PATRICK OTTO MADSEN JOINS ANSA MOTORSPORTS AS CO-OWNER
Since the beginning of 2016, ANSA Motorsports drivers have been seen on the podium of every single race the team has entered on the Pirelli World Challenge national level and on the regional club-racing circuit. In ten years, the team that business entrepreneur and former race-car driver Alain Nadal founded has grown from the local, south-Florida racing level to the top, national sports-car racing level. Not only does Nadal find on-track success with his drivers and cars, but he is able to create interest for his racing business. Today, Nadal announced that he has a new business partner, Patrick Otto Madsen, who recently became a co-owner at ANSA Motorsports.
Madsen is not new to ANSA Motorsports. Nadal and Madsen are cousins, and like Nadal, Madsen is a businessman and a very good race-car driver. He made his racing debut with ANSA Motorsports in 2012. In 2014, he won the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Gold Cup Driver Championship with ANSA Motorsports and became the first Haitian driver to win a professional racing championship. Madsen has been studying the potential of his cousin’s team and, after two years of looking at the team from the outside, decided to get fully involved in ANSA Motorsports.
“The decision to become a partner with Alain Nadal at ANSA Motorsports was simple and is based on three main points,” Madsen said. “First and foremost, we are car guys and have a passion for motorsport. Second, we are family and therefore have instilled trust and confidence in our abilities, based on our accomplishments. Third, we both have the vision not only to be a successful race team, but also to diversify and develop our other business units. We complement our skill sets, and that will propel our race-team operation to reach new heights. We strive to achieve new levels of service that our customers will truly appreciate, while getting the attention they deserve. We do what we love, we have fun, laugh a lot, and develop a family atmosphere with our clients. Things don’t always go as planned, and as partners we don’t always agree, but we strive to minimize times of crisis, by applying more preparation. Lastly, but just as importantly, we are competitors who love to win.”
Madsen has always been an avid fan of racing and high-end automobiles and, since February 2016, is fully involved in ANSA Motorsports’ day-to-day operation.
“My goal is always learning from our mistakes and applying best-preparation techniques to become a more organized team -- having more structure, improved communication, and a clear chain of command,” Madsen explained. “In the past ten years, ANSA Motorsports, with the perseverance of Alain Nadal, has grown from a club-racing team to a national-championship contender. In early 2016, ANSA Motorsports moved into a state-of-the-art facility, where we not only run our motorsports programs, but also offer premium storage for exotic vehicles, street tuning and customization, restoration, and specialty work on classic cars. Having said that, in any business, I really believe that “you cannot control what you don’t measure.” It seems so simple in theory, but it is harder to implement in practice. Like a beating heart, measuring performance at the early stages will allow for big dividends in the long run. There is always room for improvement, and we are all constantly learning, but I can’t give away all of our plans and secrets.”
Patrick Madsen and ANSA and Reiter engineers
Madsen has a strong business background in his native country of Haiti, and today he can finally put his experience and management skills to use at ANSA Motorsports.
“My business background is in beer brewery and plant management in Haiti. One of my biggest accomplishments and memories was modernizing our bottling lines, as a maintenance manager. I became very familiar with the set-up, operation, automation and preventive maintenance of all production lines. Running high-speed bottling lines at high efficiencies, while meeting production goals and deadlines, was very demanding and so rewarding. The faster the lines, the more accurate the set-up needs to be, and I got a real kick out of watching them run perfectly. All the skills needed to run a plant can be applied to ANSA Motorsports today. The racing world is investing tremendous amounts of money in energy efficiency. If you look at WEC (World Endurance Championship) and even Formula 1, manufacturers are striving to be more efficient, while achieving more speed records. Take a look at our KTM X-BOW GT4; it is the very basis of achieving efficient dynamics, and it demonstrates a vision to accomplish more with less,” passionate Madsen continued.
ANSA Motorsports is now a recognized sports-car racing team, and one of its two drivers, Brett Sandberg, currently leads the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GTS Championship, after four races with the new Reiter Engineering KTM X-Bow GT4, which the team was the first to import into North America.
“The Pirelli World Challenge has become an amazing platform for manufacturers to display their capabilities,” Madsen said. “If you look at the diversity of the cars in the GT class, as well as the GTS class, it’s truly remarkable and so competitive. The competitors’ field is extraordinarily talented, which makes it so rewarding to compete and win. Couple that with an excellent TV package with CBS Sports, and the series is really presenting itself in a manner that is second to none.”
To the question, “Are we going to see him behind the wheel of a race car anytime soon?”, his answer is:
“I love to race. When time permits, I compete in karting, shifters to be more precise, and it keeps me in shape and tuned up. When I get inside a bigger car, everything slows down, but lap times don’t. The price point and bang-for-buck are excellent. ANSA Motorsports will soon offer karting as part of its portfolio. Additionally, ANSA Motorsports will be implementing a “young driver recruitment and development program” that is designed to mentor young drivers from Karting backgrounds to the higher categories of formula cars, prototypes as well as GT car programs. There is so much talent out there but finding well rounded drivers with strong communication skills is one of the keys to success.”
“Racing cars to their absolute limit is adrenaline filled fun but similar to the beverage business, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the products you run. Taste testing is part of the job, but as they say, “Drink moderately”. The same applies in motorsports. Managing the team and being behind the wheel of race car become more difficult,” Madsen added.
Madsen and Nadal will be at Barber Motorsports Park next week for rounds 5 and 6 of the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GTS Championship with their two drivers, Dore Alexander Chaponick Jr. and Brett Sandberg.
“We are extremely blessed and feel very proud to support these two “young guns”, both with accomplished backgrounds. Embarking on a new program, with new cars is difficult, but the drivers have both performed beyond expectation in the first few races. We must keep the momentum going, by given them unconditional support with flawless equipment so that they may both perform at the highest level to continue to excel and showcase their abilities” Madsen concluded.
Madsen is not new to ANSA Motorsports. Nadal and Madsen are cousins, and like Nadal, Madsen is a businessman and a very good race-car driver. He made his racing debut with ANSA Motorsports in 2012. In 2014, he won the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Gold Cup Driver Championship with ANSA Motorsports and became the first Haitian driver to win a professional racing championship. Madsen has been studying the potential of his cousin’s team and, after two years of looking at the team from the outside, decided to get fully involved in ANSA Motorsports.
“The decision to become a partner with Alain Nadal at ANSA Motorsports was simple and is based on three main points,” Madsen said. “First and foremost, we are car guys and have a passion for motorsport. Second, we are family and therefore have instilled trust and confidence in our abilities, based on our accomplishments. Third, we both have the vision not only to be a successful race team, but also to diversify and develop our other business units. We complement our skill sets, and that will propel our race-team operation to reach new heights. We strive to achieve new levels of service that our customers will truly appreciate, while getting the attention they deserve. We do what we love, we have fun, laugh a lot, and develop a family atmosphere with our clients. Things don’t always go as planned, and as partners we don’t always agree, but we strive to minimize times of crisis, by applying more preparation. Lastly, but just as importantly, we are competitors who love to win.”
Madsen has always been an avid fan of racing and high-end automobiles and, since February 2016, is fully involved in ANSA Motorsports’ day-to-day operation.
“My goal is always learning from our mistakes and applying best-preparation techniques to become a more organized team -- having more structure, improved communication, and a clear chain of command,” Madsen explained. “In the past ten years, ANSA Motorsports, with the perseverance of Alain Nadal, has grown from a club-racing team to a national-championship contender. In early 2016, ANSA Motorsports moved into a state-of-the-art facility, where we not only run our motorsports programs, but also offer premium storage for exotic vehicles, street tuning and customization, restoration, and specialty work on classic cars. Having said that, in any business, I really believe that “you cannot control what you don’t measure.” It seems so simple in theory, but it is harder to implement in practice. Like a beating heart, measuring performance at the early stages will allow for big dividends in the long run. There is always room for improvement, and we are all constantly learning, but I can’t give away all of our plans and secrets.”
Patrick Madsen and ANSA and Reiter engineers
“Racing cars to their absolute limit is adrenaline filled fun but similar to the beverage business, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the products you run. Taste testing is part of the job, but as they say, “Drink moderately”. The same applies in motorsports. Managing the team and being behind the wheel of race car become more difficult,” Madsen added.
Madsen and Nadal will be at Barber Motorsports Park next week for rounds 5 and 6 of the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GTS Championship with their two drivers, Dore Alexander Chaponick Jr. and Brett Sandberg.
“We are extremely blessed and feel very proud to support these two “young guns”, both with accomplished backgrounds. Embarking on a new program, with new cars is difficult, but the drivers have both performed beyond expectation in the first few races. We must keep the momentum going, by given them unconditional support with flawless equipment so that they may both perform at the highest level to continue to excel and showcase their abilities” Madsen concluded.