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ALMS: Weight Break for Four GT2 Cars Beginning at Utah
Written by: Marshall Pruett   
05/12/2008 - 02:43 PM
Braselton, GA
 
Cars like Robertson Racing's Ford GT-R hope to moved forward on the time sheets with the 25kg weight break given by IMSA. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) ยป More Photos


Faced with a significant growth in the American Le Mans GT2 division in 2008, IMSA, the technical arm of the ALMS series, has implemented a weight reduction for the three new manufacturers in a bid to help close the gap to the dominant Porsche 911 RSR GT3 and Ferrari F430 GTC.

With the Drayson-Barwell Aston Martin Vantage, Robertson Racing Ford GT-R, and LG Motorsports Corvette C6 having all played themselves into the series at a measure rate during the first three rounds, IMSA deemed the marked performance gap between the three cars and the front runners to be great enough to warrant a 25kg weight reduction. Ferrari and Porsche have dominated GT2 in three rounds of competition, with Flying Lizard's Porsche taking Sebring, and Tafel Racing's Ferrari scoring back-to-back wins at St. Petersburg and Long Beach. With GT2 being primarily a battle of Ferrari vs. Porsche for the past few seasons, the need to
balance the fortunes of the newer manufacturers is both timely and appreciated by teams like Robertson Racing.

As their team manager H. Smith shared with SPEEDtv.com, "The 25kg weight 'break' won't be felt until we actually get the car up to speed at this new track for our team. Obviously, any weight loss gets us closer to the top half of the GT2 class; it should help us bridge the gap a little. It gets us closer to the Porsches; as they were given a weight break at the beginning of the season. The weight loss actually came as a bit of a surprise, but hey, we'll take what we can get!"

The PTG-run Panoz Esperante LMGT, while an established chassis in GT2, has also been granted a 25kg weight concession to aid its efforts to become more competitive. Primetime Racing's Dodge Viper Competition Coupe was the only noticeable absence from the vehicles chosen for weight reduction.
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