Pontiac was one of the key pillars of General Motors for a long time and in 2004 the re-introduction of the GTO via the Australian sourced Holden Monaro led to an expansion of its motorsport program.
Using the GTO as a base, Pontiac entered the GT Class of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series in 2005.
General Motors was already involved in GT racing through its American Le Mans Series and subsequent Le Mans programs with the Chevrolet Corvette, so was able to integrate some of the features of this into the GTO.
Coming up against Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and Mazda, the Pontiac debuted at the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
Powering the GTO.R was GM’s LS2 90º V8 estimated to produce 450hp, with an Xtrac 370GT five-speed sequential gearbox transferring the grunt through the rear-wheels.
Weighing 1225kg, the GTO.R was at a slight disadvantage compared to the Porsche due to the German thoroughbred’s lightness, which was evened out by the Pontiac’s power.
TRG debuted two GTO.Rs to reasonable results in its debut, but overall during its five year stint, it proved a less than successful model.
It took just two wins and 10 class victories across 90 events during its stint in competition from 2005 and 2010.
The program wasn’t helped when the GTO was withdrawn from the market in 2006 due to Holden ending production of the platform and the Pontiac brand was then folded due to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.
Its program in Grand-Am marked one of Pontiac’s final involvements in motorsport.