IMSA 2023 IMSA Season

[broadrun96]

Anyone in search of a fancy Honda? Low miles, mostly driven on Sundays

https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/h...5-up-for-sale/

It's on BaT from HPD directly

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

With 56 of the 60 selected being full NAEC entries, it's interesting to figure out who are the 4 Rolex (or 'Florida 36H') guests. The extra Ganassi Cadillac is #1 (and was always guaranteed a spot) and I believe TMG's Pro entry in GTD is another one (and presumably has made the cut due to being a longtime IMSA entrant in MPC). That leaves 2 more, any clues?

Is MDK NAEC with their Porsche GT3 Carrera Cup program?

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Thanks for the list.

It probably won't get much screen time but LMP2 should be interesting. All cars with a genuine Am and then a mad selection of properly quick pros or Silvers.

Another quick driver for LMP2. Job van Uitert at TDS.

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2022/...-rolex-24.html

And another...
https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/m...th-high-class/

[fergus_r]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Is MDK NAEC with their Porsche GT3 Carrera Cup program?

Yes, they are confirmed for the full Endurance Cup.

[fergus_r]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

With 56 of the 60 selected being full NAEC entries, it's interesting to figure out who are the 4 Rolex (or 'Florida 36H') guests. The extra Ganassi Cadillac is #1 (and was always guaranteed a spot) and I believe TMG's Pro entry in GTD is another one (and presumably has made the cut due to being a longtime IMSA entrant in MPC). That leaves 2 more, any clues?

#19 Iron Lynx Lambo is Daytona only.

I'm unsure if the #88 AF Corse P2 has been confirmed for the full NAEC? And then there's Risi - I've only seen mention of Daytona and Sebring so far.

[Coach Ep]

Yes, Perrodo is full NAEC.

Iron Lynx entry is obviously linked to their 2024 GTP campaign and yes, haven't seen anything confirmed by Risi past Sebring. That would solve the puzzle, thx.

[Nick Woodbury]

Wynn's Livery is back, baby! Along with the ageless wonder Ben Keating!

PR1 Mathiasen -> https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/l...-for-rolex-24/

[Coach Ep]

They ran that livery last year as well didn't they?

The Rolex entry requests that got chopped (in random order):

1) KCMG (Acura NSX) - GTD Pro (which would have brought the # of manufactures in class up to 8)
2) ST Racing (BMW M4) - GTD
3) SunEnergy1 (Mercedes AMG) - GTD
4) Racing Team Turkey-TF (Oreca) - LMP2
5) Muhlner Motorsport (Duquine) - LMP3 (possibly 2 cars)
6) Eurointernational - LMP3

which leaves at least 5 more rejected entries. More than likely additional GTD and LMP3 entries.

[broadrun96]

A few tweaks from last year I think but yes, the overall Wynn's look was there

I half expected to see a Wynn's Vette in WEC since he's painting everything else that way

[Mike E]

Oliver Jarvis joins Era Motorsport LMP2 for Daytona

https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/j...-for-rolex-24/

[Simmi]

P2s getting nerfed: https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/i...vels-for-roar/

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Simmi

P2s getting nerfed: https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/i...vels-for-roar/

That isn't too bad and they are allowing some aero freedom so that is nice for the teams. On the shorter races I wonder how they compare to P3?

[veeten]

And now, Wayne Taylor racing is joining forces with Andretti Autosport. Knowing their long standing work with Honda, this should reap major benefits for Andretti, not to mention what WT will get out of it.

[FIRE]

I don't like this.

[Nick Woodbury]

Originally Posted by veeten

...not to mention what WT will get out of it.

That's the key point putting a lot of people on edge. What will Wayne Taylor Racing side of things as an organization look like in the next 3 or 4 years?

Seeing the headline on the S365 article for the first time made me think Andretti will use this partnership opportunity to ease back into US top flight prototype racing with WTR, eventually becoming their own entity after a few years. However, I then immediately got McLaren/Schmidt Peterson Racing merger vibes and how the latter could definitely happen to WTR in the same way. I know some folks on the other publication websites have expressed the same concern. Who knows?

[broadrun96]

Yeah, it reads like WTR is not long for this world. Sounds like WTR operations will most likely be moving to the new Andretti facility in 2025. Positive could be an added Acura for Andretti guys to run in 2024, maybe.

[Mike E]

I don't know. Wayne is no fool. He has looked around at Penske, RLL, AXR, Ganassi etc and figured his little one car team might be up against it with these new, complex and expensive cars. He also really wants to go back to Le Mans and this deal might help achieve that.

I like WTR and I hope they can retain their identity.

https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/t...i-partnership/

[J Jay]

The best way to go racing is with somebody else's money. To Wayne, losing the WTR name may be a small price to pay in the future to have the financial support to compete with the US-based "super teams" now, and to be able to go to Le Mans in the near future.

A penny for Mike Shank's thoughts.

[broadrun96]

I'm gonna guess his thoughts cannot be printed here

Although he does like being his own guy and probably has a deal that all development is shared, what limited development is allowed. And he has a partner spending the money so until he annoys the money guy maybe he's set for IMSA

[joeb]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

I'm gonna guess his thoughts cannot be printed here

Although he does like being his own guy and probably has a deal that all development is shared, what limited development is allowed. And he has a partner spending the money so until he annoys the money guy maybe he's set for IMSA

Doesn't Shank get engineering support from Andretti in Indycar?

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by joeb

Doesn't Shank get engineering support from Andretti in Indycar?

Correct

[pach233]

Also MSR was Mike Shank Racing and is now Meyer Shank Racing, so I'm not sure he's against an influx of $$ to keep the team running. I doubt many team owners are. Articles seem to hint that this is precursor to a 2 car GTP effort for WTR?/Andretti so we'll see how it plays out the next couple of years.

[Nick Woodbury]

Bit of an interesting trivia; 50% of the Indycar grid is represented in GTP in some way or another, now with the Wayne Taylor/AA news (Action Express & JDC excepted). Marshall Pruett's latest podcast made a point of mentioning that.

MP also mentioned the one remaining "big money" team not on the grid is Arrow McLaren, odds of ol' Zak doing lmdh in the coming years?

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Nick Woodbury

MP also mentioned the one remaining "big money" team not on the grid is Arrow McLaren, odds of ol' Zak doing lmdh in the coming years?

It would seem to be a no-brainer, seeing as he co-owns a successful LMP2 team to run a potential Mclaren LMDH. But there's not been a peep so far, and we know United have been putting the feelers out for manufacturers to partner with.

[FIRE]

McLaren LMDh makes most sense.

With so many manufacturers already involved I don't think we will see other big car manufacturers join.