BGB Motorsports will return to IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS class competition this year with a new Cayman Clubsport race car built by Porsche to SRO GT4 specifications. Car owner James Cox of Sarasota, Fla. and team owner John Tecce of Daytona Beach, Fla. will partner to contest the opening two Florida events at Daytona International Speedway and Sebring International Raceway as well as two later season races at VIRginia International Raceway and Road Atlanta. The pair has spent the last two seasons working together and last month they completed a successful three-day test covering almost 500 miles in the new car at their home race track, Daytona International Speedway.

Tecce had the following comment: “This is a new approach for us – for over a decade we built and developed our own streetcar-based Porsche race cars to run in this series. The worldwide landscape for sports car racing has changed dramatically however, and new rules packages are in place for manufacturers to produce factory built race cars. The new car is very well made, includes standard upgrades from Manthey Racing, is ready to race and win, but it is also now supported at the track by Porsche. We no longer need to rely solely on our own ingenuity and knowledge base. The fact that it can be raced in IMSA, World Challenge and PCA, as well as in a multitude of professional series around the world, made it a perfect choice. I couldn’t be more excited about campaigning this car, both as driver and team owner.”

Throughout its history, BGB has been a leader in bringing the Cayman platform to the racetrack, including endurance racing cars equipped with Porsche’s 7-speed PDK transmission and the larger displacement 3.8 liter 911 engine. BGB also was one of the first teams in the world to bring a privateer 3.8 liter Cayman to professional racing, having built and campaigned the Cayman that won the Rolex Sports Car Series GX class championship in 2013, which in many ways was a precursor to the factory built Clubsport.

Car owner James Cox has been a BGB customer since 2014 and together, Jim and BGB have run nearly 40 races in a BGB-built Cayman each of the past two years to lay the foundation for his plan to race at increasing levels of competition. The partnership between Cox and BGB has been rewarded with several regional class championships in various club racing series in 2015 and 2016 as well as a PCA National class championship in 2016.

“Jim is a great student and has absorbed everything we have taught him, and we do not sugar coat anything,” added Tecce. “We have packed five years of track time into the last 30 months and have focused on all aspects of the sport. His race craft is solid, he is very committed to taking his education further and it is an honor to get the chance to be his racing partner.”

Jens Walther, president and CEO, Porsche Motorsport North America. “When we introduced the Cayman GT4 Clubsport, and now the Clubsport MR, part of the reason was to give more teams an opportunity to compete within the Porsche family at this level. BGB has proven itself over the years as a winning operation and a championship contender. Now we offer a product that fits perfectly into their objectives and we could not be more pleased to have John and James representing Porsche in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. We are looking for a very competitive and exciting year under the GT4 rules package.”