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Once again, Marshall Pruett is a journalistic machine.  He continues to turn out high quality pieces on open wheel and sportscar topics.  The latest is a rewind on the IMSA test at Daytona posted on Racer.com.  Marshall has lots of goodies about people, tires, testing, Balance of Performance and development. Perhaps the most potentially disappointing tidbit is the note that a deal between IMSA and either Aston Martin or Mercedes is unlikely which means no customer GT cars on

Could we see a mid-engined 911 racing in 2017?  According to this story in Sportscar365, it a possibility.  Porsche apparently is taking 2016 off from the full factory GTE support in the FIA WEC series to get working on the 2017 911RSR model.  Development has already been underway with on-track testing targeted for the middle of 2016. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the article is the acknowledgement that Porsche has looked seriously at a mid-engined concept and has sp

Cars haven’t turned wheels on the track, but lots of IMSA news coming out of Daytona today.  Some exciting, some disappointing.  Here we go… First, the disappointing – for now at least.  The new Mercedes AMG GT3 will be at the test, but will not be on the grid for the early part of the 2016 IMSA season.  The good news is that there is a lot of interest.  Mercedes will deliver cars to existing customers who put in orders early, which means no AMG GT3 at the Rolex 24.  The silv

Dragonspeed is still holding out hope of running a Mercedes SLS in the IMSA Rolex 24 race.  They are going to run two cars at the IMSA November test at Daytona while IMSA and Mercedes negotiate to find a way to address IMSA’s manufacturer admission/support fees. Mercedes plans to attend the November test with a factory GT3, but a debut in January at the Rolex 24 still seems unlikely.  They have interest but no public news of US teams who have actually ordered cars. With so mu

Motorsport-Total.com out of Germany reports that the Porsche works WEC 911 GTE program run by Olaf Manthey will not continue into 2016 and Manthey will retire from active motorsports activities.  The decision is based, in part at least, on the Volkswagen diesel emissions matter.  Sportscar365 has published a similar story with some additional speculation.  The GTE program has been “under review” prior to the VW matter, and there is some speculation that the pull-back is reall

What a week for GT3 and IMSA news. Marshall Pruett reports on Magnus to Audi for the 2016 IMSA campaign, giving up its traditional Porsche.  Pruett also reports that GM stalwart Stevenson Motorsport is giving up hope of a Cadillac GT3 and is set to move to an Audi R8 for the 2016 IMSA series.  Good for Audi, but too bad that GM can’t (won’t?) support a GT3 program for Corvette or Cadillac in IMSA.  Meanwhile, The Racers Group announced that it was going to be supporting a 201

Good estimates of IMSA field composition for 2016 from Sportscar365.  Some movement and interesting things, but was hoping to see more possibilities in the GTD ranks from GT3 cars from Bentley, Aston Martin and Mercedes.  Lamborghini seems to be the surprise of the off-season so far.  Fewer Audis than expected (so far at least).  Thanks to the Sportscar365 team.  Read more here: Prototype Prototype Challenge GTLM GTD #BMW #IMSA #Sportscar365