IMSA: No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche exits GTD

The No. 22 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R entry, owned by WeatherTech founder and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship sponsor David MacNeil, is ending its season in the GT Daytona class, effective immediately. The No. 22 program, run by Florida's Alex Job Racing, would likely shift to the Pirelli World Challenge series for the remainder of 2016.

"We have decided to withdrawal the No. 22 WeatherTech Racing Porsche for the remainder of the IMSA season," team owner Alex Job said in a statement. "The decision to stop racing was rooted purely on performance and the future prospects for the Porsche at the remaining tracks on the 2016 schedule. The conclusion was based upon the performance in direct comparison to the competition over the past eight GTD races and the possible variations of how the BoP (balance of performance) could play out over the next three races with our engineering team and IMSA."

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The decision by MacNeil to withdraw from the series could be linked to today's release of IMSA's BoP tables for the Aug. 26-28 Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway event where no performance modifications were granted for the Porsche. Contentious debates between Porsche GTD teams and the series regarding the car's BoP are said to have taken place since the most recent round at Road America.

MacNeil said in a statement that he remains committed to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

"This is a competition decision as it relates to the No. 22 WeatherTech Racing Porsche team in IMSA," MacNeil said. "We make marketing decisions based upon what is best for our business. We are still the presenting sponsor of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and we are committed to growing the sport now and into the future."

IMSA released the following statement:

"IMSA was recently informed of the decision to suspend participation of the No. 22 Alex Job Racing entry in GTD class competition of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. One of the most significant and defining elements of sports car racing is the variety of cars, brands and technologies within our highly competitive GT categories.

"The IMSA Technical Committee was established to professionally manage the complex Balance of Performance (BoP) process to ensure fair and close competition among the many participating brands and teams. The committee operates with a transparent, data-driven process which closely analyzes both actual race performance and related observation factors.

"We are disappointed the No. 22 car will not be competing at our next event, but remain committed to our ongoing process."

The No. 22 led by Cooper MacNeil, sits eighth in the championship with a pair of fifth-place finishes at its best results. The No. 23 entry, which is sponsored by a different company and entered under the Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing banner, would continue in GTD as scheduled.