Wright, Park Place to Run Factory Porsche Lineups in California 8H

Photo: Porsche

Porsche will utilize entries fielded by Wright Motorsports and Park Place Motorsports for its factory lineup of drivers in next weekend’s California 8 Hours.

The German manufacturer, which claimed victory in the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli season-opening Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, is set for a split team approach following the two-car Earl Bamber Motorsport operation in Australia.

Bathurst winners and IGTC points leaders Matt Campbell, Dennis Olsen and Dirk Werner will remain a trio in one of the factory-backed Porsches, with Romain Dumas, Sven Mueller and Mathieu Jaminet in the second entry.

Both lineups have been assigned for the full five-round global series. 

“It will be local teams [at Laguna Seca],” Porsche director of GT factory motorsports Pascal Zurlinden told Sportscar365. “The inscription is done and it will be Park Place and Wright Motorsports.”

While Wright represented Porsche in last year’s race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with its all-works lineup, the event will mark Park Place’s factory debut.

The Patrick Lindsey-owned operation competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a Porsche 911 GT3 R, which the same chassis expected to be put to use for the IGTC round.

Despite claiming victory in the season-opener, Porsche trails Mercedes-AMG by eight points in the manufacturers’ title race, courtesy of a second and third place points finish by the GruppeM and Triple Eight-run entries at Bathurst.

Zurlinden, however, said they head to Laguna Seca with momentum, especially after a challenging 2018 campaign.

“Last year we were struggling quite a lot in IGTC. But now with the win in Bathurst, we’re really looking forward to [Laguna Seca] in the first big race with the new car,” he said.

“At the moment, our drivers are ready to fight.”

A full entry list for the March 28-30 event is expected to be released later this week.

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