McLaren is moving up.
After competing in the IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class the past two seasons with its GT4 model, the British high-performance sports car and supercar manufacturer today confirmed plans to bring the McLaren 720S GT3 into the seven-race WeatherTech Sprint Cup series.
The seven-race series for GT Daytona (GTD) cars within the overall IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debuts on May 5 with the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. The race will mark the debut for the 720S GT3 race car in the hands of Compass Racing and co-drivers Paul Holton and Matt Plumb.
“The popularity of GT3 racing in North America has dramatically grown over recent seasons, and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is one of the most competitive GT series in the world,” said McLaren Automotive Motorsport Director Dan Walmsley. “With the North American market the largest for McLaren Automotive in respect of road car sales, it is great to have customer teams racing with the 720S in such an exciting and well-supported championship.
“We are proud to partner with IMSA and having McLaren cars competing in the GTD class from 2019 is an important and significant moment for McLaren Customer Racing.”
McLaren already was one of IMSA’s 19 Official Automotive Partners through its Pilot Challenge program. But the expansion into Sprint Cup means that the starting grid will now include 14 different manufacturers; the most for a WeatherTech Championship race since there also were 14 in the 2017 Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“We are honored and humbled that McLaren has chosen our race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as the venue for the North American debut of the 720S GT3 race car,” said IMSA President Scott Atherton. “It’s fantastic to see McLaren doubling down on its commitment by bringing this program onto one of our biggest stages. It also reaffirms that IMSA’s platforms continue to provide an unmatched ROI and an attractive target-rich environment for manufacturers and their customer racing programs.”
McLaren already has an IMSA victory this season, as Holton and co-driver Kuno Wittmer combined to win the four-hour Pilot Challenge season-opening BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona International Speedway in January. It was McLaren’s third series victory amid stiff competition that included eight world-class manufacturers in the GT4 class.
It won’t be any easier in Sprint Cup. GTD is the largest class, and the addition of McLaren runs the total number of manufacturers in the class to nine.
“We’re honored and excited to formally announce our GTD McLaren program with the new 720S GT3,” remarked Compass Racing Team Principal Karl Thomson. “The new WeatherTech Sprint Cup is a logical next step for our IMSA effort, which celebrates its sixteenth-consecutive season this year. We’ve been very successful in the MICHELIN Pilot Challenge, but know how hard-fought the battles are in GTD and are looking forward to the challenge.”
How will McLaren fare in its debut? Tune in to NBCSN at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 5 to find out. The two-hour, 40-minute Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio also will be covered live by IMSA Radio on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio.
Tickets are available now at MidOhio.com.
Photo Credit: Jordan Lenssen / Compass Racing
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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