Connect with us

WeatherTech Championship

Park Place Targeting Sprint Cup-Only Campaign for 2020

Park Place shifts focus to IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup-only program; drops Pilot Challenge effort…

Photo: Peter Burke/IMSA

Park Place Motorsports looks set to focus its efforts on the GT Daytona class next year, likely around an IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup-only campaign  according to team principal Patrick Lindsey, who is also poised to make a return to the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The Texas-based team will not return to full-time GTD or Michelin Pilot Challenge competition next year, instead competing in races that better fit to Lindsey’s schedule.

A stalwart of the GT Daytona class, the team missed the final two rounds of the season following an accident at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca that severely damaged its Porsche 911 GT3 R. 

It ran last month’s Hankook 24H COTA Creventic race with a previous-generation Porsche.

Sportscar365 understands that Park Place’s first race in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will likely come at at Long Beach, which serves as the opening round of the newly expanded Sprint Cup season.

“Park Place Motorsports has a lot of changes coming this year but we’re excited for all of them,” Lindsey told Sportscar365.

“I’m wanting to pick the tracks I enjoy most or have been competitive at and really make a fun season for Park Place Motorsports.

“My dedication has and will always be to the men and women that work with us to make each race weekend happen.”

Patrick Long, who drove for the team this year, has since been announced by Porsche in returning to Wright Motorsports for a full-season GTD campaign in 2020.

Partial-Season WEC Program for Lindsey in the Works

Lindsey said he’s also targeting to be on the grid for the upcoming two WEC races at Circuit of The Americas and Sebring, that would see the reigning GTE-Am class champion return to the wheel of a mid-engined Porsche 911 RSR.

The American teamed with Joerg Bergmeister and Egidio Pefetti to win the 2018-19 GTE-Am title with Team Project 1 although elected not to return to the championship on a full-time basis this season.

Should a deal materialize for the newly expanded American leg of the WEC, Sportscar365 understands it’s unlikely to be with Project 1, which has two full-season driver lineups.

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

Click to comment

More in WeatherTech Championship