IMSA 2023

FLRacingFan

FLRacingFan

Team Owner
Joined
Feb 9, 2013
Messages
39,443
Points
1,033
Location
Florida
@Kiante has mentioned several times how impressive he’s been in LMP2 recently and it’s paid off, Louis Delétraz will be WTR’s third driver for endurance events next year. Brendon Hartley returns for Daytona and Delétraz is in line for a full-time ride when WTR aim to expand to two cars in 2024.

 
FLRacingFan said:
@Kiante has mentioned several times how impressive he’s been in LMP2 recently and it’s paid off, Louis Delétraz will be WTR’s third driver for endurance events next year. Brendon Hartley returns for Daytona and Delétraz is in line for a full-time ride when WTR aim to expand to two cars in 2024.

Click to expand...

Best move he could have made was leaving open wheel racing and moving to sports cars.

I've been a believer of his talent for years, just because he has the Deletraz last name, a lot of people took this young man for a joke. I'm glad his hard work is paying off.
 


Positive reviews so far, although the MSR Acura did suffer a suspension failure on Monday.

Drivers who tested the cars immediately noted primary differences between the LMDh and the DPi cars that were finally parked after the weekend’s season-ending action: more power, less downforce, different view.
Click to expand...
“The seating position is completely different,” Blomqvist said. “Obviously, that feels weird. It’s a completely different perspective. You definitely feel the power. It’s got more power, but it is slower in the corners. It’s a bigger car. It’s heavier. Naturally, it’s got a little bit less downforce.”

All of which make good on one of the many intended purposes of the car: making it more difficult to drive and creating more passing opportunities.
Click to expand...
“The car is powerful,” said Sebastien Bourdais, who tested the Cadillac V-LMDh for Cadillac Racing. “It’s making close to 700 horsepower, obviously, but when you couple that with quite a bit less downforce – like significantly less downforce – it’s definitely a car that gives you a run for your money. You have to work at it.

“You’ve got some good mechanical grip, but then the weight negates that some. Aero-wise, you get there pretty quick but then you can’t lean on the aero quite as much. You get there fast, but it’s a bit harder to stop. When you get to the corner, you’ve got to stop it more. It’s definitely a car that keeps you awake.”
Click to expand...

Three Day GTP Test At Road Atlanta Concluded | dailysportscar.com

Three days of testing for the new-for-2023 GTP cars, with two of them in front of the eyes of the media, have been completed at Road Atlanta, the first opportunity for many to see the 2023 face of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar championship on track together. Whilst the Penske Porsche squad...
www.dailysportscar.com www.dailysportscar.com
 
DTM points leader Sheldon van der Linde and fellow DTM driver Marco Wittmann will fill two more BMW GTP seats at Daytona and Sebring next year, ahead of likely WEC seats in 2024. One more spot left for Daytona, and it sure would be neat to see an F1 world champion who started their racing career with BMW in it.

 
No real surprise, MSR bring back Helio as the #3 for the endurance races and Pagenaud as the #4 for the Rolex. Still waiting a second full-time driver announcement, seems as though they’re parting ways with Olly Jarvis.



More mileage being logged at Daytona this week:



 
Lambo sign with Iron Lynx + PREMA for their IMSA and WEC programs, starting with GT3 in 2023 and expanding to LMDh in 2024. 2 cars in the Endurance Cup (1 Iron Dames) plus a third car at Daytona for 2023.

 
Unfortunate news.

CORE Autosport is closing its operations. Really tough blow for the garage, Jon Bennett and Colin Braun have carried this program and has brought a lot of success. I hate to see them go, one of the previous pieces of ALMS is no more.

 
RIP CORE

IMSA Porsche 54 core autosport front soho.JPG
 
I skipped over this thread until I finished Petit Le Mans last night. There's some interesting stuff in here.

#5 - I hope NASCAR is reading these driver comments about horsepower, downforce, and driving skills.

#3, #5, #8 and others with video - Yeah, I'm echoing everyone else but these LMDH are just devastating.

#11, #16 - Man, they're testing the snot out of these new toys. They've already put these cars through a good percentage of a full season. I love Ganassi in the white shirt in the middle of the photo. Hey, Chip? Black is slimming. Just maybe think about, mmmmmmkay?

#15, #17 - They'll have to grease the pit stall walls to get all these cars in there. Good problem to have!

#21 - #24 - The only unwelcome news so far. Nobody wants to see an established successful team leave, especially a privateer who's been making it work.
 
In his latest IndyCar silly season update MP wrote that McLaughlin and Newgarden are likely to do both the Rolex and Le Mans together in an LMP2.

I’m wondering if it’s with DragonSpeed, they won LMP2 at the Rolex this year with Herta and O’Ward so they’ve already done an IndyCar super team of sorts at Daytona.
 
Hotrod said:
Is this a pipe dream ?
Cant find any news on this anywhere. Any help with a link
would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Nothing official yet but with Scottie teasing it on Twitter I’d guess an announcement is coming soon.

Let’s close with what could be a fun one, if and when it gets confirmed. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin took to social media this week to tease his need to learn Daytona’s roval circuit, and from what I’ve learned, he’ll be competing in his first Rolex 24 At Daytona in January in the LMP2 class. Even better, I’m told it will be a #BusBros-themed driver lineup with Penske teammate Josef Newgarden in the same car.

And if that isn’t enough of a party, the final bit might be the coolest of all as McLaughlin and Newgarden are said to be continuing their LMP2 adventure together after Daytona where they’re meant to make their debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the middle of June on the great endurance event’s 100th anniversary.
Click to expand...
racer.com

PRUETT: IndyCar silly season update, November edition

There isn’t much to offer that brings us closer to completing the 2023 IndyCar field in our latest silly season update, but there’s been plenty of developments going on behind the scenes to pique o…
racer.com racer.com
 
Church said the extent of its WeatherTech Championship LMP3 program is not yet set but would likely be for the four-round Michelin Endurance Cup.
Click to expand...
If they're going to put an LMP3 effort together and they do at all well, it makes too much sense to run the other endurance events. Depending on how they do and if the Porsche isn't delivered promptly, I wonder if they might consider fielding it in all season?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
If they're going to put an LMP3 effort together and they do at all well, it makes too much sense to run the other endurance events. Depending on how they do and if the Porsche isn't delivered promptly, I wonder if they might consider fielding it in all season?
Click to expand...
JDC-Miller has been running an LMP3 in endurance events for some time and that same team partcipated in in the now defunct, Prototype Challenge Series.

I think this just confirms Porsche is running behind, so JDC-Miller and Pfaff maybe on the outs for the Rolex 24. Pfaff is the other Porsche customer team in GTP.
 
I'm disappointed Porsche didn't have their customer cars ready, because we all want a big field at the Rolex. I also can't figure out why they are not making more cars available. Porsche has tons more to gain with more cars, not to mention they could make some money. Right now, they are only talking a customer car here or there, which is a big departure from how many 956/962 they built. Porsche funded their own program off the back of customer 956/962s car and parts sales, so why hold back now?

Maybe all these companies will loosen up once all the cars are tested and homologated. I believe every LMDH should be available to any team that wants to race it. We want more cars, right?
 
Kiante said:
JDC-Miller has been running an LMP3 in endurance events for some time and that same team partcipated in in the now defunct, Prototype Challenge Series.

I think this just confirms Porsche is running behind, so JDC-Miller and Pfaff maybe on the outs for the Rolex 24. Pfaff is the other Porsche customer team in GTP.
Click to expand...
Proton are the customer for the second customer car in both IMSA and WEC, Pfaff will be taking on GTD Pro for another year with an all-new lineup. They got the first type 992 a couple of weeks ago.



Proton will still be fielding an AMG for WeatherTech Racing at Daytona reportedly.

I think the absolute earliest they’ll have customer cars on track is with the two IMSA cars at Sebring. If not, it sounds like Portimão or Spa in April for the WEC cars and Laguna Seca in May for the IMSA cars (not wanting to debut on a street course at Long Beach even if they’re ready).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom