Magnus, Wright, Pfaff Opt Out of Sprint Cup; 20 Cars for Detroit

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Three leading IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona class teams have opted out of contesting the WeatherTech Sprint Cup this year ahead of the first standalone race of the season in Detroit next weekend.

Magnus Racing with Archangel, Wright Motorsports and Pfaff Motorsports are all not entered for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, which marks the first of two Sprint Cup-only races this year that don’t count towards the overall GTD championship.

It has resulted in a reduced 20-car entry for the June 11-12 event that will also feature DPi machinery and an invitational GT Le Mans class that like GTD, will also not score season-long points.

A Porsche spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365 that both Wright and Pfaff are currently not scheduled to run the Sprint Cup-only races this year, while Archangel team principal Mike Johnson indicated that Magnus had no plans to take part in the Detroit event either.

Pfaff team manager Steve Bortolotti explained that his team decided to forgo Detroit after its home event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, which was originally tabbed to be a Sprint Cup-0nly round, was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s unclear if any of the three teams will be present for the WeatherTech 240 at The Glen, the second Sprint Cup-only race that follows the week after the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on July 2.

In addition to the absent stalwarts entries, the 12-car GTD field for Detroit sees a number of changes, including the return of SunEnergy1 Racing to the grid with Kenny Habul and Mikael Grenier as drivers.

The No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo finished second in class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Team regular Till Bechtolsheimer is currently not listed in the No. 66 entry.

Team Hardpoint EBM will be the lone Porsche 911 GT3 R in the field, with only its No. 88 entry of Rob Ferriol and Katherine Legge currently confirmed, despite an effort to return to a two-car operation.

Grasser Racing Team has again listed its Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo although was a no-show at Mid-Ohio.

The six-car DPi field remains unchanged from the last round while GTLM sees only the two factory Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs entered as part of IMSA’s schedule change that pushed the event back by one week and on to the NTT IndyCar Series weekend.

The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring class-winning WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 will not be present due to the Proton Competition-run squad’s FIA World Endurance Championship commitments at Portimao that same weekend.

Its next scheduled race will be the six-hour Watkins Glen round, which will see all five WeatherTech Championship classes back in action for the first time since Sebring.

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