Story and photos by Tim Adams
Once again, IMSA fans showed up in force when the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship rolled into The National Park of Speed, Road America. Racing alongside the main series were the Michelin Pilot Challenge series, Porsche Carrera Cup, and new for this year the Mustang Challenge series. It was announced at the track that the crowd was record for an IMSA race at Road America. Now Road America never releases actual numbers for attendance, so we will have to take their word for this. While the sunny weather helped, it was extremely hot, and very humid the entire weekend.
Ford is diving in headfirst this year with the new Mustang Challenge series, and the new Mustang GT3 based on the Dark Horse. They are entered globally in GT3, and in GTD Pro and GTD in IMSA. The Dark Horse is also entered in the Michelin Pilot Challenge in the GS class.
The new for this year Mustang Challenge races were interesting. Driving identically prepared Mustang Dark Horse R cars, there were two 45-minute sprint races. They are split into two classes based on age and driver ratings, Dark Horse, and Dark Horse Legends. The Legends class being for bronze level rated drivers that are 45 and older.
A huge grid of 47 cars were entered in the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship race. 12 GTP, 10 LMP2, 10 GTD Pro, and 15 GTD. With Road America being the longest track that IMSA races on at just over 4 miles, we would think that the racers could spread out and we could enjoy some great racing. That was not the case. The first lap could not even be completed without an incident. The Corvette Racing GTD Pro #3 car did not even make it past turn 5, getting nudged and ending up stuck in the gravel at the bottom of the hill in turn 5.
Caution flags would rule the day during this race. This is a 2 hour and 40-minute sprint race. Over half of the race was spent under the yellow flag with the cars parading around the track at 60mph behind the safety car. A caution lap at Road America takes between 4-5 minutes! This is a sprint race. It was ridiculous. IMSA needs to amend the yellow flag procedures for tracks like Road America. Every yellow flag does not have to be an opportunity for the entire field to pit. Clear the track of the incident and throw the green flag and get back to racing. The record crowd did not pay to watch over half of the race to be ran behind the safety car. Something needs to be done, but sadly I do not think it will ever happen. I guess we will have to count on the drivers to quit running into each other. Extended yellow flags make it worse because the entire field is bunched up for every restart.
Enough of the negative. IMSA is in a particularly good place right now. Record crowds at many tracks, full fields, the future is bright. Enjoy it, because the history of sportscar racing has shown it can just as quickly turn the other way. The GTP class is the same size as last year at most races, but Lamborghini has joined the fray at the endurance races and is expected to run the full schedule next year. Scheduled, because the WEC has now mandated that teams that run the top class must run two cars in 2025. Right now, Lamborghini is running one car in the WEC and one car in IMSA. I would not be shocked if we see them pull back and only run endurance races again in 2025. Aston Martin is expected to race in IMSA next year with their new V-12 powered Valkyrie AMR-LMH. Rumors are that we may see an Alpine on the grid in GTP and that Hyundai is also looking at a prototype program. It is a shame that Ferrari has shown zero interest in racing in the top class in IMSA and will only race in the WEC.
Just a couple of years ago it looked like the LMP2 class would not last. At some races only two cars were entered. The class has seen a huge resurgence, mainly coming from the WEC not allowing them to compete. They are only allowed to race in the WEC at Le Mans. Now we are seeing large numbers back in IMSA with 10 entries at Road America. The European Le Mans series also features LMP2 as its top class.
I wish that IMSA would call the GTD class what it is, GT3. It just adds to confusion to the fans. The difference between GTD in IMSA and GT3 in the WEC is that the WEC does not allow a full professional driver lineup. In GTD Pro the drivers are all professional, gold or platinum rated. As we can see by the numbers the class is extremely healthy. Ten manufacturers were entered at Road America. Missing the past couple of years, it was great to see Ferrari back in GTD Pro and GTD with the 296 GT3. The car looks fantastic, but the sound does not match the looks, but it is just not very easy to make a V-6 sound like a proper racing engine.
The race was filled with promise for the Acura ARX-06’s of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti in GTP. They dominated qualifying with both cars. Luck and strategy would not be on their side though, with the #40 car having to serve two drive-through penalties, and not being able to keep it on the track during the last restart and finished eighth. The #10 car was done in by poor pit strategy. They charged back to third after the last restart, but they lost this race that was theirs to win with the poor strategy. The Team Penske Porshe 963’s benefited from all this and finished 1-2.
In LMP2 United Autosports with Ben Keating and Ben Hanley took their first win of the season. Coming back from a hard hit to the wall during the last practice on Saturday. The team rebuilt the heavily damaged car and claimed their first victory of the season.
In GTD Pro and GTD it was back and forth the entire race with the field being bunched up the entire race due to all the caution flags. Corvette Racing put the #4 car on pole with a lap record. They could not follow through for the win, however. The win in GTD Pro would go to the #35 Ferrari from Conquest Racing. In GTD the win would go to the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW.
Despite the dud of a race with all the yellow flag laps, it was still a great action-packed weekend. With next year’s schedule already announced, get your tickets for the first weekend of August and head back to The National Park of Speed, Road America, for your sportscar racing fix. See you in 2025.
