This weekend, an insane amount of lustworthy race cars descends upon the town where I live: Porsche GT3 Cup, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo, United SportsCar and the World Endurance Championship. Here’s some of the cars I saw running practice laps last week. Come drool with us.
While everyone was busy setting up for the weekend, several of the IMSA series’ cars came out to run some practice laps.
Here’s one of the factory Porsche 911 RSRs from Tudor United SportsCar.
This Porsche North America team has been so competitive in TUSC all year that many wonder why the World Endurance Championship car isn’t as dominant as this one.
Is it possible for a factory team to be upstaged by its support series? Maybe, if the support series’ car is extra loud and comes in neon green.
I’m perhaps the biggest Porsche homer in existence, but look at this Super Trofeo Lambo. This car sounds like it needs to be discouraged from eating its own wing in between runs and looks just as crazy.
A few other Super Trofeo cars were making the rounds, too.
Bright green is a good color for these cars: fact.
Some Lamborghinis were a little more race-ready than others.
The best livery of all wasn’t neon green, though. It was the Michael Shank Racing Prototype’s thoughtful tribute to IndyCar racer Justin Wilson, who passed away due to injuries sustained at Pocono Raceway this year.
The Michael Shank Racing team is sponsored by a livery company that allows them to swap out designs throughout the season.
The MSR Prototype has had all manner of spectacular mirrored finishes throughout the season, but for this race, they decided to dedicate their car to Wilson.
Of course, the track itself wasn’t the only thing with red and blue stripes. One of Porsche North America’s biggest rivals was there with both of their cars: BMW Team RLL.
Only eight points separate BMW Team RLL’s #25 car from the #911 Porsche that currently leads the team championship standings. Missing from the test day was the other main contender: the #3 Corvette Racing car, who sits only 5 points behind #911.
In the manufacturers’ standings, though, it’s BMW and Porsche, neck and neck for the GTLM championship. Only eight points separate them there as well.
Which BMW looks better, though: black or white?
Sporting a distinctly American take on the red and blue theme was Dempsey/Wright Motorsports’ car, which somehow looks even better from above.
If the classic Brumos Porsche livery was a person, it would bleed Velveeta cheese and pick fights with communists for fun. It’s great.
Dempsey/Wright wasn’t the only GTD-class car out there. Park Place Motorsports brought their Porsche 911 as well.
Joining the biggest and craziest of the lot were a few Prototype Challenge cars, doin’ their thing.
PC is a pro-am spec prototype series with open-cockpit racers. Currently, this #54 CORE Autosport team is in the lead. If CORE sounds familiar, it’s because they’re also the group behind the factory Porsches in GTLM.
The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car was also there to practice. This team currently sits in second place in the PC standings, just five points behind CORE.
The current third place runner in the team championship was there as well: the #11 RSR Racing entry.
There was one additional car that was there that wasn’t from any of the other cars’ series: a Praga prototype. Unfortunately, it wasn’t having a very good day.
Here are some additional pics from the test day. Enjoy.
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