Snow in “Learning Curve” Adapting to Wright Porsche

Photo: Paul Miller Racing

Madison Snow said he’s been adapting to the Porsche 911 GT3 R in what’s proven to be a “learning curve” for himself after nearly a decade out of the cockpit of a 911.

Snow has made his return to Wright Motorsports for this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS rounds at Road America, filling in for Charlie Luck for the remainder of the season in the No. 45 Porsche.

The 2018 IMSA GTD champion, who currently leads this year’s standings with Paul Miller Racing, received the call up from the Ohio-based squad as an “unexpected” development to his year.

Snow last drove for the John Wright-owned organization in 2015, at the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT America alongside Jan Heylen, his co-driver for the final five races of this Fanatec GT season.

“It’s always a team I walk by and say hi to in the paddock because Johnny [Wright] practically raised me at the track. My parents ran with the team a long time ago and then I ran with him in [Porsche] Cup cars,” Snow told Sportscar365.

“I’ve always known them. I was very happy to hear that I could go back over and be with them again.

“Most of the crew guys are different but there’s still some that are the same, and some that I’ve worked with on other teams.

“It’s a great set of guys. There’s a couple of guys that ran my GT3 Cup car back with Wright. One guy is on Adam [Adelson’s] car and one guy is on my car.

“It’s nice that they’re still under the tent.

“It’s a lot different but they have a great group of guys. They all seem to get along great and they work good together. It’s definitely a good program.”

Snow got his first laps in the Type-992 Porsche on Thursday’s test session, which offered a unique comparison to his BMW M4 GT3 that he drove alongside Bryan Sellers to class victory at Road America two weeks ago.

“Going back to back, two weeks apart [at] the same track, that actually shows me a lot of how different it is,” he explained.

“It’s a front-engined car vs. a rear-engined car. Going over Turn 6 in the BMW, you don’t do Turn 6 any differently. You go up the hill, you hit the brakes and you turn like any other corner.

“This car, you go up, you hit the brakes and the front tires want to lock up because there’s no weight on the front tires.

“But at the apex in the Porsche, you can go full throttle really aggressively and it has such great traction off the corner.

“It’s different. But to be honest, had it been on a different track or a couple of months apart, it would be harder for me to think about the differences. But being back to back, it’s just small things about how you drive the car.”

He added: “It’s always good knowing where the advantages of the other cars are and where the disadvantages of one car is.

“It’s good to know. How you take advantage of that, maybe you can’t, maybe you can try it a little bit, but it’s at least good to know.”

With the No. 45 entry moving up to the Pro class with Silver-rated Snow at the wheel, the 27-year-old said the target is clear for the remainder of the Fanatec GT season.

“It’s good doing the last three races because there’s a lot less pressure than going for a whole championship,” Snow said.

“We’re going out there to try and win races. There’s no points we have to chase.

“How well we do, we’ll see. It’s definitely been a long time since I’ve been in a Porsche so it’s going to be a learning curve for me.

“The first session to the second session in the test sessions yesterday, I made a lot of good improvements, but I have no idea how I’m going to stack up until we actually get out there in qualifying and in the race and can actually race.”

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