Penske Porsches Face 99-Pound Weight Increase for Long Beach

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

The pair of factory Penske Porsche 963s will be facing a significant weight increase for next weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, in the first split Balance of Performance tables between the 2026 and 2025-specification GTP class entries from the German manufacturer.

Confirmed in the pre-event Balance of Performance, the two works Porsches will be running 45 kgs (99 pounds) heavier than it did in last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, as well as having a 5.4 percent reduction in first stage power.

The championship-leading Porsches will now weigh in at 1100 kg, the heaviest ever seen by a LMDh or LMH-based prototype in global sports car racing competition.

However, for the first time, the 2025-spec Porsche, which is run by privateer JDC-Miller Motorsports, will run to a different BoP.

The car, which will be driven by Tijman van der Helm and Porsche factory driver Laurin Heinrich – who is tied for the GTP points lead with full season Porsche Penske stars Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer – will only have a 5 kg increase in weight since Sebring, bringing it up to 1060 kg.

The JDC-Miller car also receives a reduced power output in the first stage, to the tune of 1.7 percent, and a 1.1 percent reduction at speeds over 200 km/h.

This compares to a 2.9 percent increase in second-stage power for the factory 963s.

The threshold for first and second stage has been reduced to 190 and 200 km/h respectively, for the Long Beach street circuit event after starting the season at 230 and 240 km/h at Daytona and Sebring.

Other notable changes in GTP include a 15 kg increase for the Cadillac V-Series.R, 11 kgs of additional weight for the BMW M Hybrid V8 and 8 kgs more for the Acura ARX-06.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie remains at the baseline 1030 kg weight, and will continue at 520 kW max power at both stages as well.

While the Acura get a 1.9 percent power cut at Stage 1, the car will have a slight 0.8 percent increase in Stage 2.

The BMW, meanwhile, will have a 1.3 percent increase in Stage 1 and a 0.2 percent cut in Stage 2, with the Cadillac having minor 0.2 percent and 0.9 percent increases, respectively.

In the GT ranks, which features GTD only next weekend, both the Ford Mustang GT3 EVO and Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 have been given significant 32 and 28 kg weight breaks, respectively.

The new-for-2026 Lamborghini Temerario GT3, which will be fielded by Pfaff Motorsports for Andrea Caldarelli and Zachary Vanier, has lost 14 since its debut at Sebring.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, however, faces a 22 kg increase and a 5.2 percent reduction in power at the first stage.

Other notable power changes include a 4.1 percent increase for the Huracan at Stage 2 and a 1.8 percent boost for the Mustang, also at the top-end.

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