Paul Tracy Entering Trans Am Rounds 1 & 2 in the New IRC GT Run by Chicago Performance
December 13, 2024
Earlier this year, Innovation Race Cars (IRC), the distributor of the Bathurst 12 Hour-proven IRC GT built by PACE Innovations, announced that the car would be coming to the North American market through the world’s most trusted racecar brokers, RaceCarsForYou (RCFY – IRC & RCFY collectively IRC USA). Shortly after the first IRC GT landed in North America, it has since been on a tour of some of the country’s most premier tracks. It’s been a strong showing, setting GT3 lap times with Bronze-rated drivers and piquing the interest of one of the most legendary racing series in North America, Trans Am (TA).
The IRC USA team took the car to the Trans Am SpeedTour at VIR in early October, showcasing the car in the open test day. Shortly after the IRC GT came off track, the TA technical team quickly descended from race control to the paddock to see the car up close and learn more about it, seeing for themselves that it’s still possible to achieve GT levels of performance without the high cost of GT machinery. In the few short weeks after VIR, the TA technical team worked closely with the IRC USA team to homologate the car for the XGT class.
News of the homologation quickly reached Chicago Performance and Tuning Co. (CPT), where the wheels started turning to be the team to debut the IRC GT in North American competition. Conversations with IRC USA soon followed, with the goal of getting two cars on grid for the beginning of the 2025 Trans Am season, allowing the car to demonstrate itself as the new kid on the block.
CPT President & Team Principal Al Uscinski described the intense weeks of planning and discussions as “A huge shift in priority for us. We’ve always been focused on European racecars, mainly from the VW/Audi group, so to shift over to an Australian-built space-frame silhouette car felt like a bit of a leap in the beginning. What really settled us on wanting to get involved was the people on the IRC USA team. Guys like David [Taylor] and Nick [Lester] are in high regard and respect with the team, and especially with me.”
“When they told us about how impressed they were with the build quality, the logic of the car, how it’s put together, how affordable it is in comparison to GT3, we were immediately wanting to get involved, but we weren’t sure to what extent,” continued Uscinski. That really changed when we started seeing Silver-rated drivers like Paul Tracy jump in the car at Sebring and Daytona. The lap times were incredible, and we said to ourselves ‘OK we need to race this thing.’ We reached out to IRC and started conversations about how we could put a proper effort together.”
The conversations proved very productive, as Uscinski shed light into the talks: “We landed on a two-car program, where one car would be a customer program, which we’re still finalizing and will have news in a few weeks on driver/sponsors, and the other car being backed by IRC for Rounds 1 & 2 with Paul Tracy in the car, which for me is an amazing achievement for us as a team and for IRC.”
IRC’s president & founder Danny Stutterd also weighed in on the program:
“Paul and I ran the Bathurst 12 Hour this year and stuck the thing on the podium [in the invitational class]. We had a great time and were absolutely thrilled to show off what the IRC GT could do. Our teammates also managed to close out the rest of the podium as well, so to have the car win on debut with a podium sweep was extraordinary. Since then, we’ve been working hard with David [Taylor] and the whole RCFY crew to bring the IRC GT to market in the States, and when CPT approached us with their reputation, it was a no brainer to get something going.”
When asked about the possibility of the program expanding into a full season effort, Stutterd said, “We’re still looking for partners to help transform this from a couple of rounds into a full-season effort. Paul’s entries are meant to showcase what the car can do and help generate sales in the market. The car makes so much sense on paper when you see it’s a third of the cost of GT3, not just in the price of the car, but more importantly, the running costs as well. So really Paul’s going to prove that it’s not just cost effective, but a real ripper around the track as well.”
Asked about his goals for the program, Tracy said, “I obviously want it to be a full-season effort, I want to go for a championship. I loved racing the IRC [GT] down at Bathurst, and I jumped in the car at Daytona for the HSR races with Danny. The car is super impressive in terms of its performance out the box. The IRC [USA] guys barley made any setup changes to the car across its US tour, and every time I’ve driven it, it’s been a blast and immediately on pace.”
“The only changes I’ve asked for are fresh sets of tires, so with a proper effort from the guys at CPT, I know that we can go for a championship run,” continued Tracy “We’re actively looking for sponsors and partners to jump on board the program and get the full season backed, but right now my priorities are focusing on the first two races at Sebring and Road Atlanta. I’ve put a lot of effort into my fitness and weight to be ready for racing at this kind of level again. I proved that in Bathurst, and with this opportunity that IRC has given me, I’m going to put all that effort into practice and leave it all on the track.”
