IMSA Race Long Beach 2016

[TheMightyM]

Marshall Pruett tweets:

Sad when a driver feels the only way he can win is by stealing it from the leader. What a pitiful end to the GTLM battle.

[MaskedRacer]

I hope the WEC Fords have a little bit more to show than the sorry IMSA effort so far. I'll be cheering for them at Silverstone for sure. Was cheering for them to do better today but nothing that stands out though.

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

Marshall Pruett tweets:

Agreed, although if the #4 was going to get hit like that I wish they lost more positions than that so we could get Ferrari and Ford placing better. I think they finished 2nd still.

[carbsmith]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

I'm glad a car other than Corvette won in GT finally but dang. Ford, BMW, and Ferrari need to step it up. Hopefully IMSA will give them some BoP help. By improving their performance though. Not by adding more weight, air restrictor, or fuel tank size to the Corvette and Porsche.

BoP is neither BMW nor Ford's main problem. Especially BMW, considering they've been the fastest or second fastest car.

[Wardy.]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

I hope the WEC Fords have a little bit more to show than the sorry IMSA effort so far. I'll be cheering for them at Silverstone for sure. Was cheering for them to do better today but nothing that stands out though.

They've qualified quite well for tomorrows race, 3rd and 5th out of 13 cars, will they be able to keep them up there without incident for 6hrs? My gut feeling says no.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

Agreed, although if the #4 was going to get hit like that I wish they lost more positions than that so we could get Ferrari and Ford placing better. I think they finished 2nd still.

If the others could've kept up after, what 20 mins from a restart, maybe they would've gained from other's misfortunes. Alas, they weren't good enough today for even a gift.

And yes, after being punted, the 4 finished 2nd, to the same program that fouled them up. Still not enough for you?

[Maelochs]

Porsche would have gotten more points as a team for 2nd and 3rd but less chance of wining the GTLM championship.

Anyway, it is always disappointing when a great battle gets resolved by idiocy ... and I would call that an idiotic move.

And Ford ... I cannot express how disappointed I am. I figured Ganassi know-how and Ford money ... I don't want any BoP assistance, I want to see them get it together. Yesterday they looked like they had the shocks/springs all wrong, and they simply have never been fast---and it sure ain't the drivers.

They don't need BoP help, they need engineering help ... or so it seems to me. It will be interesting to see how they fare in their WEC debut tomorrow.

[fieldodreams79]

Yes, something is amiss with Ford. More boost, less Eco, imho. They're laying a big fat egg right now.

No doubt in my mind that the Beetles would get past the vette as they were consistently quicker all weekend and the vette was on used up tires. Nobody wants to see it end that way. Glad that it's the general consensus here, so far...

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Porsche would have gotten more points as a team for 2nd and 3rd but less chance of wining the GTLM championship.

Anyway, it is always disappointing when a great battle gets resolved by idiocy ... and I would call that an idiotic move.

And Ford ... I cannot express how disappointed I am. I figured Ganassi know-how and Ford money ... I don't want any BoP assistance, I want to see them get it together. Yesterday they looked like they had the shocks/springs all wrong, and they simply have never been fast---and it sure ain't the drivers.

They don't need BoP help, they need engineering help ... or so it seems to me. It will be interesting to see how they fare in their WEC debut tomorrow.

Yep.

[Rcz]

Aside the late GTLM punt, I like the races. GTLM was the best class there of course and kudos to Mazda, their maybe terrible for enduros, but in sprints they could be a threat.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Rcz

Aside the late GTLM punt, I like the races. GTLM was the best class there of course and kudos to Mazda, their maybe terrible for enduros, but in sprints they could be a threat.

They held their own over the 100 minutes this weekend, and they are predicting good things for Laguna Seca in a few weeks.

[MaskedRacer]

I look forward to Laguna Seca a lot. A genuine P/GTLM only race. So that should be a real good one and make a good case for extending that format to be used more frequently.

The Risi Ferrari has been quietly performing well I think. Usually about between 4th-6th in terms of speed but when the cars up front punt and crash like they do. They end up in 3rd at the end. I'm sure however they are kicking themselves because if they had a faster car they could have finished as high as 2nd. As it is because of their lack of pace the #4 Corvette recovered from the spin to get 2nd. Lesson learned: if you can't be fast enough to compete for the lead at least be fast enough to be able to take advantage of other's misfortune.

[nasportscar]

Ben's data http://nasportscar.com/2016-imsa-analysis-long-beach/

[Damian Baldi]

For me it was a poor race for a huge event as its Long Beach. BoP on DP/P2 class is obvious that kills the P2 cars. The ligier was 2 seconds slower all the time, while the Mazda even in a great race, didn't have the power/torque to do anything against the DPs. Why the #70 was holding the #55? The 55 was faster all the time, they could have been able at least to fight for the podium.

About the GT clash, I think the Corvette loses his line and the Porsche kept his line guessing that the Corvette will continue that new line, but it didn't, the car went back to the original line and then is when the cars clashed.

PC cars were a pain in the ***. Those cars need their own tyres, they can't continue with the Continental.

[fieldodreams79]

We can produce any excuse for the reason Fred decided to go for it at the hairpin, but it was the wrong move, even accepted by the driver himself:

http://www.racer.com/imsa/item/12838...corvette-clash

Kudos for taking the blame.

[Matt]

Point and shoot street circuits will always favor the high torque of the Chevrolet engines.

[TF110]

I tried to enjoy the race, but it felt kinda boring to me. Something was off. Anyone else feel that way watching it live? GTLM was ok, but P was lackluster. The event was short as well, no time for some different strategies to take part.

[Danathar]

Originally Posted by TF110

I tried to enjoy the race, but it felt kinda boring to me. Something was off. Anyone else feel that way watching it live? GTLM was ok, but P was lackluster. The event was short as well, no time for some different strategies to take part.

I kinda feel P is pretty much dead until 2017. This season in IMSA it's pretty much a "token" class because they have to. The only interesting races might be the big races that ESM attends. Everything else is probably going to be a snoozer between 3 Corvette DPs. Not saying the 3 DP vetts can't have some good racing, but car wise and interest wise it's boring as heck to watch 3 DP vettes fight each other for wins.

[TF110]

I feel the same. I don't have issue with the teams. But those cars are boring to me. I was hoping Mazda could challenge, but that was obviously wrong to assume. Even if a DP wins, I just want to see variety. Maybe that changes next year.

[DeezPutz]

One Corvette crashes, and the other gets slapped and loses.

I can do without any street courses on the IMSA schedule, but don't forget we'll have to sit through Detroit which will make this look like a classic.

[DeezPutz]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

Marshall Pruett tweets:

If anyone knows about being pitiful, it's Marshall Pruett. Get over it. It's racing.

[MaskedRacer]

Don't even bother with Detroit as GTLM is not in it.. I for one miss Baltimore. That was a good street race. The GTLM cars would at times challenge for overall top 5 positions there.

Something IMSA needs to do better with on the starts. Why do the GT field have to start half a lap behind the prototypes. You don't need THAT MUCH separation. In Grand Am the front of GT started about 100 feet behind the back of DP. That was enough. Also I think you should start the whole field together in races that don't run the full 4 classes.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by DeezPutz

If anyone knows about being pitiful, it's Marshall Pruett. Get over it. It's racing.

Nah, it was garbage but some people seem to like garbage, similar to hovering vultures.

[Rcz]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

Don't even bother with Detroit as GTLM is not in it.. I for one miss Baltimore. That was a good street race. The GTLM cars would at times challenge for overall top 5 positions there.

Something IMSA needs to do better with on the starts. Why do the GT field have to start half a lap behind the prototypes. You don't need THAT MUCH separation. In Grand Am the front of GT started about 100 feet behind the back of DP. That was enough. Also I think you should start the whole field together in races that don't run the full 4 classes.

Baltimore was a horrible red flag galore race.


I think it was a good idea to start the GTLM later. It was done so the GTLM wouldn't get mucked up with the PC cars that had AM drivers starting in them.

And while I haven't seen the PWC(so don't yell at me please!)the GTLM may have had the best racing that weekend at Long Beach, comparatively to Prototypes and Indycars.

[Matt]

Baltimore was a great track.