Optimum Goes to Replacement McLaren Chassis After Accident

Photo: Optimum Motorsport

Optimum Motorsport is planning to be on the grid with a replacement McLaren 720S GT3 chassis in time for qualifying tomorrow following a heavy accident in testing earlier this week at Virginia International Raceway.

Brendan Iribe escaped serious injury in what was understood to have been a significant crash on Thursday in preparation for this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS round.

Iribe, who claimed his first professional victory on North America soil last month at Circuit of The Americas, is making his VIR debut with the Optimum-run inception racing squad this weekend.

Sportscar365 understands that a spare McLaren chassis has been sourced and is in the process of being prepped for the remainder of the event, although will see no track action on Friday.

It’s believed there are only two other 720S GT3s currently in North America, one of them being from Canadian outfit Motorsport In Action, which recently completed a shakedown.

The other chassis is Compass Racing’s former WeatherTech Sprint Cup car, which is in the process of being sold.

Optimum team manager Bas Leinders declined to comment on specifics other than saying that “we have a car [and] we will race it.”

Iribe and Ollie Millroy claimed Pro-Am class honors in their GTWC America debut at COTA last month, with Bronze-rated Iribe also slated to contest the pair of GT America powered by AWS races this weekend.

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