Photo: Wes Duenkel/Ford
***Ford Performance staged a Mustang family photo (pictured above) in the build-up to this weekend’s IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America, featuring all Ford Mustang Dark Horse Rs competing in the single-make Mustang Challenge series, the three Ford Mustang GT4s in Michelin Pilot Challenge as well as the trio of Ford Mustang GT3s contesting Sunday’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.
***It marks the second weekend where all three Mustang sports car racing platforms are in action at the same time, following the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in June. Mustang Challenge completes its inaugural season with races in support of the FIA World Endurance Championship and Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS at Circuit of The Americas and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, respectively.
***The 2025 Mustang Challenge schedule was released on Friday, which will kick off at Sebring International Raceway in March and include new stops at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Virginia International Raceway, on WeatherTech Championship weekends.
***The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais is running its chassis that was used at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. The car, which was a new car as of the French endurance classic, will be run for the remainder of the WeatherTech Championship season.
***Zach Robichon is taking part in his first WeatherTech Championship ‘sprint’ round since 2021, teaming up with Roman De Angelis in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, which won last time out in GTD with De Angelis and Spencer Pumpelly.
***Robichon was replaced by Pumpelly for the three previous sprint races, which all clashed with the Canadian’s FIA World Endurance Championship commitments with Proton Competition.
***Robichon, the inaugural WeatherTech Sprint Cup champion, said: “The team has had some nice momentum after the victory at CTMP. I’ll be looking to help them pick up where they left off. I’m particularly looking forward to competing once again in one of IMSA’s sprint races.”
***Wright Motorsports, which missed the most recent GTD round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, will complete the remainder of the season with its No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R with Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson confirmed for the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway. Skeer and Adelson will be rejoined by Jan Heylen for the Battle on the Bricks and Motul Petit Le Mans Michelin Endurance Cup rounds, which were originally scheduled.
***JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Oreca 07 Gibson for Gerry Kraut and Scott Andrews is a one-off entry this weekend despite having initial plans to also run the LMP2 headline race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Kraut, however, had other plans that got in the way running the CTMP race.
***The Minnesota-based team inquired about running the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans but that event is already over capacity. “We’ll see what we can do next year,” Kraut told Sportscar365.
***Phil Hanson, JDC-Miller’s third driver for its Porsche 963 GTP entry, is on-site this weekend, along with his manager Guy Smith, as part of a scouting mission for next year.
***JDC-Miller team principal John Church confirmed that Hanson will be in its Porsche alongside Richard Westbrook and Tijmen van der Helm for the final two GTP races of the season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Motul Petit Le Mans.
***Sportscar365 understands that the newly lengthened six-hour round at Indy is likely to feature a mix of two and three-driver lineups in the GTP class, as was the case at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. IMSA has done away with mandating three-driver lineups for the six-hour races in GTP and GTD Pro for 2025.
***Proton Competition team boss Christian Ried told Sportscar365 that he has meetings with Porsche this weekend on the topic of acquiring a third 963 chassis for next year. Ried said the additional car, should it materialize, could be run in either the WeatherTech Championship or FIA World Endurance Championship depending on sponsorship and entry capacity in the case of the WEC.
***Silly season in the GTP class is in full swing, with at least one change expected for each factory entrant/team next year, either on the driver or car front.
***It’s already been announced that Meyer Shank Racing will take over the Acura ARX-06 program, with Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist two of the leading drivers that are expected to rejoin the expanded effort. Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, meanwhile is poised to campaign two Cadillac V-Series.Rs with an expected unchanged lineup.
***Action Express Racing will have a new co-driver alongside the expected return of Jack Aitken to the No. 31 Cadillac, following Pipo Derani’s departure from the team, while there’s a potential shakeup in one of the Porsche Penske Motorsport driver lineups, as well as change likely at BMW, although Team RLL currently has one year left on its contract.
***Chip Ganassi Racing, which has been linked as a candidate to run Hyundai/Genesis’ LMDh program beginning in 2026, meanwhile, has been rumored to make a potential move to the LMP2 ranks next year to keep its sports car racing operation intact.
***Unlike previous years, IMSA is not holding a ‘State of the Sport’ address at Road America this weekend, due to the 2025 WeatherTech Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge schedules having been released earlier this year at Sebring. The annual address will instead take place at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta during the Motul Petit Le Mans event.
***The second practice session for the WeatherTech Championship at Road America gets underway at 9:55 a.m. CDT, with qualifying coverage, which will be streamed live on Peacock and on IMSA.tv, beginning at 5:15 p.m. EDT/4:15 p.m. CDT.
Michelin Pilot Challenge
Scully Signs With Czabok-Simpson for Full Season Effort
GT World Challenge America
Random Vandals Set for Dual Series 2025 Campaign
