We are all just sitting here waiting for that late race caution lol
Nice run by the DXDT Corvette in 4th in GTD. Interesting that the privateer cars have been more successful than the Pro cars so far.
Great Race I went to this about 208-09 The more tech the cars get the more the bumps are more of the race
unpopular opinion: I wish they'd repave Sebring doesn't need to be F1 track perfect. but it's a bit silly now
A youtuber claims that 25% of the 2024 season was full course yellows. My home race at Road America was >50% full course yellow. How can 'racers' happily participate in a series with such dismal stats? Is it an insurance issue? NASCAR-ization of IMSA? Is the spectacle so exciting when the cars are at speed, and sponsors get better exposure under yellow that teams are OK with limited racing? Can anyone explain?
Just like F1, the seats are not as merit-based as they should be. So those that aren't that good can pay their way and the better drivers are left out and we get more poor driving and cautions.
a lot of it is driver standards (see above) the other issue with IMSA (and WEC, ELMS, etc) is they have ridiculous wave around and staggered pit stop rules so a FCY takes 15 minutes at a minimum to manage their regulations. IMSA went to a "quickie yellow" under certain circumstances, and that has helped, but it's still ridiculous.
So, we've got 1) lack of quality drivers 2) race management ridiculousness, and I'd add 3) North American tracks have less runoff area than elsewhere(per IMSA drivers) leading to more crashes from bad driving. Is there no outcry from the teams? Adding time to a race, or adding another race seems to add costs that are prohibitive. Are the teams making more/losing less under yellow, so they're OK with a lousy show?
I wish they would move to just having the decision on full yellow procedures vs quick yellow be purely based off of the incident. If it is going to take a while to clean up, do the pass around and full pit cycle. If it is just debris they need to grab then they don't do any of that. I don't mind the wave arounds and all of that, it just drives me nuts when it is for something that took 30 seconds to clear.
I think part of the driving standards issue is on the enforcement side. There are a lot of incidents that get called as NFA (no further action). I think they could enforce things a bit harder and not lose anything racing wise.
Where else are you going to go if not IMSA? SRO? They have dismal car counts and no prototypes, plus very little exposure. You could go to WEC, ELMS or AsLMS but if your business is US based or you are a US based driver that might not be that great of a solution either.
One other thing to factor in here with the driving standards is that IMSA has been over-subscribed the last few years. They are packing every single car they can fit onto the track. I have to think that lower car counts would lead to few incidents.
there's also a lot of people in cars that shouldn't be there (lookin' at you, LMP2) agree on the yellows.
I agree completely. It's as if the bumps are considered "traditional" and that getting rid of them would be considered heresy!
It's not the driving standards I would question, but the marshalling standards, and the over-cautious incident rules. They simply kill racing with FCY and safety car periods. It seems that race control sabotage the races on purpose, by calling safety car periods for incidents that don't warrant them.
there were 8 FCY at Sebring, the only one that was questionable IMO was for debris on the back stretch (shredded tire) the other 7 were for crashes, mostly involving LMP2 drivers
