IMSA Performance (racing under the name IMSA Performance Matmut) is a French
auto racing
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
team founded by
Raymond Narac. The team is based in
Saint-Jean-du-Cardonnay
Saint-Jean-du-Cardonnay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region in northern France.
Geography
A village of forestry and farming situated ...
,
Upper Normandy
Upper Normandy (french: Haute-Normandie, ; nrf, Ĥâote-Normaundie) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Upper and Lower Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy.
History
It was created in 1956 from two d ...
. IMSA stands for Innovation Mécanique Service Automobile. They currently operate a
Porsche 911 GT3
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS.
The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...
-RSR sports car in the
European Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...
and
International GT Open
The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing series founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It was a spin-off of the now-defunct Spanish GT Championship, but is now a distinct series featuring FIA GT3-spec ca ...
. They are currently a
Porsche Factory Team
History
Beginnings
The team was founded in 2001 by
Raymond Narac. The team did not start racing until 2004 when Narac entered the team into the
Porsche Carrera Cup France
Porsche Carrera Cup France is a one make motor racing championship held in France. The cars are Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 991.2) with 4.0 liters, flat-6 naturally aspirated engines that produce and 480 N·m.
Champions
References
External ...
and
FFSA GT Championship
The FFSA GT Championship (''Championnat de France FFSA GT'') is a French Grand Touring-style sports car racing series that began in 1997. It is the main event of the ''Championnat de France des Circuits'' (formerly called ''Super Série FFSA'' a ...
. The team entered three cars in the FFSA GT Championship, all of the
Porsche 996 GT3
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS.
The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...
Cup chassis' in the Cup1 class. Narac drove the first of the cars, No. 76 along with
Yannick David under the name IMSA - Challenge 86. The team had a successful début at
Nogaro
Nogaro (; Gascon: ''Nogaròu'') is a commune in the Gers department, Southwestern France. It is the site of a distillery of Armagnac brandy.
Geography
The commune is bordered by six other communes: Caupenne-d'Armagnac to the northwest, Sa ...
winning in the Cup1 class. They finished third in the championship. In the Porsche Carrera Cup France, the team's only highlight was a win at
Magny-Cours
Magny-Cours () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.
It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous motor racing circuit (whose name is often abbreviated to 'Magny-Cours'). It formerly hosted the Formula ...
.
2005 - 2006
![Paris 2006 - Porsche 911 matmut](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Paris_2006_-_Porsche_911_matmut.JPG)
After an impressive début in the FFSA GT Championship, IMSA Performance decided to enter one car into the GT2 class while the other two cars remain in Cup1. The team purchased a GT2-spec
Porsche 996 GT3
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS.
The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...
-RSR with Narac being joined by
Sébastien Dumez for the season. The duo won twelve of the sixteen races and won the first of four drivers and teams championships.
The team were also successful in the French Porsche Carrera Cup finishing fifth overall in the standings and winning in the B class with Raymond Narac. 2005 also saw the teams début at the infamous
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
. The FFSA duo of Narac and Dumez were joined by
Porsche factory driver
Romain Dumas
Romain Dumas (born 14 December 1977) is a French racing driver and a Porsche factory driver. He first started out in karting and single-seater before becoming an expert driver in endurance racing, GT and sport-prototype. He has won the greatest r ...
for the
2005 edition using the same Porsche used in FFSA. The car finished in a respectable fourth place in the GT2 class and fifteenth overall.
The team expanded once again in 2006 by entering into the
Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...
. Narac entered a 996 along with veteran
Christophe Bouchut
Christophe Bouchut (born 24 September 1966 in Voiron, Isère) is a French professional racing driver. He currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving for Dexwet-df1 Racing and Alex Caffi Motorsport in a part-time effort. He won th ...
in the
2006 season finishing fifth in the standings. Narac and IMSA continued to dominate in the GT2 class in FFSA GT alongside
Michel Lecourt taking a second consecutive championship.
The team were looking forward to a GT2 victory at the
2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 74th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place over 17–18 June 2006. The winners of the race were Frank Biela, Marco Werner, and Emanuele Pirro, driving the Audi R10 TDI. For the first time in the history o ...
taking pole in the class, more than a second faster than second place starter
Scuderia Ecosse. Unfortunately, an engine failure after 211 laps put an end to the teams hope of Le Mans victory. The trio of drivers were Narac, Dumas and Luca Riccitelli.
2007
![Mans2007n°76](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Mans2007n%C2%B076.jpg)
2007 is arguably the team's most successful year. Despite Narac racing for
Oreca
ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport. ...
in the GT1 class in FFSA GT, the team still dominated the GT2 class thanks to the duo of Michel Lecourt and
Richard Balandras using the new
997 GT3-RSR. Narac raced with the team in the
2007 Le Mans Series season
The 2007 Le Mans Series was the fourth season of ACO's Le Mans Series. It was a series for Le Mans prototype and Grand Touring style cars broken into four classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2. It began on 15 April and ended on 10 November after six ...
and at
Le Mans. The team didn't do particularly well in LMS, finishing seventh in both drivers' and teams' championships. Narac raced alongside
Richard Lietz
Richard Lietz (born 17 December 1983 in Waidhofen an der Ybbs) is an Austrian professional racing driver and a Porsche Factory driver. He has competed in such series as American Le Mans Series, Formula 3 Euro Series and the Rolex Sports Car Seri ...
for the season.
Narac and Lietz were joined by
Patrick Long
__NOTOC__
Patrick Long (born July 28, 1981) is a professional racing driver, one of 18 Porsche factory racing drivers, and the only American to hold that distinction.
Racing career Sports car racing
Following a successful career in karts and th ...
for Le Mans and qualified second behind the
Ferrari F430
The Ferrari F430 (Type F131) is a sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari from 2004 until 2009 as a successor to the Ferrari 360. The car is an update to the 360 with exterior and performance changes. It was unveiled at ...
of Scuderia Ecosse. The battle between
Ferrari and Porsche was intense within the GT2 class but it was inevitably won by the IMSA Performance team. Finishing fifteenth overall despite a heavy downpour towards the end of the race, the car finished six laps ahead of the nearest GT2 competitor, the Ferrari of
Risi Competizione
Risi Competizione is an Italo-American auto racing Ferrari factory-backed team formed by Giuseppe Risi in 1997. Initially, the team had a partnership with Doyle Racing using the name Doyle-Risi Racing, but soon Giuseppe Risi took full control of t ...
/
Krohn Racing
Krohn Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Houston, Texas. The team competes in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype class, and has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Intercontinental Le Mans ...
. The trio also raced at that year's
Spa 24 Hours
The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies.
History
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their ...
, a month after Le Mans. The team finished second in the GT2 class, four laps behind fellow Porsche competitors
BMS Scuderia Italia
BMS Scuderia Italia SpA (sometimes referred to as simply Scuderia Italia) is an Italian auto racing team founded by Italian steel magnate and motorsports enthusiast Giuseppe Lucchini in 1983. Initially named Brixia Motor Sport (BMS) the team bri ...
.
Along with FFSA and Le Mans success, the team won the Teams' Championship in the Porsche Carrera Cup France.
2008
![IMSA Performance Porsche Side](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/IMSA_Performance_Porsche_Side.jpg)
The team were looking for yet more success after a brilliant 2007 season. They took a fourth consecutive GT2 teams and drivers championship in FFSA GT with Narac winning the drivers title. The team once again performed poorly in
Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...
despite entering two cars. The highest placed car, No. 76, finished fifth in the drivers and teams championship.
Le Mans was a different story as the IMSA Porsche 911 took GT2 pole for the second time in four entries, qualifying just under a second ahead of rival Porsche competitors
Team Felbermayr-Proton. Narac, Lietz and Patrick Long were the three drivers at Le Mans in 2008. The race came to an early end on the 26th lap after Long had a collision with the rival No. 80
Flying Lizard Motorsports
The Flying Lizard Motorsports group is a motorsport team from Sonoma, California, formed by Seth Neiman in early 2003. The team competed in the full American Le Mans Series season, as well as the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. ...
Porsche driven by
Seth Neiman. The Le Mans trio also ran in the
Spa 24 Hours
The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies.
History
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their ...
but only managed seventh in class. The team did relatively well in the French Carrera Cup finishing third with
Renaud Derlot.
2009
![IMSA Nr76 LMS Spa2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/IMSA_Nr76_LMS_Spa2009.JPG)
2009 saw the team race in the
International GT Open
The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing series founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It was a spin-off of the now-defunct Spanish GT Championship, but is now a distinct series featuring FIA GT3-spec ca ...
series with three 997 GT3-RSR's in the "Super GT" class. The No. 16 car driven by Narac and
Patrick Pilet was by far the most successful car of the three winning six races and helping the team to second place in the teams championship behind
Autorlando Sport. Narac and Pilet finished third in the drivers championship. Narac and Pilet also competed together in the
2009 Le Mans Series season
The 2009 Le Mans Series was the sixth season of Automobile Club de l'Ouest's Le Mans Series. It was contested over five events between 5 April and 13 September 2009.
Aston Martin Racing trio Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke finished ev ...
but only managed sixth in drivers and teams championships.
The team continued on with their
Le Mans and
Spa 24 Hours' programmes. The team entered two cars for the Le Mans race, car No. 76 driven by Narac, Pilet and Patrick Long while the No. 70 car was shared with
Team Felbermayr-Proton featuring
Horst Felbermayr, Sr. and
Junior
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
joined by IMSA driver Michel Lecourt. The No. 70 car did not last long retiring with an engine failure completing just 102 laps. Car 76 retired with just three hours left with a gearbox problem. The team entered the Spa 24 Hours with just one car with the same line up as car No. 76 at Le Mans. Strangely, the team was forced to retire the car with three hours to go, like at Le Mans although this time it was due to an engine failure.
2010
2010 got off to a great start with the team winning the
Dubai 24 Hour
The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a Sports car racing, sports car and Touring car racing, touring car automobile endurance race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome. It was inaugurated in 2006.
Entrants and participants
As with all races in the 24 ...
in January 2010. The trio of Narac, Pilet and German Marco Holzer won the race overall finishing three laps ahead of the second place car and five laps ahead of its nearest "A6" class rival. The team raced just one car in the
2010 International GT Open season rather than three with the partnership of Narac and Pilet picking up four wins in the Super GT class and finishing fourth in the drivers and teams standings.
Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...
was once again average, finishing fifth in the standings although they did win the
Michelin GreenX Challenge for having the most fuel-efficient GT class car. They were not given an automatic invitation to Le Mans for 2011 however as they were not the overall winner.
The familiar 24 Hours trio of Narac, Pilet and Long were once again reunited behind car No. 76 for the
2010 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 78th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''78e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a non-championship 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Grand Touring (GT) cars held from 12 to 13 June 2010 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near L ...
. Qualifying fifth in the GT2 class, the car remained in fifth after 24 hours of racing. The trio were joined by Richard Lietz behind car No. 16 for the
24 Hours of Spa
The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies.
History
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their a ...
which also saw the team enter another car, No. 17 driven by
Jean-Philippe Belloc
Jean-Philippe Belloc is a racecar driver from France. He was born in Montauban, on 24 April 1970.
Belloc started racing in single-seaters and won the French Formula Renault Championship in 1992, at his second attempt, after four wins. Moving up t ...
,
Richard Balandras,
Christophe Bourret and
Pascal Gibon. Following the break-up of the
FIA GT Championship
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...
, GT1-spec cars were not allowed race at the event so GT2 became the top class. The IMSA Performance car finished second overall, despite the dominance of the "GTN" class
BMW M3 GT2's of
BMW Motorsport, and in class behind the winning Porsche of
BMS Scuderia Italia
BMS Scuderia Italia SpA (sometimes referred to as simply Scuderia Italia) is an Italian auto racing team founded by Italian steel magnate and motorsports enthusiast Giuseppe Lucchini in 1983. Initially named Brixia Motor Sport (BMS) the team bri ...
. Car No. 17 finished sixth in class and helped the team win the teams championship in the short-lived
FIA GT2 European Cup.
2011
2011 was a somewhat quiet year for IMSA Performance. They took a break from International GT Open and did not return to the
24 Hours of Spa
The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies.
History
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their a ...
. 2011 also saw the demise of the GT1 class from Le Mans and two new GT classes were formed around GT2-spec cars; LMGTE-Pro for professional drivers rated platinum and/or silver, and LMGTE-Am for gentleman (silver and/or bronze) rated drivers with only one "professional" (gold or platinum) driver allowed. GTE-Am competitors were only allowed use cars of 2010 spec and lower while GTE-Pro entrants could use 2011-spec cars.
IMSA Performance Matmut ran two cars for the season, one in each class. In
LMS, the No. 76 GTE-Pro class car was driven by Patrick Pilet and
Wolf Henzler
Wolfgang Henzler (born 5 April 1975) is a former German Porsche factory racing driver. He began racing in 1991 with a win in the German Junior Kart championship.
Born in Nürtingen, Baden-Württemberg, he won one time the 24 Hours of Le Mans in ...
while the No. 67 GTE-Am car was driven by Raymond Narac and
Nicolas Armindo. While the Pro car only managed fifth in the championship, Narac and Armindo dominated the GTE-Am category winning four of the five events winning the drivers and teams championships by seventeen points.
The team entered just one car at
Le Mans which was the GTE-Pro No. 76 car. Narac, Pilet and Armindo were the drivers. A poor qualifying saw the car start third last in the LMGTE-Pro class, only qualifying ahead of the two slow and unreliable
Lotus Evora
The Lotus Evora is a sports car produced by British car manufacturer Lotus. The car, which was developed under the project name ''Project Eagle'', was launched on 22 July 2008 at the British International Motor Show. The Evora S was launched in ...
's. The race went much better finishing fifth in class between rival Porsche teams
Team Felbermayr-Proton and
Flying Lizard Motorsports
The Flying Lizard Motorsports group is a motorsport team from Sonoma, California, formed by Seth Neiman in early 2003. The team competed in the full American Le Mans Series season, as well as the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. ...
.
2012
The team returned to
International GT Open
The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing series founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It was a spin-off of the now-defunct Spanish GT Championship, but is now a distinct series featuring FIA GT3-spec ca ...
with Narac and Pilet currently second place in the drivers championships as of round two. They are competing in the newly renamed
European Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...
with one car in LMGTE-Am. Narac and Armindo are joined by
Anthony Pons for the season and are currently second in the championship.
The trio also raced together at
Le Mans which saw the car lead in the LMGTE-Am class until veteran and former
Peugeot Sport
Peugeot Sport is the department of French carmaker Peugeot responsible for motorsport activities.
History Beginnings in rallying
Peugeot Sport was formed in 1981 under the name of Peugeot Talbot Sport, after Jean Todt, a World Rally Champions ...
driver
Pedro Lamy
José Pedro Mourão Lamy Viçoso, OIH, known as Pedro Lamy (; born 20 March 1972) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently racing in endurance races teaming up with Mathias Lauda and gentleman driver Paul Dalla Lana. He was the fir ...
in the No. 50
Larbre Compétition
Larbre Compétition is a French auto racing team founded in 1988 by Jack Leconte. Based at the Circuit du Val de Vienne in Le Vigeant, Larbre has had considerable success in the Porsche Carrera Cup, French GT Championship, and international ...
Corvette C6.R overtook the No. 67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche driven by the inexperienced Anthony Pons with under an hour left. Moments later the Porsche picked up a puncture but still managed to finish second in the LMGTE-Am class, a lap behind the winning Larbre Corvette.
2013
In 2013, IMSA took the GTE-Am class win at the
2013 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 81st 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''81e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour automobile endurance racing event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 19 to 23 June 2013 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close ...
. This time Raymond Narac was joined by Cristophe Bourret and Porsche factory driver
Jean-Karl Vernay
Jean-Karl "J. K." Vernay (born 31 October 1987) is a French professional racing driver. He was 2010 Indy Lights and 2017 TCR International Series champion. He has won races at the World Touring Car Cup, where he finished fifth in 2018 and won t ...
.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:IMSA Performance
French auto racing teams
Auto racing teams established in 2001
2001 establishments in France
24 Hours of Le Mans teams
European Le Mans Series teams
International GT Open teams
FIA World Endurance Championship teams
Blancpain Endurance Series teams
FIA GT Championship teams