| The All-Electric Sports Sedan Will Lead the WeatherTech Championship Fieldto the Green Flag SaturdayALTON, Va. (Oct. 9, 2021) – For the first time in IMSA history, an electric vehicle will pace the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field today when the Porsche Taycan Turbo S serves as the Safety Car for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S will lead the field of GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD) sports cars to the green flag for Saturday’s two-hour, 40-minute race at VIRginia International Raceway, which will be televised live on NBC beginning at 12 p.m. ET. The Taycan also will be deployed to pace the field under any full-course caution periods on the 17-turn, 3.27-mile road course. A Taycan also was used in the IMSA Hot Lap program two weeks ago at Long Beach, becoming the first EV to do so. A four-door electric sports sedan offering potent performance – with a maximum output of 750 horsepower – the Taycan Turbo S is powered by two electric motors and an industry-first, 800-volt battery architecture. Its highly advanced production methods and features set new standards in the fields of sustainability and digitalization. “IMSA is proud to join our partners at Porsche to have the Taycan Turbo S as the Safety Car for the WeatherTech Championship this weekend,” IMSA President John Doonan said. “It’s an amazing car and fits nicely with the IMSA Green initiative that our organization has endorsed and continues to emphasize. “As we have seen with the overwhelming response to the LMDh prototype hybrid class that debuts in 2023, as well as the ETCR car demonstration earlier this year, IMSA is focused on new and cleaner technologies for the future. Having the Porsche Taycan Turbo S as our Safety Car at VIR will put on display the potential for taking advantage of these technologies in areas we haven’t gone before.” The Taycan Turbo S is the most powerful production model Porsche has in its product range. It can go from zero to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds – on par with the Porsche 918 Spyder sports car – and can reach track speeds of 161 mph. Featuring technical highlights such as a standard Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes and the slipperiest body in the marque’s production-car portfolio, the car is at the cutting edge of Porsche performance. Porsche is an active IMSA partner. In addition to the four Porsches competing in the WeatherTech Championship race at VIR – one in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class and three in GT Daytona (GTD) – the manufacturer has one entry in Sunday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge two-hour Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix and a 28-car grid for the doubleheader round of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America. |
