IMSA 2020

20 for VIR (6 GTLM/14 GTD) which will run Saturday and be shown tape-delayed on Sunday morning.

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With Laguna still likely to be axed and Mid-Ohio up in the air, the Homestead roval is another potential venue that could serve as a replacement host. Barber, Daytona for the third time (lol), and a second Road America race are the other options as needed.

Also under the radar is a note that a two-car factory Ferrari GTLM program was recently nixed after one of the sponsors backed out due to financial effects of COVID-19. Very unfortunate.

sportscar365.com

VIR Friday Notebook – Sportscar365

Sportscar365's Friday notebook from Michelin GT Challenge weekend at VIR...
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I think the prototypes would race well at VIR, and I actually wouldn't mind another race a Daytona@
 
Doc Austin said:
I think the prototypes would race well at VIR, and I actually wouldn't mind another race a Daytona@
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I’d love to see prototypes at Barber, they’d look ultra quick around there. Hopefully that’s the move but understandably there are a lot of moving parts to sort out before anything is decided.
 
Good race at VIR. A hot, fast track with no margin for error usually makes for that. Corvette were fortunate to win as the #911 and #912 both had tire issues while the #25 BMW looped it once. Both classes had podium battles go down to the wire.

 
StandOnIt said:
I was trying to figure that out. Could it be extra weight the M8 has to carry?
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Good question. I’m no aerodynamicist but I read that the M8 narrowing and tapering off at the back makes it a little more slippery, whereas the 911 actually gets wider around the rear wheels.

BMW had a lot of drag back when they were running the Z4 and that also was pretty bulky at the rear.
 
Getting ready to head to the track for the 6 hr.
My picks include both Taylor cars and the Sellars/Snow Lambo.
Light field but still a good time. Enjoy the race.
Even though its in my backyard, I still wish it was at the Glen.
 
After two straight wins the split between Penske and Acura seems a bit tragic. Too bad they can't squeeze another year out of it, but my guess I Penske s putting a LeMans effort together. I believe that's the only unfulfilled goal Roger has left.

I would like to say again that this race was especially fun. I only got to see the last three hours, but those was really good.

I'm also really delighted with the schedule we ended up with. Two Daytonas, two Sebrings, two Road Atlantas. If they could have somehow worked in a Glen it would have been the dream calendar.

Also worth of note is I got through the entire race and never once looked to see how many people were there. I guess we are getting used to the empty stands. We don't want it that way but its good to know the sport is healthy enough to withstand this kind of thing.
 
That was an enjoyable race day. At 7:30 a.m. parked right on the fence at T2/3. Sat in my truck
10 ft. from the racing surface and enjoyed every minute of it; even when I let my seat
back and took a 30 minute nap. Glad they didn't go NASCAR on us with that final
restart. Really proud of that Acura 7 team coming back after the penalties and all.
 
State of the Sport is supposed to be tomorrow, and with it come some significant changes. At the very least it sounds like, from multiple reporting outlets, LMP3 will be incorporated into the big show somehow. Among other items to watch are whether or not the schedule changes and if so, how; and will there be some sort of direction provided on what the GT classes may look like for the next few years.
 
FLRacingFan said:
At the very least it sounds like, from multiple reporting outlets, LMP3 will be incorporated into the big show somehow.
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ELMS has a combined grid of 35 of full season P2/P3 cars. They put on a hell of a spectacle. I'de love for IMSA to be like that.
 
I would be completely sold on it if they would allow the P2 cars to race with the DPIs.

The way it is, P2 s just two cars, which makes it the most important championship no one cares enough about to con test. Let them race in DPI because that's where we are going to need cars.
 
Doc Austin said:
I would be completely sold on it if they would allow the P2 cars to race with the DPIs.

The way it is, P2 s just two cars, which makes it the most important championship no one cares enough about to con test. Let them race in DPI because that's where we are going to need cars.
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Neither side wants that. It’s just not going to happen. The two teams that may have wanted to keep doing that, ESM and CORE, are out because Ed Brown retired from President/CEO role of Patron and subsequently from racing, while Jon Bennett got married. None of the current LMP2 runners want to race against DPi again and the reason they got back up to five cars before COVID this season was because of the Bronze mandate.
 
It's only two cars, so its not going to make much impact either way. I'de just love to see more prototypes capable of winning overall.

They really race the crap out of those P3 cars. It will be great to have them in the Weather Tech series. We need cars and this is a good answer to that.
 
Doc Austin said:
It's only two cars, so its not going to make much impact either way. I'de just love to see more prototypes capable of winning overall.

They really race the crap out of those P3 cars. It will be great to have them in the Weather Tech series. We need cars and this is a good answer to that.
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I'm hesitant because the budget to race LMP3 increases dramatically between the current PC series and the WeatherTech championship, from around 14 hours of race running time to 36 without Daytona or 60 hours with it. LMP3 car counts might be healthy downstairs but how many can afford that much of a budget increase?

Also, the disparity in talent despite the similarity in pace to the GT classes on circuits not as forgiving as what they run in ELMS could make things really dicey. As it is right now, they obviously run alone by themselves in their own series so that will be an adjustment.

I hope it goes well and turns out to be another competitive feeder rung of sorts but there are definitely some uncertainties about it.
 
The prototype challenge will remain as is, but it's inevitable some teams will want to move to the big show.

IMSA had to do something because we could be looking at a potential 4-6 DPIs next year. I don't believe anyone is going to buy a DPI and I also don't believe there are any available. Acura was supposed to sell a couple, but we are also losing Penske, so if there is no customer car, they are out. Who's going to buy one anyway, with the new cars coming in 2022? Mazda was supposed to have a customer car this year, but that never materialized. All that's left is Cadillac , and they've already supplied enough cars, and should be commended for that.

We'de obviously be in better shape without the covid mess, but also, everyone is in holding pattern until we get the new cars. 2021 is a bad time to invest because there has been no talk of grandfathering those cars. So, even if you did want to go DPI racing in 2021, where do you get a car? That,
and it's going to be done after a single year, not the best investment. This is why I thought bringing the P2 cars back on equal terms with the DPIs would be a good move. At least you can buy a P2 pretty easily. This way IMSA adds P cars and stays aligned with WEC/ACO rules. We want the convergence to work, so we can't stray from what they are doing very much.
 
Doc Austin said:
The prototype challenge will remain as is, but it's inevitable some teams will want to move to the big show.

IMSA had to do something because we could be looking at a potential 4-6 DPIs next year. I don't believe anyone is going to buy a DPI and I also don't believe there are any available. Acura was supposed to sell a couple, but we are also losing Penske, so if there is no customer car, they are out. Who's going to buy one anyway, with the new cars coming in 2022? Mazda was supposed to have a customer car this year, but that never materialized. All that's left is Cadillac , and they've already supplied enough cars, and should be commended for that.

We'de obviously be in better shape without the covid mess, but also, everyone is in holding pattern until we get the new cars. 2021 is a bad time to invest because there has been no talk of grandfathering those cars. So, even if you did want to go DPI racing in 2021, where do you get a car? That,
and it's going to be done after a single year, not the best investment. This is why I thought bringing the P2 cars back on equal terms with the DPIs would be a good move. At least you can buy a P2 pretty easily. This way IMSA adds P cars and stays aligned with WEC/ACO rules. We want the convergence to work, so we can't stray from what they are doing very much.
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Acura will most likely announce at least MSR as a DPi team at Mid-Ohio in a few weeks. I haven’t heard anything on who specifically may be chosen for a second or even third partner team, although it still appears basically every Honda IndyCar team (besides Coyne) and Joest are interested in running a car. But MSR sounds like a lock.

Action Express are close to announcing an extension with Whelen and Gary Nelson said they would like to go back to a two-car operation. Depending on what JDC-Miller do the car count in the top class should be the same.
 
Good news we aren't losing any, but the bad news is we also aren't adding any.

We're right in the middle of a pandemic and an equipment transition all at the same time. Should probably be grateful it isn't worse.
 
Doc Austin said:
Good news we aren't losing any, but the bad news is we also aren't adding any.

We're right in the middle of a pandemic and an equipment transition all at the same time. Should probably be grateful it isn't worse.
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I agree, and I think RACER reported yesterday it’s a two-year arrangement (for now at least) which will bridge the gap to when LMDh comes online in 2023. This won’t be the last significant change, not by a long shot I don’t think.
 
27 cars for Mid-Ohio this weekend (8 DPi/6 GTLM/13 GTD). Streaming through NBC Sports from 2-5 PM on Sunday but tape-delayed until after the Cup race on TV.

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