<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Following an unsuccessful debut in the 1997 Sebring 12 Hours, Panoz embarked on an ambitious global program. European teams DAMS and David Price Racing campaigned two cars each in the FIA GT Championship and also lodged Le Mans entries, while Panoz campaigned the GTR-1 in North America. For various reasons, the new Panoz was not particularly competitive and successful in Europe but in North America, several outright and class wins were scored.
Some of the issues that plagued the car in its debut season were addressed over the winter. Much of the work focused on the aerodynamics. Both the front and rear overhang were increased, primarily to allow the rear wing to be mounted further away from the cockpit, which was a substantial source of turbulence. For Le Mans, a hybrid version of the car was also created with the help of Zytek. Known as 'Sparky', it only ran in the Pre-Qualifying.
For 1998, the effort was slightly scaled back and the cars were only run by DAMS and Panoz Motorpsort. The season started off very well as Andy Wallace and David Brabham finished second overall and first in class in the Sebring 12 Hours. At Le Mans, one car reached the finish and eventually placed seventh overall. Like the year before, the real successes were restricted to North American events, where the GTR-1 once again scored several outright and class wins.
From the 1999 season onwards the GT1 class ceased to exist but the existing cars were welcomed in the prototype class, where they belonged much better anyway. Due to its roof, the GTR-1 was however unnecessarily heavy, so Reynard and Panoz quickly developed an open prototype along the same lines. The new LMP-1 showed that there was more than a little merit in the unconventional layout, scoring several outright wins and winning the inaugural ALMS Manufacturer's Championship.
After the opening races of the 1999 season, the GTR-1 was set aside in favour of the new LMP-1 prototype. Four years later, the car made a surprise comeback when one example was dusted off for the November 2003 Le Mans 1000 km race. Although the outing was not particularly successful, it convinced Larbre Competition to give the car several more outings in 2004, which included entries at Sebring and Le Mans. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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Esperante GTR-1 Le Mans
Following an unsuccessful debut in the 1997 Sebring 12 Hours, Panoz embarked on an ambitious global program. European teams DAMS and David Price Racing campaigned two cars each in the FIA GT Championship and also lodged Le Mans entries, while Panoz campaigned the GTR-1 in North America. For various reasons, the new Panoz was not particularly competitive and successful in Europe but in North America, several outright and class wins were scored.