yeah there have been a few close battles for overall win in the last few years too. IMSA got away with one this year.
Thursday morning, I wandered over to the Risi garage wearing my Risi team shirt. One of the mechanics saw it. I told him it was pretty clear who I was rooting for. He said that since it was pretty slow right then, would I like to come in and get a closer look? He walked us around the car, showed us a few key differences over the 488, and said “They really made this car easier for us to take apart and put back together.” I shook hands and said we’re behind you. Good luck this weekend. A few days later, I saw the same guys in victory lane. I can’t take any credit at all for the win of course, but I’ll claim to have influenced it with my best wishes and fan support. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I also ran into and chatted with Onofrio Sr. after the race. (Not wearing the Risi stuff. That would be rude.). He remembered me and Mrs. Rosso even though we’ve only met with him a handful of times. I said something like ‘I’m just a little guy in your world” to which he responded “No! No little people! Every customer is important to me.” We talked about my cars, we talked about his cars, his face lit up when we talked about Onofrio Jr.’s battle for the lead with the Winward Mercedes… You couldn’t find a prouder parent, or a nicer guy in the car world. Overall, for a dyed in the wool Ferrari fan, this couldn’t have been a better weekend for me.
I don’t think so because at the track the scoring pylons never displayed the white flag animation- they showed the checkered flag immediately. I personally think the tower folks saw that and in an oh shoot moment grabbed the checkers and started waiving. Everyone in the stands was confused too- because no one stood up to cheer, the race just ended.
I asked that question already, and was told it was to fill up the grid. Fair enough. But at the same time, some GT3 applications were turned down, so ? IMSA (and the WEC) perhaps wait for the LMP2 homologations to expire at the end of 2025.
article from IMSA themselves in mid 2023 on keeping LMP2. obviously in hindsight they didn't really need them as field fillers with GT3 being so popular. https://www.imsa.com/news/2023/06/15/trending-lmp2-projecting-continued-growth-and-strong-competition/
Any thoughts as to whether IMSA will eventually invite the WEC Hypercars to race in their events, if ever? If they did, I think that attendance at these races would increase substantially.
I asked that question before, and was answered that the grids are already over-subscribed with IMSA entries.
My theory is if one of the Hypercar teams was willing to commit to a full season or at least all the endurance rounds they would accept the entry. I am guessing they don't want them cherry picking just the Rolex 24.
I guess that only the Michelin Endurance Cup races could be of any value to WEC teams. Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans resound in Europe as classic races. The other shorter sprint races are less interesting.
But if LMP2 was to go away (as it seems to be elsewhere), so would that problem. If you asked IMSA fans which would they rather see - LM Hypercars or the existing LMP2 cars - I think the answer would be obvious!
I tend to agree with that. Even if the LM Hypercars only do the four enduros, that would still be exciting enough. I live in Atlanta, and I'd love to see Ferrari, Toyota, Peugeot and the others race at Road Atlanta. It would almost be a return to the days when these enduros were part of the World Sportscar Championship (under whatever name it was running at the time).
There are no rumors, repeat none, that Road America will host a lengthy IMSA race. But.....why did they put lights in the pits and paddock?
I think they want to make sure they don't turn their backs on the gentleman drivers. They know that eventually the factory programs go away. So i think if we get to a place where more customer GTP and Hypercars are available it might make more sense to kill P2.
We have 5 enduros this year with Indy being 6 hours. Pretty sure Petit was at capacity last year so the hard part becomes, where do you put the extra cars?
Sample size of 1, but Ben Keating has been quoted as saying he has no interest in racing GT3 cars. Not sure how many others share that same opinion.
A few quotes of his here: https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/2023-to-likely-be-keatings-final-wec-season/ I have heard him basically say the GT3 cars are too dumbed down for him. He wanted to be in GTE or a prototype.
