MISSISSAUGA, Ontario (May 6, 2011) — The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), in partnership with Porsche Motorsport North America and Porsche Cars Canada Ltd., has created the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada and signed Michelin Motorsports to supply tires for the new series.
The series' inaugural season will feature three events: May 14-15 at Calabogie Motorsports Park (Calabogie, Ontario); June 3-5 at Circuit ICAR (Mirabel, QuÃ&Copy;bec); and at the Mobil 1 Presents the Grand Prix of Mosport on July 22- 24.
The last of these events overlaps with a race scheduled that same weekend at the same track involving the U.S. Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, which is sponsored by Yokohama Tire Corp. and uses Yokohama Advan spec tires. The series will run separate races because of the differing tire specs, a Porsche spokesman said.
“Canada has always been a part of the Porsche motorsport family,” said Joe Lawrence, president and CEO of Porsche Canada. “It's great to once again have a Canadian series and Porsche Canada looks forward to playing a more active role in the worldwide Porsche motorsports community.”
In announcing Michelin as the tire supplier, IMSA points out that Michelin supplies racing tires for the 911 GT3 Cup cars in Porsche Michelin Supercup that supports the worldwide Formula 1 series and various national Porsche Carrera Cups as well as for the GT2 versions of the 911 GT3 RSR in the American Le Mans Series and the FIA GT championship.
In addition to providing the official racing tire, Michelin will award a set of Pilot Super Sport street tires to the winner of each GT3 Cup Challenge Canada race as well as provide a Porsche Design Driver's Selection watch (worth approximately $1,000) to each second-place driver and $500 cash to each third-place driver.