GTP Cars Given Weight Reductions for Long Beach

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

All four LMDh manufacturers have been given weight reductions for next weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach along with several power and energy tweaks ahead of the third round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Released late last week, the latest Balance of Performance table confirms a 12 kg weight reduction for the Porsche 963, along with a 9 kg weight break for the Acura ARX-06 as well as 7 kg and 4 kg reductions for the Cadillac V-Series.R and BMW M Hybrid V8, respectively.

The Cadillac, which won last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, remains the lightest GTP car, weighing in at 1031 kg.

The BMW, meanwhile, has been given a 2 kW (2.6 horsepower) power increase at peak levels and 2 MJ of additional maximum stint energy, while the Porsche lost 2 kW since Sebring, as well as facing a 5 MJ reduction in energy.

The Acura (-3 MJ) and Cadillac (-2 MJ) will also have slightly less energy to work with on the streets of Long Beach.

Lamborghini and McLaren are the big winners in the production-based ranks, with both the new-for-2023 Huracan GT3 EVO2 and 720S GT3 Evo getting significant power increases.

The Lamborghini has gained roughly 20 hp, while the McLaren will have a 16-hp increase following the competition debut of its Evo model at Sebring.

The Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 also picks up a power increase of approximately 8 hp but countered with a 20 kg increase in minimum weight.

Both the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD and Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, however, face power reductions in the range of 13 hp, while the Sebring GTD class-winning BMW M4 GT3 gets a 20 kg weight break.

Eight of the ten GTD models have undergone fuel capacity adjustments as well.

The series’ one-and-only street race of the year, scheduled for April 15, will feature GTP, GTD Pro and GTD machinery only.

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