While anxiously awaiting the arrival of the eagerly anticipated LMDH prototypes in 2023, the IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Championship is fighting to adapt within a rapidly evolving motorsport ecosystem. All while grappling with a global pandemic.

Nevertheless, IMSA’s DPI top class continues to host several manufacturers and world class drivers. On the GT side, the PRO-AM GTD class boasts significant entries with multiple manufacturers represented. All very promising indeed.

Conversely, the PRO focused GTLM category has slowly eroded to near extinction and will close at the end of the season. In 2020, Porsche withdrew its factory GTLM program, following Ford’s exit a year before.

As the 2020 IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Championship concluded at a thrilling 12 hours of Sebring in November, GTLM’s 2021 prospects looked bleak. Only the fiercely loyal Corvette Racing Team had committed to a full season and BMW’s limited program had yet to be confirmed. Thus, IMSA faced the unthinkable prospect of an unopposed season for the two factory Corvette C8.Rs.

Enter Weathertech and the MacNeil family. Since 2016, the American auto accessories giant has sponsored North America’s leading sports car series. Led by David MacNeil and his son Cooper, Weathertech have deployed enormous financial support to the sport.

Weathertech’s backing has also focused on Cooper MacNeil’s exploits behind the wheel. Wherever Cooper was driving, his car would likely adorn a Weathertech livery. Boasting multiple titles in the American Le Mans Series and the Ferrari Challenge, Cooper’s impressive achievements should squash any tired barbs about advantages from his family’s wealth. The stopwatch does not lie.

After three successful seasons with a Ferrari in the GTD PRO-AM category, including two Petit Le Mans wins, Cooper and his family began to assess options for 2021. Rumours soon circulated that Cooper and Weathertech Racing would step up to the pro dominated GTLM category for 2021.

Although privateer teams can enter GTLM, the category has essentially been an exclusive arena for manufacturer teams and their superstar drivers. Such are the prohibitive costs involved in running complex GTLM machines.

Logic may suggest that a privateer team would be wise to remain in the PRO-AM based GTD category. However, the MacNeil family follow their own path. Particularly with their Weathertech brand. Typically, significantly cheaper manufacturing costs force companies to look abroad for production. Not Weathertech. Since launching the auto accessories firm in 1989, David MacNeil has driven home an ethos of design and manufacture in the United States. Weathertech’s Superbowl adverts normally centre around this very message.

When rumours of Weathertech’s alleged GTLM plan intensified, many believed the alliance with Ferrari would continue. After all, Cooper MacNeil had accumulated significant mileage in various iterations of Ferrari’s 488.

As the world sleepwalked back to work after the festive break, Weathertech Racing confirmed their GTLM entry for 2021. However, the big shock was the choice of machine. Porsche, not Ferrari, would take this ambitious privateer effort into the GTLM lion’s den. Incredibly, the MacNeil’s impressive GTLM ambitions failed to stimulate interest or support at Maranello.

Once word reached Weissach that the incredible 911 RSR-19 could continue running in North America, the unparralled Porsche customer racing operation leapt into action. Leading Porsche customer outfit, Proton Competition, were also enlisted to help with operations at the track.

Delighted to find a privateer willing to run the exotic RSR, Porsche deployed their own engineers and a roster of works drivers to assist the Weathertech effort. However, this is very much ‘the Porsche way’. When a privateer team with sufficient credentials steps up, Porsche will meet them halfway. Brumos Racing, Martini International Racing Team, Dyson Racing and many more have all received enthusiastic assistance from Weissach in pursuit of Porsche’s success. In fact, Porsche’s affiliation with customer racing teams has confirmed the Stuttgart brand’s superiority across endurance racing’s triple crown of Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring.

Weathertech Racing’s new alliance with Porsche began at the 2021 Rolex 24 hour. Porsche superstars Kevin Estre, Richard Leitz, and Gianmaria Bruni joined Cooper MacNeil in the privateer 911 RSR. Unfortunately, the crew’s debut descended into a nightmare before the green flag dropped on the day long race.

Straining for release into the 24-hour classic, an overly excited Bruno Spengler ploughed into the back of the defenceless Weathertech Porsche during the rolling start procedure. Subsequent damage resulted in a long delay in the pits and a demoralising trudge to the flag. Bitterly disappointed, the Weathertech crew faced a two month wait to settle the score at the 12 hours of Sebring.

Porsche’s globetrotting aces, Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, were dispatched to assist Weathertech Racing’s Sebring effort. As impressive a driver as Cooper MacNeil may be, the GTLM field is renowned for its ferocious competitiveness. Therefore, the Weathertech team would have to outfox their rivals on strategy. Deploying the devastating pace of Jaminet and Campbell at the correct moment, would be vital.

In a tactical masterstroke, MacNeil took on qualifying duties against IMSA hall of famers - Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner, Jesse Krohn and Connor de Phillippi. Qualifying within a second of the world’s best GT stars, MacNeil would start behind all four GTLM rivals.

IMSA’s unique safety car process dictates that each class must gather up behind the class leader before a restart. Therefore, staying on the lead lap is paramount. A superb drive early on ensured MacNeil’s side of the strategical bargain was kept. Shadowing his platinum grade competitors, MacNeil always handed over the #79 911 RSR to his Porsche factory teammates in a position to challenge for the win.

In the final moments of the race, Mathieu Jaminet remained in the fight with the factory Corvettes and BMWs. With only twenty minutes to go, a clash between the #25 BMW and #3 Corvette allowed Jaminet to swoop by and claim a historic victory for Weathertech and a fourth consecutive Sebring 12-hour triumph for the Porsche RSR.

On a day when Porsche reached 100 class wins at Sebring, Weathertech Racing’s triumph ranks amongst the Stuttgart firm’s best at the 12-hour marathon. For years, it was assumed that a privately entered team would struggle to compete in the GTLM category. Weathertech Racing proved otherwise at only the second time of asking.

This ambitious privateer entry has ensured that the GTLM show will enjoy one final act. Weathertech and the MacNeil family thoroughly deserve to be a star in that show.