Story and photos by Tim Adams
Michelin. That was the huge change this year at the Road America Road Race Showcase in early August. IMSA, after years of sponsorship from Continental Tires, has made the switch to Michelin in all classes. Judging by the record times at races this year I think every race team is very happy with the change. The IMSA racers were joined by the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, and Yokohama Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racers.
Apart from some brief downpours during the Saturday afternoon Michelin Pilot Challenge race, which delayed the start and shortened the race, the fans enjoyed great weather and great racing the rest of the weekend.
Flash back to 2008, the glory days of the American Le Mans Series and Audi domination with the TDI diesel powered R10. The R10 was such a dominant and fast car that it took an IMSA prototype eleven years to finally break the qualifying track record from 2008! Eleven years, that is how dominate the R10 was, and how painfully slow the IMSA prototypes have been in recent years. An eleven-year-old car should not be able to compete against your top class. Finally, we can put this in the past.
The Team Penske #6 Acura Dpi qualified on the pole driven by Dane Cameron with teammate Helio Castroneves right beside him at number two. Both drivers eclipsed the record time by the Audi R10 set in 2008. The Penske Acura’s were followed by the Team Joest Mazda’s.
The Mazda’s had broken through for two back to back wins in 2019 after coming oh so close since Team Joest had taken over the Mazda racing operation in 2018. It was only a matter of time for the team that had dominated so many years when they were teamed up with Audi.
The race was flat out the entire way. There were no cautions. At the end Team Joest and Mazda would win their third race in a row, setting a new distance record of 83 laps or 335 miles. After the race the Cadillac Dpi teams were openly complaining about the Balance of Performance (BoP), and that they clearly had no chance to win. IMSA started to adjust the BoP in subsequent races and the Mazda finished far back at Laguna Seca with the Team Penske Acura’s finishing 1-2. We will have to see what the final race at Petit Le Mans will bring.
In GTLM a familiar result. The two Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT’s finished 1-2 with the Porsche GT Team finishing 3rd. The Corvette Racing team just has not had the race pace at all this year to keep up in GTLM. Big changes in GTLM are coming though. For that you will have to wait for my race report from Road Atlanta and Petit Le Mans. In GTD the flannel clad fan favorite PFAFF Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R took it’s second win of the season. Flannel and Wisconsin, two things that go well together.
In what has become somewhat of a tradition at Road America, the State of the Series press conference was held, as well as the announcement of the 2020 schedule. Schedule wise everything will stay virtually the same as 2019. One huge mistake that IMSA continues to make is giving the fans the shaft at Road America. Throughout much IMSA’s history the race at Road America was a 500-mile affair. The 4-mile track deserves a 500 mile or 4-hour race, not the sprint race that has been held the past few years. This needs to be fixed, and this writer will continue to criticize IMSA until they finally get it right.
Also announced was the timeline for the new DPi 2022 regulations. IMSA is hoping to have that completed by early 2020 to give teams plenty of time to get the cars built and ready to race. Manufacturers have asked for some more styling freedom with the new regulations, and IMSA has confirmed they are listening, but we will have to wait until the final regulations are announced.
There will be some coming and going of teams next year of course. You will have to wait for my report from Petit Le Mans for all the current up to date information.
Make your way to Road America the first weekend in August of 2020 to catch all the of the great racing action IMSA, the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the Michelin Pilot Challenge racers provide.
