintained his Ferrari Challenge entries and won 10 races in 2009. That year, he also won the SCCA Touring 1 Class National Championship, his first national title.

After that, Level 5 Motorsports acquired momentum, taking 3rd place in the Rolex 24 in 2010 with Tucker, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Lucas Luhr and Richard Westrbrook driving. Ultimately, they made the shift to the American Le Mans Series, something Tucker had always aspired to participate in. In the new Le Mans Prototype Challenge class, gentleman drivers were permitted to drive 2 cars within the exact same race, with the scoring driver in the top place vehicle. Tucker and Bouchut saw a chance for success within the brand new class.

Tucker was talented, but Bouchut had the speed and control that only one with his experience could bring to the track. With the same goal of winning as many races as they could enter, Bouchut and Tucker fell into a perfect arrangement for Level 5, with Bouchut acting as lead driver and Tucker holding his own while he also completed practice rounds. Level 5 won five class competitions and took the class title in the LMP Challenge category and was bumped up to LMP2.

In the beginning of 2011, Level 5 was joined by Luis Diaz, who had plenty of LMP2 experience and made a terrific addition to the Tucker-Bouchut formula. The team has had an incredibly successful year so far, with the Petit Le Mans and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in China being essentially the only things left on the calendar of a year that included numerous podium finishes and wins at Imola and other major ALMS races.

But as Level 5 Motorsports advances, so does Scott Tucker, and eventually, the powerful couple of Tucker-Bouchut could separate. Tucker told Speed TV in 2010 that he and Bouchut would consult each other on which races they would get into together. He said they prefer championships that don’t pit 2 qualified drivers against one another; they get too competitive in that setting, he explained. Even though any parting would undoubtedly be with good standing on both sides, the continuing success of Tucker begs the question of where he’ll go next, who he’ll take with him, and how the Level 5 Motorsports team will develop from its burgeoning success.

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