Increasing on his first foray in an Innovation Race Automobiles IRC GT within the 12 Hours of Bathurst, veteran racer Paul Tracy will contest the primary two rounds of the 2025 Trans Am Collection introduced by Pirelli with the automobile. The previous IndyCar star will enter the Sebring and Street Atlanta rounds within the XGT class, with an eye fixed on increasing it to a full-season program within the Australian-built automobile that was homologated for the category earlier this 12 months.
Backed by IRC and run by Chicago Efficiency and Tuning [CPT] as a part of a two-car program that may embrace a buyer automobile, the Trans Am entries will add to Tracy’s expertise with the automobile, which began with profitable the Invitational class within the Bathurst 12-hour race final February and continued with runs in HSR races at Daytona. Tracy mentioned the tubeframe automobile that boasts GT3-level efficiency might be a championship contender.
“I need to go for a championship,” mentioned Tracy. “I liked racing the IRC down at Bathurst, and I jumped within the automobile at Daytona for the HSR races [with IRC president and founder Danny Stutterd]. The automobile is tremendous spectacular when it comes to its efficiency out of the field — the IRC [USA] guys barely made any [setup] modifications to the automobile throughout its U.S. tour, and each time I’ve pushed it, it’s been a blast and instantly on tempo. Solely modifications I’ve requested for are contemporary units of tires, so with a correct effort from the blokes at CPT, I do know that we are able to go for a championship run.
“So, yeah, we’re actively searching for sponsors and companions to leap on board this system and get the total season backed, however proper now my priorities are specializing in the primary two races at Sebring and Street Atlanta. I’ve put plenty of effort into my health and weight to be prepared for racing at this type of degree once more — I proved that in Bathurst — and with this chance that IRC has given me, I’m going to place all that effort into follow and depart all of it on the observe.”
Tracy shared this IRC GT at Bathurst final February, claiming a podium end.
The LS3-powered IRC GT is constructed by PACE Improvements in Australia. Producing as a lot as 550hp and working that energy to the rear wheels by way of a 6-speed sequential gearbox, the automobile provides comparable efficiency to the FIA GT3 vehicles which have traditionally made up the XGT class in Trans Am, however at a vastly lowered price ticket. Race automobile dealer RaceCarsForYou and IRC have teamed as much as convey the automobile to the U.S. underneath the IRC USA banner.
The IRC USA staff took the automobile to the Trans Am Velocity Tour at VIRginia Worldwide Raceway in October, and labored with the technical staff to homologate the automobile for the XGT class. That finally led to the involvement of CPT, whose earlier expertise had been primarily with VW/Audi vehicles, or Audi-powered vehicles just like the KTM X-Bow.
“What actually settled us on eager to become involved was the individuals on the IRC USA staff,” defined CPT president and staff principal Al Uscinski. “Guys like David [Taylor] and Nick [Lester] are in excessive regard and respect with the staff, and particularly with me. After they advised us about how impressed they had been with the construct high quality, the logic of the automobile, the way it’s put collectively, how inexpensive it’s compared to GT3, we had been instantly eager to become involved, however we weren’t certain to what extent. That basically modified once we began seeing [FIA silver-rated] drivers like Paul bounce within the automobile at Sebring and Daytona, the lap occasions had been unimaginable, and we mentioned to ourselves, ‘OK we have to race this factor.’ We reached out to IRC and began conversations about how we may put a correct effort collectively.”
That led to the two-car program in XGT. It’s a giant step in getting the racing neighborhood conscious of the automobile, particularly with Tracy’s involvement, as Stutterd acknowledged.
“Paul and I ran the Bathurst 12 Hour this 12 months and caught the factor on the rostrum [in the Invitational class]. We had a good time and had been completely thrilled to indicate off what the IRC GT may do,” Stutterd mentioned. “Our teammates additionally managed to shut out the remainder of the rostrum as effectively, so to have the automobile win on debut with a podium sweep was extraordinary. Since then, we’ve been working onerous with David [Taylor] and the entire [RaceCarsForYou] crew to convey the IRC GT to market within the States. When CPT approached us with their fame, it was a no brainer to get one thing going.
“We’re nonetheless searching for companions to assist remodel this from a few rounds right into a full-season effort. Paul’s entries are supposed to showcase what the automobile can do and assist generate gross sales out there. The automobile makes a lot sense on paper whenever you see its one-third of the price of GT3 — not simply within the value of the automobile, however extra importantly the working prices as effectively. So actually, Paul’s going to show that it’s not simply price efficient, however an actual ripper across the observe as effectively.”
IRC USA has the automobile on show on the Efficiency Racing Business commerce present in Indianapolis this week, the place it should formally announce this system right this moment.
