Wright Commits Second Porsche for Sprint Cup

Photo: Peter Burke/IMSA

Wright Motorsports will add a second Porsche 911 GT3 R to its stable for the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup-only rounds, according to team principal John Wright.

The Ohio-based team, which initially announced a two-car Porsche entry, will field the second entry for Anthony Imperato and a to-be-announced co-driver beginning with the third round of the overall season at Long Beach in April.

Expanded from the inaugural season in 2109, the Sprint Cup will feature at eight of the WeatherTech Championship weekends this year.

Imperato will start the season in the team’s No. 16 Porsche, which will run the full season with Ryan Hardwick and Porsche factory driver Patrick Long, with Klaus Bachler completing the lineup for the Rolex 24.

Wright told Sportscar365 that Silver-rated Imperato is likely to complete the remaining Michelin Endurance Cup races in the Hardwick/Long Porsche, which would theoretically give him a full 12-race schedule split between the team’s two entries.

“We’re going to run the [No. 16] car for the full season,” Wright told Sportscar365. “The driver lineup for the Sprint Cup hasn’t been announced yet. It will be Anthony and somebody else.

“Anthony is going to most likely do the long distance races in the [16] car.”

Wright is understood to be one of at least three Sprint Cup-only GTD entries for the season, joining planned efforts from Park Place Motorsports and Compass Racing.

It is making its full-time return to WeatherTech Championship competition after shifting its focus to SRO GT World Challenge America last year with a pair of Porsche GT3 entries.

While “highly likely” the team will continue some sort of program in World Challenge America, either with a Pro-Am or Am-Am Porsche, Wright said their two-race program in GTD last year with Imperato helped pave the way for the expanded IMSA effort.

“We did a couple of the [IMSA] races last year to prepare Anthony for this,” added Wright.

In addition to IMSA GTD and World Challenge America programs, Wright said he’s finalizing entries for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA while also taking on an operational role in Porsche’s Racing Experience program for Level 2 drivers.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John