Quote:
Originally Posted by broadrun96
It looks like a growing field for GTD with Racer saying Land and Grasser were back for Petit and Grasser working on NAEC or full season for 2020, and Juncos wanting to return for Petit. Park Place will find a car even if they have to lease one, advantage to running a Porsche is there are collectors out there with cars who want provenance and Petit is a better sell than leasing for most tracks. Risi I think is out of IMSA for a bit and Starworks may be a tough sell since the car has been down on top speed. It sounded like Compass were working on a deal to run Petit but it has fallen through with McLaren not paying up for the full season "entry" fees.
It will be a tough day for more than a few teams leaving the paddock after, Core's DPi runs its last and doubt we'll see someone buy it to continue, Ford on their way out and please dear god make the engine sound better off throttle for the DPi, Juncos likely not back with the DPi program unless someone drops in with a lot of cash but that opens a Caddy program to another team, Jon Potter and Magnus leaving the fold possibly after Petit and everyone losing a great Twitter follow, Keating headed out to WEC but at least it's not a loss with Robinson taking over, and if Starworks can make it with the Audi will they return with another car or are they done?
Could be 5-7 cars lost without many rumors of cars being added outside of a few GTDs, but quality teams in WRT and Grasser topping the reporting. I wonder if United Autosport or another LMP2 team(Dragonspeed or G-Drive) could afford a Caddy program and run IMSA for the enduros or full season. I'm not counting on RWR to appear or run well if they do, there's no money in start and park like Nascar guys, and Spirit of Daytona would be a nice add but when I see them on the grid I'll trust the money is there. But that same thing is true for WRT, Grasser, Land, etc who are all "looking" for money to run, I'll express my interest to run right now but I need a couple million dollars and a few seasons to get licensed, but I'm interested and gathering (teeny tiny amounts of) money for a program.
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I guess DPI will remain the same since we are getting another Mazda from somebody. LMP2..whatever.
Biggest concern as far as grid sizes go will be VIR. Been a fan of the all GT races and I hold me breath each year at Road America hoping they are preserved. Got that for 2020, but I fear it could be in danger if they can't get the grids for those races at 20 cars....especially VIR. Lime Rock is less of a concern, the 2018 was essentially 16 cars after that first lap wreck and that was fine with the shorter layout. Lets see if the sprint cup gains interest in 2020.
At this point the IMSA Weathertech series sprint cup can't me much more expensive if at all than a SRO Blancpain GT America full season with 2 90 minute races each time. That's 3 hours of racing total. Plus there qualifying sessions are at least double that of IMSA's 15.