The ViperExchange.com/ Gas Monkey Garage squad gave the Dodge Viper GT3-R a victory in its last IMSA race on Saturday at Petit Le Mans. The swan song victory was earned from the pole and ended a long successful and winning career for Dodge Vipers in IMSA competition.
“I’m extremely excited,” explained ViperExchange.com’s Ben Keating. “I learned to race in a Viper. It’s an emotional thing to be racing a Viper for the last time in IMSA, put it on the pole and win Petit Le Mans. It’s the final race of the year and really special.”
While the Dodge Viper will no longer be seen in IMSA competition, the successful GT3-R race car is not going away from the worldwide racing scene. Several Dodge Viper GT3-Rs will continue to compete overseas, and a renewed effort in Pirelli World Challenge is in the plans for 2017.
“The short-term future with the race cars, and we are racing over in Europe right now, is to be in Pirelli World Challenge next year with multiple teams,” said Erich Heuschele, SRT Motorsports engineering manager. “Hopefully we will have at least three entries, and we are working on setting that up right now. Unfortunately, we are going to walk away from IMSA for 2017, but we still have GT3-Rs in the field, we still have customers that want to race this car, and they are buying race cars to run in World Challenge.
“The Viper is going to be made through the 2017 model year. So, we’ll have a full 2017 production run which has already started,” he added. “Viper ACRs and GT Customs in particular are still quite popular. If you want one of the last thrilling, analog cars that rewards driving skill, get an order in to Ben or your local dealer before 2017 runs out. This is the end of an era.”
