IMSA 2023

FLRacingFan said:
Qualifying abandoned due to weather. I guess they’ll set the lineup by points. Bummer.
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It's 6 hours, so anyone who got screwed will have plenty of time to make it up. We'll forget about this once they start racing.

The real bummer is they tore up some expensive stuff.
 
They did get GT quali in actually, Loris Spinelli set a GTD track pole record.

Looks like more lightning delays now interfering with Pilot Challenge.

 
That sucks to see though, BMW also went 1-2 in morning warmup. Seemed like they were primed to have their best race of the season yet and lost one bullet in the first turn.
 
Surprising divebomb on Keating from Yoluç, who’s also one of the better bronzes out there. Not like his usual self there.

That said, this has been horrible. I was worried about too many cars at such a fast track. Ugly.
 
The only problem with IMSA is they don't race every single weekend.

Between IMSA and WEC, the racing has been the best I can remember since Group C. The scary part is this is just the first year of the convergence and it's only going to get better. With IMSA and WEC/ACO/FIA aligned on rules, and aligned on where they want the sport to go, this might even last longer. IMSA has always loosely worked with the other factions and that has worked well, but now they are completely aligned on rules and with the same goals. I mean, the entire sportscar world is united and racing together.

Some may remember the "Future of WEC" thread where I ripped WEC to pieces, because back then the series was absolute garbage. It simply was not worth watching. Just when doom seemed eminent, all the parties made it happen. All it took to give us what we have now was getting everyone on the same page, and especially when dealing with the French, IMSA faced a nearly impossible task, and yet look how everyone pulled it off.

While I am not onboard with the hybrid stuff there's no arguing the massive entry, multiple manufacturers and the blood and guts racing. Having been through the demise of sportscar racing multiple, multiple times, I think right now is the best chance we will ever have to build something that will last.

Perhaps the big difference between this and the open wheel mess is that the sportscar parties never actually went to war. I used to have access to a few Grand American officials (Edmondson, at the time) and I was told that they were in contact with Don Panoz all the time about avoiding scheduling conflicts and a free exchange of teams and drivers. That's why the "merger' was so effortless and seamless. Unlike the Indycar pinheads, sportscar never held any hate for each other. It was two factions with the same goals but different approaches.

The convergence is a different matter. WEC was down to just Toyota and a handful of underfunded privateers who eventually bailed because they never got a fair BOP. IMSA needed WEC and WEC needed IMSA. A marriage of convenience, perhaps, but one that is working.

Just like with Grand American and ALMS, everyone needed everyone else, so it had to happen, and I believe both parties realized that. With Hypercars coming in and DPIs set to expire, it made sense to take the DPIs, add the hybrid units and BOP everything to the extent we saw at LeMans.
 
It doesn't get much wilder than this......or much better.

Admittedly there were some stupid, sloppy accidents, but once everyone settled down a bit we had a cracking race. I was hoping for the BMW to win, but I'm a Porsche guy at heart so I can live with the result. Hell of a drive by Jiminet, but Connor had a career day too.

P2 was it's usual mad self, but the telecast didn't follow it enough. It seemed like there were P2 battles going on non stop.

As much as the P3 cars are hated, it's not the cars. The problem is drivers who don't yet really belong in prototypes. I think if you put gold or better drivers in those cars you'de almost never see an accident. The P3s running up front with good drivers put on a great race. I kind of hate to see them go, but we won't miss the silly accidents that takes out cars in other classes.

I can't recall and endurance team in all of history that has had as much dumb bad luck as Ganassi. Bourdais got caught up in other people's wrecks at least twice that I saw. If you add to that the fire at Sebring, Bourdais Long beach disaster (admittedly his own doing), wadding up a new car at Spa and now this, they have to qualify for some sort of bad luck award. Bourdais was run out of Indycar way too soon and I believe he had a few more wins in him. Renger still has a lot of years left in GTP, so he can probably blow it off, but Bourdais is nearing his sunset years and every lost opportunity must really burn.

FLRacingFan said:
Seems like Porsche have more hybrid issues than all the other LMDh cars despite using the same spec system. Maybe they’re having integration or for vibrational problems. Wouldn’t seem to be just pure luck to me.
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They really need to get a grip on that. You usually expect a Porsche to be bulletproof, but there's not much they can do about a spec unit. They have been pretty quick all year, but today was the first time they showed dominant speed, so it could be a long year for everyone else. They extended their lead, and it looks like they may finally have the speed to keep it.

Overall, it was a very entertaining race. With 57 cars, I don't think anyone had a clear lap all day, so it's actually a bit amazing the carnage wasn't a lot worse. There wasn't a second the whole race there wasn't action up and down the field. Today was a major win for the sport.

The convergence is working.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I wanted to see if Garcia could rally. Oh, well. Did they find footage of what caused Bill A.to fllip?
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I haven’t seen anything else that preceded what they had available for TV at the time. What a bizarre tumble, not sure I’ve seen anyone flip at this track since Reutimann in the Cup race in 2010 or so.
 
Doc Austin said:
It doesn't get much wilder than this......or much better.

Admittedly there were some stupid, sloppy accidents, but once everyone settled down a bit we had a cracking race. I was hoping for the BMW to win, but I'm a Porsche guy at heart so I can live with the result. Hell of a drive by Jiminet, but Connor had a career day too.

P2 was it's usual mad self, but the telecast didn't follow it enough. It seemed like there were P2 battles going on non stop.

As much as the P3 cars are hated, it's not the cars. The problem is drivers who don't yet really belong in prototypes. I think if you put gold or better drivers in those cars you'de almost never see an accident. The P3s running up front with good drivers put on a great race. I kind of hate to see them go, but we won't miss the silly accidents that takes out cars in other classes.

I can't recall and endurance team in all of history that has had as much dumb bad luck as Ganassi. Bourdais got caught up in other people's wrecks at least twice that I saw. If you add to that the fire at Sebring, Bourdais Long beach disaster (admittedly his own doing), wadding up a new car at Spa and now this, they have to qualify for some sort of bad luck award. Bourdais was run out of Indycar way too soon and I believe he had a few more wins in him. Renger still has a lot of years left in GTP, so he can probably blow it off, but Bourdais is nearing his sunset years and every lost opportunity must really burn.


They really need to get a grip on that. You usually expect a Porsche to be bulletproof, but there's not much they can do about a spec unit. They have been pretty quick all year, but today was the first time they showed dominant speed, so it could be a long year for everyone else. They extended their lead, and it looks like they may finally have the speed to keep it.

Overall, it was a very entertaining race. With 57 cars, I don't think anyone had a clear lap all day, so it's actually a bit amazing the carnage wasn't a lot worse. There wasn't a second the whole race there wasn't action up and down the field. Today was a major win for the sport.

The convergence is working.
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Yep, I think that goes for both P2 and P3. Once you get the Ams out for the Pros the classes usually settle down and you’re in for a good show. The first quarter of the race or so was disappointing, and I missed an hour and a half in the middle, but the closing two hours were full of clean, hard racing. GTP, LMP3, GTD Pro all had some great battles for the win.

I’m pulling hard for BMW to get a breakthrough win soon, they’ve made so much progress since looking hopelessly lost at Daytona. They were quick all weekend, I just don’t think the tires lasted at the end as well for De Phillippi as they did Jaminet and CDP also caught more rough breaks in traffic.
 
Great stretch for sporty car racing. 6H Glen today, Spa 24H next weekend, and IMSA Mosport/WEC 6H Monza the weekend after that.
 
Whoops…

Confirmed by IMSA on Sunday evening, the Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet-driven Porsche was found with a skid block measuring less than the permitted minimum thickness during post-race technical inspection.
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