Imsa 2024

[CurtEgerer]

Well, the remaining 6 races are on legit road racing circuits - no more Mickey Mouse street races.

[Skytrooper]

I dislike the street races for all venues. They are boring crashfests without a redeeming quality. These cars were specifically built for road courses, and that is where they shine. IMSA, F1, and Indycar belong on the Road Courses. Leave the city street courses for NASCAR, were it is just the same follow the leader, lots of crashes, BS racing ( can it really be called racing ?) as it is on all their tracks.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Skytrooper

I dislike the street races for all venues. They are boring crashfests without a redeeming quality. These cars were specifically built for road courses, and that is where they shine. IMSA, F1, and Indycar belong on the Road Courses. Leave the city street courses for NASCAR, were it is just the same follow the leader, lots of crashes, BS racing ( can it really be called racing ?) as it is on all their tracks.

Agree, but the comment about NASCAR is silly. Cup and Xfinity will race streets in Chicago July 6, 7. But that's only one for both. And it is much wider everywhere. I'd even go so far as to say there's more room than the Charlotte Roval.

[William930t]

I was unable to watch IMSA at Detroit this year so tuned into the YouTube highlights. I hate street courses like this, two cars get together in a corner and the track is immediately blocked. Carnage and destruction of machinery was minimal this year thankfully. I had to go check and yes Detroit is on the schedule for May 30-31, 2025.

[red 928]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

The prototypes look huge on this street course !

dee-troit isn't really a road course,
it's more like a one-lane back alley.

[CurtEgerer]

Realistically, the only reason Detroit is on the schedule is they're literally racing around GM/Cadillac HQ and Ford HQ is right down the road. And they are able to draw some big local sponsors; Lear and Comerica. I wouldn't be surprised if the City itself subsidizes some of the cost. Too bad they don't move it out to Michigan International Speedway. An hour or so away but they had/have a nice natural road course that many don't know about. I saw an IMSA GTP race there in the late 80s.

[CurtEgerer]

Le Mans this weekend! A huge 23-car Hypercar field.

3 Cadillac VRs
6 Porsche 963s
3 Ferrari 499Ps
2 Toyota GR010s
2 BMW MHV8s
2 Peugeot 9X8s
2 Alpine A24s
2 Lamborghini SC63s
1 Isotta Fraschini

A full 16-car LMP2 class

Plus 23 GT3 cars:

2 Porsche 911
2 Corvette Z06
2 Aston Martin Vantage
3 Ford Mustang
2 BMW M4
5 Ferrari 296
3 McLaren 720S
2 Lamborghini Huracan
2 Lexus RC F

I'm not sure we've ever seen a field like this in that all the cars are potential winners.

[rfuerst911sc]

Wow I am surprised by this .

https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/jota-wayne-taylor-teams-set-for-cadillac-switch-in-wec-imsa/10623125/

[CurtEgerer]

Jota is a bit of a surprise, although I'm sure they were looking at the benefit of an exclusive factory deal instead of being just a customer Porsche team. With the Andretti-Cadillac F1 team effort, the IMSA Cadillac deal was sure to follow.

So the question now is who will take over the IMSA Acura/Honda cars and will Honda launch a WEC/Le Mans effort for next year? Ganassi?

Aston Martin have confirmed their Valkyrie Hypercar for next year with a 2-car WEC team and a 1-car IMSA team. The normally aspirated V12 should give Cadillac a run for its money in the best-sounding engine department!

[rfuerst911sc]

I think Meyer Shank Racing will pick up Acura ( again ) for IMSA . Not sure about WEC .

[CurtEgerer]

The yellows and the red flag for rain were excruciating, but otherwise some great racing in all classes at the 6-Hour. First win for Penske at Watkins Glen since Mark Donohue's 917/30 in 1973

[Skytrooper]

A great race ! The on and off rain really had the teams scrambling between slicks and rain tires !
I got to see my nephew. He is on the Chip Gnassi, Cadillac GTP team.

[astrochex]

I only saw the first part of the race due to imsa.tv being borked.

Glad to here it was an exciting affair. Matt, very cool your nephew works for Ganassi. What cool things did you learn about the GTP?

[Skytrooper]

Basically they are an airplane with wheels IMO. So many pieces and parts that were developed for aviation have been incorporated into these cars, from accelerometers to transducers and monitoring systems. I was not lost when going over the car. Very cool job for my nephew !

[rfuerst911sc]

A great win for Penske , it erases the sting of last year's race .

[rfuerst911sc]

I think this is good news , IMSA signed a multi year contract extension with NBC/Peacock for 2025 and beyond . Viewership on both platforms has been increasing since 2019 . As long as they keep screaming announcers out of the booth it will be fine .

[CurtEgerer]

Some interesting comments from Cadillac drivers van der Zande and Bourdais regarding BoP. While they praise IMSA and WEC for a good job resulting in close lap times between all manufacturers, they point out that lap times don't necessarily equate to fair play during the race. Their specific gripe is a lack of top speed at Le Mans, Watkins Glen and Detroit. And that without top speed, how do you make a pass?? Good point.

[rfuerst911sc]

So it's official MSR will be back with Acura next year . And a pretty safe bet WTR/Andretti will pick up Cadillac .

https://racer.com/2024/06/27/we-needed-to-go-in-a-different-direction-wayne-taylor/

[CurtEgerer]

^^^ I'm really surprised that Honda went back with MSR after the Daytona embarrassment. Thought they would go with Ganassi. It looks like Ganassi will run an LMP2 car next year, which means they want to keep the team completely together in anticipation of a Hypercar program in 2026. I'm sure they've got something already in place. It must be a new manufacturer coming in ... maybe Ford?

[CurtEgerer]

IMSA at Road America this weekend! Basically a sprint race and should be a good one. The rumors are strong now that Ganassi will run the new Hyundai GTP/Hypercar in 2026 and run an LMP2 next year. Hyundai has a very strong following at the races by the 30s and under crowd. They had a corral at Sebring with a 100 cars or more with some really nicely modded cars (it reminded me of the VW crowd 25 years ago). Bryan Herta Autosports has been very successful in IMSA with Hyundai for 4-5 years now.