IMSA 2023

Marshall knows his stuff 👍

Marshall Pruett IMSA Racer magazine.JPG
 

Buried in this piece about Ricky Taylor getting another IndyCar test is Michael already having Jordan on his shortlist for the second WTR/AA Acura next season. I wonder if GM are willing to put up a fight to keep him away from a competitor and try to stick him in a Cadillac next season? He’s been racing exclusively GM stuff since 2011, it’s so hard to imagine him in anything else at this point.

Taylor’s younger brother Jordan, a three-time IMSA champion, is also on Andretti’s shortlist of talent to acquire. Having joined the factory Corvette Racing team in 2020, Taylor could be a perfect fit for a reunion with his father and brother – the siblings won the 2017 DPi title as co-drivers – as WTR with AA is looking to expand its GTP effort to two cars in 2024.

“To be honest, [it’s] both my kids,” said Wayne Taylor. “When Michael flew down [to discuss the merger], the first thing they said when they came in was, ‘We want both your kids.’ And Jordan and Ricky said to me, ‘We like the idea that Andretti’s name is on it, because then we can deal with Michael and we don’t have to deal with you, dad! We can just deal with Michael.”
 
Ricky seems to have adjusted nicely.
For sure, I’d just say that Jordan would be making the switch later in his career and he’s generally spent a lot more time in GM equipment than Ricky did before he moved. Two of Ricky’s first three seasons in DPs were mostly run with Ford-powered cars, interestingly enough.
 
From nbc.com:

Broadcast coverage of the race coverage will begin Saturday, Jan. 28 at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC and move to USA Network from 2:30-8 p.m. and then will be exclusively on Peacock and IMSA.TV from 8-10 p.m. Coverage will return to USA Network from 10 p.m. to midnight and then move to Peacock/IMSA.TV until 6 a.m.5 hours ago
 
From nbc.com:

Broadcast coverage of the race coverage will begin Saturday, Jan. 28 at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC and move to USA Network from 2:30-8 p.m. and then will be exclusively on Peacock and IMSA.TV from 8-10 p.m. Coverage will return to USA Network from 10 p.m. to midnight and then move to Peacock/IMSA.TV until 6 a.m.5 hours ago
Funny stuff, if there is anything else we can do to kill viewership, let us know 🤪
 
Funny stuff, if there is anything else we can do to kill viewership, let us know 🤪
Oh, check out WEC coverage. They broadcast the first hour and then come back for the last hour. At least they keep it on the same channel but come on man.
 
Funny stuff, if there is anything else we can do to kill viewership, let us know 🤪
Yeah, that’s going to hurt viewer numbers compared to a few years ago when all that was shown were the first and last few hours. It’s definitely worse than the Good Ol’ Days a couple of decades back when this race wasn’t available at all on any platform.

Sheesh.
 
Yeah, that’s going to hurt viewer numbers compared to a few years ago when all that was shown were the first and last few hours. It’s definitely worse than the Good Ol’ Days a couple of decades back when this race wasn’t available at all on any platform.

Sheesh.
WEC's TV package was greatly improved last year, They got rid of their squid announcers and spent more time covering cars on the track and less on pit activity.

I did want to address your point about the good old days. Starting in 65 we got to see the Indianapolis 500 the next week on Wide World Of Sports, between segments of water ballet and world championship pig roping. I also remember the California 500 being pre-empted by the movie (believe it or not) "Heidi." We complain about the TV coverage, but it's damm good compared to how we used to have it.
 
Oh, check out WEC coverage. They broadcast the first hour and then come back for the last hour. At least they keep it on the same channel but come on man.
I’d like to see NBC take the WEC rights and stash it on Peacock since I already have that for racing stuff anyways. I don’t see much reason to use the Motor Trend service for anything else and have enough streaming subs as is.

The WEC international TV crew of Martin Haven, Graham Goodwin, Ant Davidson is pretty great. I didn’t pay much attention to the championship as a whole 2018-2021, but a couple of years at least in there Motor Trend used the Eurosport feed instead of the international feed for Le Mans and it sucked. Just some random jokers thrown together it sounded like, I’m glad they’ve switched up their coverage.
 
Just some random jokers thrown together it sounded like, I’m glad they’ve switched up their coverage.
For the last WEC race they separated the pre-race garbage into it's own show, then a new show for the start of the race. The pre-race show is the same every time, so I didn't bother to watch any of them this year. Last year it was the same drum beating troupe and the guy with the jet pack.....every single race. It was the same faces up and down the grid while they ignored the cars completely. The pre race show has always been just awful, and a waste of time when all you want to see is the race. If they keep the pre-race as it's own show, I just won't record it. Problem solved.

But, this is how little thought they put into it. You have a half hour or pre and a half hour of post race. That's a full hour of pure garbage, while you only get two hours of racing. They have three hours of air time and they waste a full hour of it on pre and post race crap.

I guess if that is my only complaint things are not so bad.
 
2024 Z06 GT3.R - targeting four cars in IMSA, two cars in WEC for debut season next year.



 
Supposedly they’re gonna reveal this thing in the flesh at Sebring so maybe we’ll know more about the drivers in the not-so-distant future. Pretty much everyone from the Ford GT program is old, retired, or with another OEM now. Late last year they said they’ll consider Supercars drivers for their factory roster so that would be really interesting. In the meantime I’d expect Joey Hand to do a lot of the initial testing.

 
Man, sportscar racing as become a runaway train. God bless the convergence.
I’d like to see NBC take the WEC rights and stash it on Peacock since I already have that for racing stuff anyways. I don’t see much reason to use the Motor Trend service for anything else and have enough streaming subs as is.
My only problem is Motor trend is on my basic cable package and I may as well not be paying for it. I could pay for Peacock, but it's a principle kind of thing.

I didn’t pay much attention to the championship as a whole 2018-2021,
You didn't miss much. It was horrible. If it weren't for P2 I would have never turned it on.

I’m glad they’ve switched up their coverage.
The previous guys were truly squids and outside of occasionally McNish they were unbearable. Seriously awful. The new guys cut up and have fun, and it's a more fun telecast that way.

I've said this before that I went from being embarrassed by the WEC to being impressed with it. It wasn't all them though. It's all part of the convergence.
 
Single-make Mustang series coming, likely under IMSA sanctioning, within the next year or two. This sounds fun as hell.



The next Toyota/Lexus/GR/whatever GT3 model is in development and likely set to arrive in 2025.

Interesting comment from David Wilson on the upcoming competition:

“The Corvette [Z06 GT3.R], I have no idea, but it terrifies me. It’s going to be a good car. General Motors are putting a lot of resource behind their motorsports programs globally.

 
Acura topped the Sebring test this week. BMW comfortably bottom of the timing charts again. Will be interesting to see if they resort to BoP soon because so far all four GTP models have been running at the minimum weight of 1030kg and power output of 520kw (~697hp).

Also the fast time set was a full two seconds quicker than the Glickenhaus WEC qualifying time last year, which was the quicker of the two LMH models between they and Toyota.

 
Just posting see who is paying attention.

The wait between the Rolex and Sebring is too long. They could easily fit in a sprint race somewhere.
 
In the meantime, episode 2 of the docuseries - covering the Rolex - is out. The Acura ARX-06 “origin story” is longer at 50 minutes but I also thought was really good.



 
Wow…

Race results were already made official, but HPD discovered the manipulation and reported it to IMSA afterwards.



Summary – Per Attachment 3.6.6.D, intentional application of software offsets within the pressures being reported by the tire pressure monitoring system and associated Car telemetry system is prohibited and may be subject to penalty.

Penalties are as follows:

  • Loss of 200 team and driver IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship points.
  • Loss of all team and driver IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points.
  • Loss of race prize money.
  • Team receives a $50,000 fine.
  • Team and Entrant representative Mike Shank placed on probation through June 30, 2023.
  • Revocation of IMSA annual credential and indefinite suspension of IMSA membership for team engineer Ryan McCarthy.
 
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