Panoz shelves GT-EV plans

The Panoz/Green4U GT-EV Garage 56 project, which was launched last year at Le Mans, has officially been shelved, RACER has learned.

The GT-EV, which was targeted by Don Panoz as a 2018 Le Mans Garage 56 entry, hasn't been seen in public since its initial launch. Back in December last year Green4U updated  RACER on the project, explaining that while discussions were still ongoing about a Le Mans entry, the project "hadn't been granted a Garage 56 slot for 2018 or beyond."

RACER followed up on the car's progress this week, and was told by a Panoz/Green4U spokesperson that the program has been discontinued.

"Don Panoz has decided not to move forward with the Green4U Panoz Racing GT-EV electric race car project," the spokesperson said.

"He is instead devoting all resources on developing the Green4U Technologies business and launching the company’s future lineup of electric vehicles."

The GT-EV concept was an ambitious one. The original target for Panoz and Green4U was to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours with the all-electric car at GTE pace, replacing batteries at each pit stop.

To do this, Don Panoz and Jack Perkowski partnered up and founded Green4U, a business dedicated to producing environmentally-friendly vehicles. There were also plans to launch the GT-EV as a road-legal car.

Panoz is still racing in the Pirelli World Challenge's GTS category with the GT4 Avezzano.