WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Gunnar Jeannette (Salt Lake City, Utah) will be driving the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R at next weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech Championship Continental Tire Road Race Showcase to run at Road America, Aug. 3-6.
The team is taking a reprieve from their Mercedes-AMG GT3 as the IMSA BoP (Balance of Performance) has hampered its performance. The Mercedes has received several BoP adjustments that have the car some 99.2 lbs. heavier (additional 154 lbs. since Daytona 24) than the next closest competitor on the scales. In addition to the weight, which adversely affects handling and speed off of the corner, the car also carries a significant air intake restrictor (34.5mm, 3.5mm smaller than the next closest competitor in the GTD Class) which robs the engine of competitive horsepower.
WeatherTech Racing has a rich history with Porsche and still has their 911 GT3 R that they campaigned the last two years.
“The Mercedes-AMG GT3 is a great car,” MacNeil said. “We were fortunate to win at Long Beach on strategy, but the ebb-and-flow of BoP has the Mercedes at a big disadvantage right now. It is 231.5 lbs. heavier and has a 5.5mm smaller restrictor than the Porsche. So we are blowing the dust off of our 911 GT3 R and running it at Road America. We will see what the rest of the season brings.”
“We have a good relationship with Mercedes-AMG, but unfortunately our competitiveness has declined through the season as IMSA has continually made our car heavier,” Jeannette said. “It’s been very frustrating to have a car capable of race wins at the beginning of the season only to struggle to finish 10th at the last race.
“Since we still have a Porsche 911 GT3 R ready to go we thought what the heck, let’s run it at Road America and see where we stand. Porsche has been very supportive in helping us get everything back up and running for next weekend and it will be a nice homecoming for Cooper and myself to drive a Porsche in IMSA again. We already have one podium this year in a Porsche over at the Tour Auto in France and hope to get a second at WeatherTech’s home race!”
The IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship will travel to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin’s Road America for the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase Aug. 3-6.
