BRASELTON, Ga. -- It was a no-brainer for SRT Motorsports manager Gary Johnson to turn to Ryan Hunter-Reay to co-drive the No. 91 SRT Dodge Viper in the 17th Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Experience: Hunter-Reay has driven the car in two other endurance races this year (Rolex 24 At Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring) and co-drove to eighth place in the No. 91 car in the 2012 Petit Le Mans. He also co-drove an LMP2 car to fifth place on the 12-turn, 2.54-mile road course in 2009.

Savvy: Johnson has confidence that Hunter-Reay will be steady during his stints in the 10-hour race Oct. 4.

Steely under pressure: Hunter-Reay has had his share of pressure-packed races, including the 10-lap duel with Helio Castroneves in May that he won to earn his first Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. He also earned his 2012 series title in a final-race competition with Will Power.

SRT Motorsports split its regular lineup in an effort to double its prospects of wrapping up the GT Le Mans class driver championship and earning the class team title. Kuno Wittmer was moved to the No. 91 entry with Hunter-Reay and Marc Goossens. Jonathan Bomarito, who is tied with Wittmer for the GT Le Mans driver points lead heading into the season finale, will remain a co-driver of the No. 93 car. He'll be joined by Dominik Farnbacher and Rob Bell in the 10-hour race Oct. 4.

"I'm focused on doing my part, which is running strong and consistent throughout the race weekend," said Hunter-Reay, who won three races and placed sixth in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship in his fifth season with Andretti Autosport.

Bomarito, the 2008 Champ Car Atlantic Series championship runner-up, and Wittmer won the most recent class race at Circuit of the Americas.

"There is a massive difference between the Viper and my IndyCar. However, I've become accustomed to jumping in and out of different race cars over the years. I really enjoy figuring out how to adjust my driving in order to extract the fulll capabilities of any type of race car," added Hunter-Reay, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Hunter-Reay will be required to quickly get acclimated to a variety of cars when he competes in the Race of Champions on Dec. 13-14 in Barbados. The competition pits champions from multiple disciplines competing head to head in identically-prepared cars in the round-robin format. The lineup of cars vary from year to year.

Hunter-Reay competed in the event in Thailand following his 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series championship-winning season.