56th Rolex 24 at Daytona

FLRacingFan

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Schedule-
Thursday -
Practice 1: (9:20-10:20 AM E)
Practice 2: (1:40-2:40 PM)
Qualifying: (3:55-5 PM)
Practice 3: (6:30-8 PM)
Friday -
Practice 4: (9:40-10:40 AM)
Ferrari Challenge Race 1: (11-11:45 AM)
BMW Endurance Challenge (1-5 PM)
Saturday -
Ferrari Challenge Race 2 (9:30-10:15 AM)
Rolex 24 (2:40-2:40 PM Sunday)

TV schedule-
FOX (2 – 5 PM Sat.)
FS2 (5 – 10 PM)
FSGO (10 – 11 PM)
FS1 (11 PM – 1 AM Sun.)
FSGO (1 AM – 8 AM)
FS1 (8 AM – 10:30 AM)
FSGO (10:30 AM – 1 PM)
FS1 (1 PM – 3 PM)
Qualifying and the support series races will be streamed on IMSA.tv.

Entry list


BMW Endurance Challenge entry list
 
Is it me, or does this race gets less and less air time on accessible channels?

It's criminal how the one channel we can watch the race only gets like 2 hours.
 
I think I can remember only 1 year that the full 24 hr was broadcasted.
Probably on Speed. I loved it, but it must be a production nightmare plus the
viewing numbers just don't support it.
 
Is it me, or does this race gets less and less air time on accessible channels?

It's criminal how the one channel we can watch the race only gets like 2 hours.
I think the time slots are bad. Late morning into the closing hours shouldn’t be exclusive to FSGo.

If you have a way to get around the geoblock IMSA.tv streams the entire race commercial-free with the (superior) IMSA Radio commentary.
 
Fox continues to turn it into a real cluster. It continues to get worse as it is getting harder and harder to find streams that broadcast the whole race.
 
Fox continues to turn it into a real cluster. It continues to get worse as it is getting harder and harder to find streams that broadcast the whole race.
It's the last year of the FOX/IMSA contract and just last week FOX ditched the WEC and 24 Hour of Le Mans, so who knows. There may be an entirely new partner next year to clean things up.
 
Didn't pay much attention to who was doing what, but the whole 24 hour sports car race from Dubai was streamed a week or so ago. Stream was super strong, coverage was just fine and it couldn't have cost an arm and a leg to broadcast it. Really pointed out how crappy a job Fox is doing to the premiere event of IMSA. A whole bunch of dumb greedy going on with that bunch IMO.
 
Stars, top teams deliver global interest, boost for IMSA’s Rolex 24
Sports car racing series IMSA is kicking off its 2018 season this weekend with the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and IMSA’s top executive said that a confluence of factors have greatly bolstered the event.

For starters, two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso will be among the competitors. Alonso — shepherded to the race by McLaren executive director Zak Brown, who owns a team competing in the Rolex 24 — also competed in, and significantly elevated, last year’s Indianapolis 500 in IndyCar. Scott Atherton, IMSA president and chief operating officer, said his series is seeing a similar response from Alonso joining Brown’s sports car team, United Autosports.

Other highlights of this year’s event include the return of Team Penske to sports car racing via a star-studded driver lineup and new partnership with Honda’s Acura brand, and the presence of Jackie Chan DC Racing, a Chinese team co-owned by actor Jackie Chan.

“There’s never been more momentum, interest, energy and overall buzz surrounding this debut event for our 2018 season, and that’s not a throwaway or PR line,” Atherton said. “When you add together all the news that’s been announced over the last several months … it’s unprecedented.”

Media credential requests are up more than 20 percent from last year, driven by European and other international interest, while advanced ticket sales are up double digits over last year. Infield camping, infield parking and the infield expo display area are sold out, while Daytona International Speedway is nearly sold out of corporate hospitality.

To further drum up publicity about its upcoming season, IMSA, which is controlled by NASCAR’s France family, is conducting a New York media tour for the first time and will have a presence at this week’s NASCAR media tour for the first time.

The Rolex 24 is an endurance race where drivers take turns driving multi-hour stints for a team as part of the 24-hour event. Fox Sports will broadcast the race across its family of channels, including the first three hours of the competition on Fox’s broadcast network.

IMSA boasts an eye-opening 17 auto manufacturers involved and is in talks for others to join. Atherton said all manufacturer deals require full activation programs on site and media buys.

Bobby Rahal, co-owner of the BMW Team RLL in IMSA and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in IndyCar, agreed with Atherton that the series has momentum, but said the key will be to keep it.

“If you’re thinking of manufacturer involvement, IMSA has a huge amount,” Rahal said. “I don’t think IMSA has ever been in as good of position as it currently is; the trick will be maintaining that, but clearly sports car racing is in a pretty good spot right now.”
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2018/01/22/Events-and-Attractions/Rolex24.aspx
 
Well we are still going to Fl. this weekend for a mini vacation, but I am skipping the 24
this year. Looks like the whole 95 corridor is forecasted to be wet Sunday. Still
really excited to see this prototype battle. If any of you are interested in an IMSA
pickem, this is a good (easy registration) one to play in starting this weekend.
http://nasportscar.com/tusc-pick-em/
 
Isn't that photo usually taken with the cars arrange four wide? I guess three wide makes the field look bigger, but it's impossible to see the cars in the beyond about row 6.
 
Things in 1st practice that caught my untrained eye:

#77 Mazda climbed to the top late in practice (1:37:428). The other Joest #55 only ran 15th.

#90 Caddy finished 2nd after being 1st for most of the practice.

#37 and #78 Jackie Chan cars finished 5th and 7th in their first time here.
Penske Acuras #6 and #7 were 10th and 14th.

One second separated the top 13 Prototypes.
One second between the top 7 GTLMs.
One between the top 14 GTDs.

Fastest GTLM was over 6 seconds behind the fastest P. With 20 Ps in the field, it will take a lot of attrition for a GTLM overall victory.
 
Porsche-Audi-Ford top three in Conti qualifying. Not a whole lot out of the new Mercedes and BMW.
 
The new BMW M8 seems like an absolute dog still - only two tenths up on the top GT3 cars and over two seconds behind the next car in GTLM. And that’s for the car that actually made it out of the garage.
 
The new BMW M8 seems like an absolute dog still - only two tenths up on the top GT3 cars and over two seconds behind the next car in GTLM. And that’s for the car that actually made it out of the garage.
And that holds for qualifying:

Vette
Ford
Porsche
Porsche
Ford
Vette
Ferrari
BMW
BMW
 
#22 Patron Nissan in the tire wall in one of the horseshoes during Q. Car is rolling, but left front is not :(
 
#10 - van der Zande puts Wayne Taylor on the pole
Castroneves puts the Penske #7 in second.
#5 Albequerque puts the Caddy in third.

One second separates the top 13.
 
#10 - van der Zande puts Wayne Taylor on the pole
Castroneves puts the Penske #7 in second.
#5 Albequerque puts the Caddy in third.

One second separates the top 13.
And just over a half separate the top nine. And it really should’ve been more, with neither ESM being able to lay down a flying lap as well as one of the Mazdas.
 
Is it me, or does this race gets less and less air time on accessible channels?

It's criminal how the one channel we can watch the race only gets like 2 hours.

They had 23 hours of race coverage last year across Fox, FS1 and FS2.

This year, even some of the daytime coverage won't be shown on TV. Huge downgrade.
 
Stupid question about minimum driver times: is the minimum time total time across all stints, or is it a minimum continuous time?

Say the minimum is 45 minutes, like in the current Continental race, and say I only get 30 minutes in my first shift. Can will another 15 minutes meet the requirement, or must I start over and a 45-minute continuous drive?
 
Stupid question about minimum driver times: is the minimum time total time across all stints, or is it a minimum continuous time?

Say the minimum is 45 minutes, like in the current Continental race, and say I only get 30 minutes in my first shift. Can will another 15 minutes meet the requirement, or must I start over and a 45-minute continuous drive?
Total drive time. I don’t think there’s a minimum stint length.
 
They moved soccer or whatever was previously scheduled. The final 4+ hours will all be shown on FS1 now.

DUQHpjeVAAAshRG.jpg

They felt the heat.

If I remember correctly, last year they showed quals live on FS1. This year they didn't even bother to show it on tape delay.
 
They felt the heat.

If I remember correctly, last year they showed quals live on FS1. This year they didn't even bother to show it on tape delay.
They upload qualifying ASAP if you wanna check it out. Prototype was by far the best.

 
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