Lone Star Racing will make its return to IMSA competition in next weekend’s Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio, in the debut race for the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

The Texas-based squad will field a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Lawson Aschenbach and Gar Robinson, in what’s understood to be a partial-season Sprint Cup program for the team running in partnership with Robinson Racing.

It will mark Lone Star’s first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start since WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in 2017, although it more recently took part in selected Blancpain GT World Challenge America races last year.

Lone Star’s entry is one of 15 GT3-spec cars in the GT Daytona class, which will see the North American debut of the McLaren 720S GT3, with Compass Racing fielding a car for Paul Holton and Matt Plumb.

Those two cars are the only additions to the grid for the first round of the new-for-2019 Sprint Cup, which will be contested exclusively within the GTD class.

Notable absences from the class include PPM’s Lamborghini, as well as P1 Motorsports’ Mercedes, which has been withdrawn from the remainder of the WeatherTech Championship season.

Both had previously committed full-season programs in GTD.

Multiple Driver Lineup Changes in Mid-Ohio Entry

A total of 36 cars, meanwhile, are entered for the race, featuring a number of driver lineup changes.

Eric Lux has been drafted into the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson as a substitute driver for Gabriel Aubry, who will be on FIA World Endurance Championship duty at Spa-Francorchamps that weekend.

Performance Tech Motorsports’ Oreca, the only other car in the LMP2 class, will feature Kyle Masson and Cameron Cassels at the wheel.

Marco Seefried will join Patrick Long in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, subbing for WEC GTE-Am points leader Patrick Lindsey, while two TBAs remain in the DPi class.

Juncos Racing has yet to confirm its second driver alongside full-season pilot Will Owen, with Mazda Team Joest also not having announced Harry Tincknell’s replacement in the No. 55 entry for the race.

Like Aubry and Lindsey, Tincknell has full-season WEC commitments.