Yahoo Autos How IMSA Can Build on the Positives of Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona
The close finish at this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona, won by the Porsche Penske Motorsport No. 7 by 2.112 seconds, lived up to the race’s tradition.
Building on that momentum for the rest of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season is the next hurdle for the series.
Here's five areas of emphasis we'd like to see IMSA consider as the series moves forward in 2024.
Is this going to be a breakout year for IMSA?
Judging by the success of the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, where the combination of cars and drivers brought an impressive crowd to the France family’s Speedway by the Sea, it could be a big year for the WeatherTech Championship.
The close finish, won by the Porsche Penske Motorsport No. 7 by 2.112 seconds, lived up to the race’s tradition. Winners Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden benefitted from their crew’s final quick pit stop, which gained the decisive track position against the runner-up Cadillac of Action Express driven by Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken and Tom Blomqvist.
Here’s a checklist, call it a wishlist if you will, of how the momentum can continue for professional sports car racing in the U.S.:
Win at Le Mans
Traditionally, the Sebring 12-hour is the focus of the WeatherTech Championship after Daytona. But give a nod to the next 24-hour on the schedule in Le Mans. If an LMDh car run by an American team and IMSA regulars wins the great French race, IMSA will be on top of the world. That will be doubly true if the Penske team repeats its Daytona victory in France.
What are the chances? Last year in France, it appeared that a late BOP change to all Hypercars by the World Endurance Championship and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest resulted in just enough confusion at Toyota to open the door for Ferrari’s vaunted 499P to take an historic—and popular—victory. Finishing third was the Cadillac V-Series.R of Chip Ganassi Racing.
It remains to be seen how well performance is balanced this year between the generic LMDh platforms created by IMSA and the Hypercars that race in the WEC, a class where manufacturers have spent millions to build proprietary prototypes.
One could argue that the Rolex 24 might have been fixed when it came to BOP—judging by the excessive weight assigned to Acura, the brand that won last year’s race after the Meyer Shank Racing team bypassed the rulebook on tire pressures. Officials are only human and one wonders if last year’s result “weighed” on their minds. In any event, the Acura of WTRAndretti did not have the pace to catch the two leaders at the finish and was 15 seconds behind after the final restart.
On the other hand, Porsche Penske Motorsport took a new approach to getting the most out of its Porsche 963s. The Penske effort showed in the race, particularly at the finish when Nasr was under pressure from Blomqvist, when it came to braking and tire wear.
If the BOP is really balanced, it does come down to execution. Should the Penske team carry Porsche back to victory at Le Mans by better execution, imagine the groundswell of ticket sales to fans who want to see the team and its cars that won at Daytona and Le Mans.
Drivers, Tell Us What You Really Think
Remember the days of Holbert, Wollek, Bell, Brabham and Fangio? These stars of the original GTP category in the 1980s and 1990s leveraged the class beyond its obvious technical appeal. Not only did they win, these star drivers were interesting when they won—and sometimes more so when they lost.
Given the meager commitment by IndyCar to hybrid racing and its total absence in NASCAR, one could argue that the current GTP hybrids are the most compelling circuit racing machines in America. But what about the drivers?
Maybe it’s just me, but the comments by the IndyCar and Formula 1 drivers during the Rolex 24 were often more interesting than those of the IMSA regulars. Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves was not even entered this year, but his comments during Daytona races come to mind as an example of how to engage fans.
