IMSA has clarified the process and targets it will use to maintain lap time separation between its GT classes.

With the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Daytona class adopting full FIA GT3 specifications for 2016, the need to slow the powerful GT3 cars to a pace below its premier GT Le Mans class will be done through the addition of weight and a reduction in power.

The amount of weight and power adjustments will be determined for each car during pre-season testing and subsequent performance evaluations.

“We had a gap of 4.5-percent separating GT Le Mans and GT Daytona in 2015,” said IMSA technical committee chairperson Geoff Carter. “GT3 is engineered to be faster than GTE (IMSA’s GTLM), and so we will work [to] bring GT3 speeds down to maintain a gap of 4 percent.”

Confusion spread among GT Daytona entrants this week as one published report stated IMSA was also considering the use of smaller rear wings to reduce GT3 performance levels. RACER has learned the topic of rear wing size reductions actually came from a GTLM manufacturers’ meeting, and as Audi Sport customer racing North America’s Brad Kettler confirmed, it was not presented by the series to GTD manufacturers as an expected change.

“I was really taken aback by how upset everyone was getting because none of the meetings I sat in had any mention of GT3 rear wing changes, and there’s been no documentation coming through from them about it since our last meeting,” he said. “If they had said anything about taking away our rear wings, I would have stood up and fought it immediately, but there’s been nothing to fight.”

Asked for clarification, Carter confirmed GT3 rear wing changes are not part of IMSA’s plans.

“To be clear, IMSA has committed to running the GT3 cars as they were homologated,” he said. “We don’t intend to make any changes to the homologated rear wings.”