Team Insight: DW Evans GT

Sometimes in motorsport, the best ideas come about in unusual circumstances. For the DW Evans GT team, currently competing in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, this was most certainly the case ahead of the 2023 season.

Founded by experienced Super Trofeo driver Dan Wells and engineer Joshua Evans, the team had just one week of preparation time before the opening round of the year at Sepang in Malaysia.

But not only did the makeshift team – which is based in Sepang – make the grid as a single-car Pro-Am entry but with Wells and Oscar Lee, it went on to win the class title with a near-perfect maiden campaign.

Some effort from an organisation that barely even existed before it took to the track for the first time.

“The plan had been to do Super Trofeo Asia in 2023 as normal, and I had a deal done, or near enough done, with an existing team which unfortunately fell through at the last minute,” Wells explains.
“And this was one week before the first race. I already had the support from Lamborghini Osaka and on the back of that, I decided to start my own team because I am not someone who gives up easily.
“I literally had a week to put things together; I had a lot of support from Davide at Top Speed and from Matt Harvey, our engineer. We started last year and were very, very fast in practice, took pole position and won the first race so it was a really good start to life as a new team.
“Josh is a good friend of mine, we go back a long way when I was racing in Asian Formula Renault – and won the title in 2015 – and when I was in the proverbial and without a team, we just said: ‘let’s do it, why not?’.
“He was new to GT racing, and I was quite experienced, but it’s been a really good partnership, and we have a good mix of experienced and youthful people in the team on the engineering and mechanical side.”

Evans, himself team owner of renowned single seater outfit Evans GP, is a key factor in the day-to-day running of DW Evans GT which recently opened its new workshop on the doorstep of the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.

But much like it was in year one of the team, another last-minute change of plans occurred earlier this year, on the eve of the opening round which meant that Wells had to be parachuted into the Pro entry alongside French rookie Emilien Carde, taking a podium in race two.

Wells splits his time between his main base in Hong Kong, where he moved back to after a long spell in the United Kingdom plying his trade in junior single seaters, Malaysia, and Dubai where, since the start of the year, he run the sim business Drivers Lab. On top of that, he’s also a driver manager who notably brought FIA Formula 2 talent Isak Hadjar into the Evans GP structure on the Formula 1 career ladder.

It’s a hectic lifestyle but it’s one that Wells is used to by now.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always had to wear many different hats, whether it’s raising the finance, working with sponsors, I’ve always had to combine a lot of different things in order to get into the car, so it’s not particularly new to me but planning a race week when I also have to drive, is not easy!” he says.
“Getting about four hours of sleep on average all week and then getting into the car to race, that’s a challenge but that’s where I have a lot of good support. Our team coordinator Mila, she started working with us last year and she’s done a super job, and I can rely on her and the other team members so that we’ve created a situation where I am on top of things from a team management perspective.”
Wells is keen to add to the trophy cabinet not only for the team, but also for Hong Kong which he has made home for well over a decade now, and believes that Super Trofeo Asia is the best championship in which to create a long-lasting legacy for DW Evans GT.
“Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia in particular is a superb championship because you have a great organiser in Top Speed, who give us great support and the various Lamborghini dealers like Kobe and Osaka who make it possible for us to go racing and give them a lot of value for money with activations,” Evans explains.
“We’re very grateful for their support, but the fact that you have the different classes, the grid is 20 cars means it is small enough that everyone knows each other but the competition is still there and there is racing respect too.
“The budgets are sensible, and it makes it very attractive for the teams to participate which is great and we’re really happy to be racing in Asia.”