Chrysler Cancels Factory-Backed Road Racing
The world didn’t know it, but when the final 2014 Tudor USCC race finished last Saturday it marked more than the end of an inaugural season. It was also the end of Chrysler’s factory-backed SRT Motorsports racing team.
“Our company has made a business decision to discontinue the SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper GTS-R racing program,” said Chrysler design boss and former SRT CEO Ralph Gilles. The company plans to re-direct its focus on selling commercial products, it said today in an official statement.
The team drove its last race on Saturday during the Petit Le Mans in Braselton, Ga. where car number 91 took third place in its class and 11th overall. The number 93 Viper took sixth place in its class and 14th overall in the race. The two-car team won the team and driver titles in the GTLM-Class.
But it seems as if the racing team is one of the casualties that came with Chrysler’s choice to fold the temporarily separate SRT brand back into Dodge. Chrysler announced that plan on May 6 as part of its outlined five-year plan for Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Maserati and Alfa Romeo in the U.S.
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Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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Poor Maserati you shouldn't have to do anything with those others