IMSA 2022

Bourdais ran a hell of a race. Epic. After a drive like this Chip might want to put a car together for Sebastien in the Indianapolis 500. We could use that 33rd entry and right now I don't see anyone more deserving.

Generally, I detest Long Beach because they always wad up a bunch of good cars, but this time we only had two yellows. One was for a minor incident and the other was to repair some broken curbs. This was a reasonably clean race on a track that's usually trouble, so the standard of driving through the whole field is pretty decent.

In spite of this being Long Beach, I'de say this was a really entertaining race.
 
21-second gap to the lead overcome by Seb, and he did it in almost no time. Insane driving. I’m not sure binning it from the lead and going on a rampage to get it back is a viable long-term strategy for Ganassi, but it’s enhanced the show two races in a row now so who’s to say it’s wrong. 😃

Pretty uneventful in GTD Pro, but GTD was pretty racy and physical. And damn, the prototypes were the star of the show. Great racing, right down to Derani and Jarvis getting into it for the final podium spot.
 
At least on the IMSA side, it seems like these guys may have a decent testing advantage over everyone else next year.

 
Three years ago JC Perez and P1 Motorsports shut down racing activities across IMSA and GTWC America after a “back injury” sustained after he “fell down some stairs”. Whoops! The International Marijuana Smugglers Association days may be long over but…

 
Doc Austin said:
Maybe racing is too expensive.
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Nah. Some guys are just crooks, and like to rip people off to fund hobbies while staying insanely wealthy. See Scott Tucker. 99% of any given modern paddock/garage aren’t crooks and get by just fine, and the ones that are eventually get caught and become infamous.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Nah. Some guys are just crooks, and like to rip people off to fund hobbies while staying insanely wealthy. See Scott Tucker. 99% of any given modern paddock/garage aren’t crooks and get by just fine, and the ones that are eventually get caught and become infamous.
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Not on quite the same level as Tucker, but Michael Avenatti was racing in Ferrari Cup or something with money that wasn't his. He also tried to shake Nike down for $25 million. He's sitting in prison for a lot of things, and the trials are ongoing. He could even up with 70 years.
 
Doc Austin said:
Not on quite the same level as Tucker, but Michael Avenatti was racing in Ferrari Cup or something with money that wasn't his. He also tried to shake Nike down for $25 million. He's sitting in prison for a lot of things, and the trials are ongoing. He could even up with 70 years.
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You’re right! Had forgot about Avenatti for a while. GB Autosport, they ran ALMS and IMSA and maybe even Grand-Am for a time. The Tully’s car, they even had Tully’s coffee being served at Daytona for a year or two. I think the track wound up suing them as well.
 
FLRacingFan said:
You’re right! Had forgot about Avenatti for a while.
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Michael Avenatti, the creepy porn lawyer. You can't even make this stuff up.

Well, we haven't heard much about him because the media clammed up when he got into trouble. When he got busted he went from media darling to pariah overnight. He was their hero when he was telling them what they wanted to hear, but once he get caught being a thief they lost interest in reporting on him.
 
Same time as Cup so this one’s for the DVR. Pretty favorable track for Acura, they swept front row. 32 cars across DPi/LMP2/GTD Pro/GTD.



This could’ve been a gnarly practice crash, lucky for all involved:

 
The Acuras were inseparable most of the race while battling for the overall win. MSR briefly took the lead with an undercut in the second-to-last pit cycle before Albuquerque took WTR back to the lead with some aggressive driving in traffic through the Corkscrew a few laps later. The CGR Cadillacs continued their boom-or-bust form with electrical gremlins eliminating the 01 early again, while Alex Lynn put the 02 in the gravel on an in-lap.

Jan Heylen took the Wright Porsche from 4th to 1st in the final stint to win GTD. The CarBahn/Peregrine Lambo nipped the Turner BMW for 2nd at the finish line. A shame the broadcast missed most of the important moments in that class.

 
Penske says he’s had discussions with both IMSA and WEC on a race at the Speedway, and they’re currently further down the road with IMSA.

Last week Marshall Pruett had said he wouldn’t be surprised if Laguna falls off and IMS rejoins the IMSA calendar next year.

 
FLRacingFan said:
Penske says he’s had discussions with both IMSA and WEC on a race at the Speedway, and they’re currently further down the road with IMSA.

Last week Marshall Pruett had said he wouldn’t be surprised if Laguna falls off and IMS rejoins the IMSA calendar next year.

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Damn, Doonan did aay last month that IMSA is not interested in adding another endurance race.

Losing Laguna would be a massive lost for our friends out on the west coast.
 
Kiante said:
Damn, Doonan did aay last month that IMSA is not interested in adding another endurance race.

Losing Laguna would be a massive lost for our friends out on the west coast.
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I don’t think they need one either. Four endurance races is plenty enough. Maybe they can compromise and make it a 4-hour event, obviously Roger wants to differentiate from the regular 2:40 events. But teams really don’t need much more added expense. We’ve got to remember the Grand-Am and ALMS each had two traditional enduros and when they merged they threw all of them on there. It’s a tough calendar as is.

I hope Laguna had good hospitality sales last weekend because it didn’t really look like many people were there in the stands or walking about the track.
 
Getting my full attention this weekend :

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About halfway through there’s a nice segment on their development for LMDh next year. Basically taking the 4.0L V8 that last ran DTM in 2018 and turbocharging it.

 
Threw the red/checkers on MX5 halfway through.
Dry track but lightening in the area. Dark clouds moving in.
Hope it clears up for the Pilot at 4 EST on Peacock.
 
Hotrod said:
Threw the red/checkers on MX5 halfway through.
Dry track but lightening in the area. Dark clouds moving in.
Hope it clears up for the Pilot at 4 EST on Peacock.
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Looks like better weather for tomorrow, but definitely looked pretty nasty in the skies when I checked out the end of qualifying earlier.

Unfortunately no GTD Pro until the 6 Hours at the end of June. 2 PM ET on USA/Peacock

 
Paul Miller's team has been very impressive, even after starting the season late.

IMSA and RSL have come to an agreement for IMSA Radio:
 
Pretty hard but fair racing at Mid-Ohio. The 10 and 01 got into it a couple of times for the overall win, Bourdais used up Albuquerque early on to take the lead back and then Van der Zande and Ricky Taylor made contact a couple of times after the one restart before the 01 spun while side-by-side on the exit of Madness. Acura have won all five races here since it rejoined the calendar.

JPM drove through Jonathan Bomarito for the LMP2 lead under half an hour to go, got a penalty for it, ran him back down and gave him a solid hip check on the way by while retaking the lead.

Jordan Pepper looked like he’d gotten the inception McLaren the manufacturer’s first series win with a crazy 85-minute fuel run where he went from 9th to 1st in GTD with a couple of strong moves, but the car wound up being underweight in post race tech.



 
It sounds like Indy getting a race next season is a near lock, but there’s conflicting reports on whether it’s a sprint or endurance race. Besides them having to dump a race for it, there’s supposedly a good chance they’ll have to cut two if it’s an endurance event. I’m not sure that’s really worth it, but I guess we’ll see soon enough.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Pretty hard but fair racing at Mid-Ohio. The 10 and 01 got into it a couple of times for the overall win, Bourdais used up Albuquerque early on to take the lead back and then Van der Zande and Ricky Taylor made contact a couple of times after the one restart before the 01 spun while side-by-side on the exit of Madness. Acura have won all five races here since it rejoined the calendar.

JPM drove through Jonathan Bomarito for the LMP2 lead under half an hour to go, got a penalty for it, ran him back down and gave him a solid hip check on the way by while retaking the lead.

Jordan Pepper looked like he’d gotten the inception McLaren the manufacturer’s first series win with a crazy 85-minute fuel run where he went from 9th to 1st in GTD with a couple of strong moves, but the car wound up being underweight in post race tech.



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I know I'm an Ohioan, but Mid Ohio & Watkins Glen have to be the most exciting major road courses in the country. Would love to see the Cup guys run here, always a tough drive out there
 
Happy for Auberlan to add another win. That was a crazy
fuel finish. I knew something" stunk in Denmark" with that
McLaren.
 
Per this since-deleted tweet from Cadillac they’ll be unveiling their new car at Le Mans on June 9th.



 
I forgot where I read it but Toyota is supposedly building a new hypersled. Apparently the rules changed so many times while they were building it that they can do a better job with the final rules in an all new car.

I'll try to find the article.
 
Nunez is out of the 31. He will be placed in a standby role, Oliver Pla will takeover next to Derani in the 31:
racer.com

Pla replaces Nunez in AXR Cadillac for remainder of IMSA season | RACER

Action Express Racing (AXR) has signed French driver Olivier Pla to partner Pipo Derani for the remainder of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, starting with this weekend's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Tristan Nunez, who has driven the No. 31 so far this season, will remain...
racer.com racer.com
 
I sincerely hope this means one of the one-make series and not the WeatherTech championship. Not a lot of fans will be happy if they wind up dropping three current tracks to go to Indy and Miami.

 
FLRacingFan said:
I sincerely hope this means one of the one-make series and not the WeatherTech championship. Not a lot of fans will be happy if they wind up dropping three current tracks to go to Indy and Miami.

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Don't F1 IMSA. An IMSA support race the Saturday of Grand Prix weekend would probably start tickets at $100 a pop.

The Indy 500 has the Little 500 and IRP and I'm sure there's some other local dirt races that week that hype up the 500.
The Daytona 500 has the World Series at New Smyrna and even the Truck/Xfinity tickets are pretty reasonable.
These are local events that capitalize on race fans being in the area... but they are still small and local events. Those are fine. The 10k diehards that want to spend 2 weeks in Daytona or jump around the tracks of Indiana can.

The F1 Miami race (and Daytona and Indy) are all prestigious enough without needing another world-class series to join it. I'm all for Indy/Cup or IMSA/whatever doubleheaders, but at tracks where having a doubleheader will make a real difference in attendance. I live in Utah now. If there was a Cup race on the oval and an IMSA race on the road course of Kansas I'd definitely consider buying a ticket more so than one of those events being on their own. But the Miami F1 race already sells itself- no need to add anything to it.

Indycar is trying with the GP of Indy 2 weeks before the 500 and that event isn't a total failure but it sure feels like a gimmick. And I don't think anyone ever said "ya know I was really on the fence about going to the Indy 500 but now that there's an event on the road course 2 weeks before I'm TOTALLY going!". Kinda like no one said "oh man, with the All-Star race gone from Charlotte I won't go to the 600".
 
Speedbowl14 said:
Indycar is trying with the GP of Indy 2 weeks before the 500 and that event isn't a total failure but it sure feels like a gimmick.
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I think it was to maintain the month of May tradition. That and the speedway is supposed to make money.

I kind of like it having the GP. It keeps May alive, we get a race, and we get a whole lotta hype. going into 500 practice.
 
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