Hampered by Balance of Performance issues with the Mercedes-AMG GT3, WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeannette will race the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R at next weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech Championship Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America.

The team cites BoP adjustments for adversely affecting handling and speed off the corner; the Mercedes has received several BoP adjustments that have the car about 99.2 pounds heavier (an additional 154 pounds since the Rolex 24) than the next closest competitor on the scales. The car also carries a significant air intake restrictor (34.5mm, 3.5mm smaller than the next closest competitor in the GTD Class) which robs the engine of competitive horsepower.

“The Mercedes-AMG GT3 is a great car,” MacNeil said. “We were fortunate to win at Long Beach on strategy, but the ebb-and-flow of BoP has the Mercedes at a big disadvantage right now. It is 231.5 pounds heavier and has a 5.5mm smaller restrictor than the Porsche. So we are blowing the dust off of our 911 GT3 R and running it at Road America. We will see what the rest of the season brings.”

The team still has their 911 GT3 R that they campaigned the last two years.

“We have a good relationship with Mercedes-AMG, but unfortunately our competitiveness has declined through the season as IMSA has continually made our car heavier,” Jeannette said. “It’s been very frustrating to have a car capable of race wins at the beginning of the season only to struggle to finish 10th at the last race.

“Since we still have a Porsche 911 GT3 R ready to go we thought what the heck, let’s run it at Road America and see where we stand. Porsche has been very supportive in helping us get everything back up and running for next weekend and it will be a nice homecoming for Cooper and myself to drive a Porsche in IMSA again. We already have one podium this year in a Porsche over at the Tour Auto in France and hope to get a second at WeatherTech’s home race!”