Panoz Commits to California 8H

Photo: Brian Cleary/PWC

Team Panoz Racing will take part in October’s California 8 Hours at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, in what will mark the Panoz Avezzano GT4’s endurance racing debut.

The Don Panoz-owned team, which competes as a two-car GTS class operation in Pirelli World Challenge, has committed to a single-car Pro-Am entry for its season-long drivers Ian James, Matt Keegan and Preston Calvert.

According to team manager Tom Milner, the run will be aimed to prove the car’s reliability and strength, ahead of planned customer sales in 2019.

“I think it will be good for us,” Milner told Sportscar365. “If we have an opportunity to sell cars, we need to prove that it is reliable.

“We’ve had some small things here or there but from a standpoint of proving the car… Everyone knows it wins races and can go fast. But we need to prove that it can also be reliable.

“There will be a lot of European [teams] coming over, so they’ll see the car.”

The Panoz entry is expected to be one of at least a dozen GT4-spec cars that will be on the grid for the IGTC season finale, which will be open to GT3, GT4, GT Cup and TCR machinery.

More than 30 entries have already committed to the Oct. 26-28 event.

Panoz Eyeing GT4 World Final

Milner said the Laguna Seca race may not be its final outing of the year, with the team evaluating an entry in the newly announced GT4 World Final in Bahrain.

The inaugural event, which will run as part of the Bahrain GT Festival on Nov. 30 – Dec. 1, will be open to entrants in any of the dozen GT4 series organized or supported by SRO Motorsports Group.

SRO has pledged to cover sea freight for all teams, with Milner confirming they’ve received a personal invite from Stephane Ratel to attend.

“In the end, it’s up to Don if we want to do it,” Milner said.

“I’m pretty sure that if SRO subsidizes it, whether it’s transportation, I feel pretty confident we’ll most likely do it.”

It’s understood the event has gained interest from several other PWC competitors.

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