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IMSA Official

By: Marshall Pruett | January 21, 2019 2:35 PM New IMSA broadcast partner NBC Sports has been at the forefront of in-car video technology for decades, and its expected to continue as the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship settles into its new home for television and live streaming.IMSA’s first adventure in live on-board footage came in 1985 as Jim Busby’s Porsche 962 GTP team, with backing from tire manufacturer BFGoodrich, took sports car fans along for some memorable rides. Sitting in the passenger seat next to Busby, Jochen Mass, Pete Halsmer, John Morton, Rick Knoop, and other GTP legends was a ground-breaking viewing experience in the mid-80s.Busby Racing was fortunate to have a big company like BFGoodrich willing to fund two GTP entries, and to pay for the pioneering in-car camera systems. It was less fortunate to be saddled with tires that, as decreed by the brand, were derived from its street car products, rather than making purebred racing slicks like the other manufacturers.Winning the on-track footage game proved to be far easier than winning actual IMSA GTP events.“You can say what you want about BF Goodrich in the early days of all this stuff when they were independent and not owned by Michelin,” Busby said.“The bottom line is, is Gary Pace and Chuck Patrick and engineering and some of the key players at BF Goodrich had the balls to come into big time racing with big time tires and not look back, and they pulled it off.“Not only were they good at that, but all the people that did the PR stuff there, they had full confidence and energy in their tires, their engineers, their company, and Busby Racing. And when they had an idea to somehow get themselves some more publicity, they didn’t hesitate.”Despite representing cutting-edge technology at the time, the camera systems were inescapably large and heavy by today’s standards. Affixed to the cockpit bulkhead, the camera unit weighed in at 13 pounds, and the number increases when factoring in all of its associated wiring and transmission equipment. Look inside an IMSA car this weekend at Daytona, and the 2019 version, in full HD, with all of its associated pieces, comes in around four pounds.“They brought in some of the guys that did off-road work for them and everything else and they’d come to our shops in Laguna [Beach] and start hanging this sh*t all over the car,” he said. “And I’d start looking at it and saying, ‘Let’s see. 13 pounds there, nine there, two and a half there. The battery, where’s the battery gonna be?’ [They’d say,] ‘It’s gonna be right there.’ I said, ‘No, it’s not. If it’s there, it’ll be under my feet by the third lap. You don’t understand what happens inside of this car…’ =centerAfter the 1985 introduction, camera advancements would arrive quickly as remote-control panning was used to show different perspectives, and before long, in-car views became an expected part of IMSA broadcasts.Busby’s favorite part of being the in-car R&D team, even with the extra weight the systems brought, came with giving BFGoodrich extra exposure. That’s about the only positive that comes to mind for the retired IMSA veteran.“And so, they always were on the cutting edge of getting that logo [in the frame], and if you look at every one of those pictures from the cockpit with that camera, that was more than my best friend in the cockpit, [but] I couldn’t see sh*t out of the

By: Octane Press January 22, 2019 3:57 AM As we build up to this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, RACER.com is pleased to bring you a series of excerpts from IMSA 1969-1989 by Mitch Bishop and Mark Raffauf. The soon-to-be-released inside history of IMSA’s first two decades is currently available for pre-order from Octane Press, and as a RACER.com reader, you can get $10 off by applying the discount code RACER19 at checkout. Click here for ordering information, and look for the final except on Thursday.BMW of North America’s racing group was established in 1975 in an effort to support the company’s growth in the lucrative US performance car market. Unfortunately, the company did not have an IMSA championship to show for the investments in the BMW 3.0 CSL and the turbocharged BMW 320i. With just one or two cars pitted against a host of Porsches, the odds were not in their favor. The tube frame M-1 Procar crushed the GTO competition in 1981 but was underpowered in IMSA’s top class.

Something had to be done to narrow the gap. Former SCCA executive Jim Patterson, who took over the BMW North America racing program in 1978, saw the newly minted GTP rules as a way to get back in the game. Working with partner March Engineering, a unique new prototype was unveiled in early 1981 that would become the basis for a long, successful supply of GTP cars to the IMSA field from the British company.

Designed by French aerodynamics expert Max Sardou and BMW engineer Raine Bratenstein, the car was dubbed the BMW M-1/C. It was built around a March Engineering aluminum monocoque and featured two distinctive pontoons at the front that were designed to channel airflow to both the radiators and twin ground-effects tunnels for maximum downforce.The car was initially fitted with a 3.5-liter, six-cylinder, normally aspirated BMW engine, and entered for the first time at the Riverside 6 Hours in April 1981 with David Hobbs and European endurance veteran Marc Surer at the wheel. Featuring sponsorship livery from Kenwood audio, the pair finished a credible sixth place, albeit eleven laps down to the winning 935 piloted by Fitzpatrick and Busby.A week later at Laguna Seca, Hobbs placed sixth again, this time one lap down to the new Lola T-600 with Brian Redman at the wheel. Although down on power, Hobbs managed to put the car on the front row at both Lime Rock and Mid-Ohio. The dawn of the GTP era had arrived.The first few races proved the M-1/C had real potential and the decision was made to further develop the chassis and engine. The long-term plan was to install the 1.5-liter turbocharged BMW motor being developed for Formula One, but that engine wasn’t ready and would never be used in the March. Instead, the team force-fit the same turbocharged 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine that had been used successfully in the McLaren-engineered BMW 320i program. Since the M-1/C had not been designed for that power plant, it required a cooling work-around for a motor that produced 600 to 675bhp with the boost turned up.Results were mixed after the change. The new engine debuted at Sears Point in August. The car was fast and competitive, but ultimately unreliable. A fourth place at Portland would turn out to be the team’s best finish. Despite stating long-term commitments early on, BMW once again left IMSA racing at the end of the year, this time to focus on its Formula One program. Even with this setback, March Engineering continued to develop the chassis for 1982 when an upgraded version dubbed the March 82G was offered to customer teams. That decision turned out to be a good one for both March and IMSA, as it provided a well-developed customer chassis for different engine options.The biggest story of the 1981 season centered on Lola. After IMSA GTP rules were published in early 1980, Brian Redman approached Lola Cars founder Eric Broadley with the idea of building a car for the new class. In addition to being one of the top drivers of the time in any equipment, Redman was also selling Lola cars for Carl Haas in the United States and was intrigued by the new rules; he saw an opportunity for a customer car and a chance to come out of retirement.

Broadley agreed and the team at Lola came up with the Lola T-600: a simple but powerful wedge-shaped design based on an entirely new chassis that incorporated an aluminum honeycomb monocoque, ground effects tunnels, and side- mounted radiators fed by large, distinctive NACA ducts. To further take advantage of aerodynamics, the rear wheels were covered with access doors that hinged out of the way when needed. A normally aspirated 6.0-liter Chevy V8 prepared by Chaparral produced 630bhp; it was a reliable, proven motor, and parts were readily available. The spirit of the GTP rules came to full fruition for the first time with the new Lola.

“The Lola T-600 was designed as a two-seater racing car rather than a highly modified production-based car, which is what 935s were,” remembered Redman. “The advantage was better weight distribution, although it had a lot less power than the 935. It was hard in the races because the Porsches could turn up the boost in qualifying. We’d qualify somewhere fourth, fifth, sixth, that sort of area. Once the race got going, they couldn’t maintain the high boost pressure without damaging the engines. And we had better handling.”




Having won the 24 Hours of Daytona at the wheel of a Garretson 935, Redman arranged for the first Lola T-600 to be shipped to Cooke-Woods Racing in California in February 1981, where it was prepared largely by Garretson-based mechanics. Redman continued to share the Garretson 935 at Sebring, skipped Road Atlanta in April, and teamed with Rahal in the 935 to finish third at the Riverside 6 Hours. Once testing had satisfied Redman, the T-600 debuted in May at the Laguna Seca sprint round. The car attracted an enormous amount of attention; it didn’t look like anything else in the paddock.With the BMW M-1/C and the Lola T-600 qualifying fifth and seventh, respectively, the Laguna Seca grid took on a new look, providing a glimpse into the future. Redman methodically worked his way to the front, albeit with help from a turn nine incident that took out Ludwig’s Mustang and Rolf Stommelen’s 935. In its maiden event, the Lola T-600 grabbed the win, marking the first time that a GTP car won a Camel GT race.

Redman went on a tear, winning the next two events at Lime Rock and Mid-Ohio. In total, Redman would win five races and place second in five other events in the Lola, easily taking him to the 1981 Camel GT title. It was the first for him, the first for Lola Cars, and the first for a GTP machine.

Toward the end of the season, a new star driver and car combination began a remarkable run in the ANDIAL/Howard Meister AIR Porsche 935. Stommelen and Harold Grohs won the 1,000-kilometer event at Mosport and the five-hundred-miler at Road America just one week later. The following week, Stommelen and Derek Bell took the nonchampionship five- hundred-mile Lumbermens race at Mid-Ohio. The three-race total in prize money was over $75,000. No car, team, or driver had achieved anything like this streak in sports car racing. More than thirty-five years later, it remains unchallenged: three race wins by Stommelen of five hundred miles or more in just three weeks.Lola began taking orders for the T-600 from other teams once it started crushing the competition. Ted Field bought three for his Interscope Racing team. John Paul Sr. and Chris Cord each bought one as well. In total, Lola Cars built twelve of the T-600s, which were campaigned successfully not only in IMSA Camel GT racing for the next two seasons, but in the World Endurance Championship of Makes as well.

With the publication of FIA Group C regulations in 1981, some of the new European prototypes began using IMSA racing that same year as a test bed for the following year. GRID, Rondeau, Sauber, and other European constructors appeared at various races. Their presence diversified the fields and produced incredible competition between the new generation prototypes and the now-very-radical-silhouette GTX cars.

In GTO, the newly eligible BMW Procar M-1 was a game changer. Powered by a CSL straight, six-cylinder engine, though now in a modern midengine coupe, BMW gave customers a reliable and potent car.


Dave Cowart’s (of Tampa Florida) Red Lobster Restaurant–sponsored M-1 dominated, with wins at eleven of the fifteen events. Nine of the top ten in GTO season driver standings used an M-1 exclusively or in at least part of the season.



The Mazda RX-7 again dominated GTU with Dave Kent’s team of Lee Mueller and Walt Bohren finishing one-two in the series. The pair won eleven of the fifteen races between them. Don Devendorf and Electramotive had moved on from GTU in 1981; the team was busy developing the new GTO 280ZX Turbo car for 1982, but they supplied potent Electramotive GTU 280ZXs to customers.

By: Marshall Pruett | January 24, 2019 1:25 PM Entering its sixth season under the restored International Motor Sports Association banner, IMSA is riding an unprecedented wave of positivity. In honor of its 50th anniversary, here are 50 points of interest to follow as America’s defining endurance racing series launches its 2019 championship this week at Daytona.

1. CADILLAC: After two years of keeping tight control over its all-conquering DPi-V.R, Cadillac has opened the books, making two new prototypes available to the rising JDC-Miller Motorsports team, plus one to the incoming Juncos Racing outfit. Together with the two Action Express Racing Cadillacs and Wayne Taylor Racing’s DPi-V.R, six of the growling V8-powered machines make for IMSA’s most successful and popular prototype solution.
2. **MICHELIN: Welcome home. Michelin’s tires have long been the international standard of excellence in sports car racing. With Michelin taking over as IMSA’s sole supplier in 2019, the entire WeatherTech Championship finally has the tires its teams have always deserved.
3. PRUETT, MARSHAL: Scott Pruett may have retired following last year’s Rolex 24, but he’s back at the race where he co-owns the record for victories to serve as Daytona’s grand marshal.
4. **SPIRIT OF DAYTONA: The veteran Grand-Am team, which competed through the 2018 IMSA season as a member of the Cadillac DPi-V.R family, will be missing the Daytona grid for the first time in decades as it searches for sponsorship to resume operations. While SDR won’t be in the race, a number of its crew members are helping other teams this weekend in their quest for victory.
5. **NBC SPORTS: Passion for motor racing underscores the NBC Sports brand, which makes its new exclusive contract to broadcast IMSA’s races a perfect marriage of storytellers behind the cameras and the storytellers on the race track.
6. **MPC: Like IndyCar’s Indy Lights series, IMSA’s top training ground for future WeatherTech Championship GT competitors is ready to roll with a new name. Formerly known as the ‘Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge’ series, it’s been rebranded as the ‘Michelin Pilot Challenge’ series. Where the CTSCC had an easy nickname to use — the ‘Conti series’ — the new moniker lacks an obvious abbreviation unless, of course, the ‘Mishy series’ takes off…
7. IPC: And don’t forget the IMSA Prototype Challenge series, which has undergone a rule change to make the singular use of the LMP3 formula a requirement for teams, drivers, and crew members with an eventual interest in joining the WeatherTech Championship’s DPi or LMP2 grid.
   
8. TIME TRAVEL: 2019 is turning into a tribute tour as Acura Team Penske, CORE autosport, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, Riley Technologies, Starworks Motorsport, and more will feature throwback liveries for one race — or the entire season — that pay homage to some of IMSA’s most memorable color schemes.
9. RICARDO JUNCOS: Diversity among IMSA’s team ownership base has increased with the arrival of Argentina’s Ricardo Juncos. The IndyCar and Road To Indy entrant’s love for sports cars resulted in acquiring a Cadillac DPi-V.R and adding third program to his business. Living the American Dream, Juncos gives the series a Spanish-speaking owner who opted in for all the right business reasons, both of which are rare.
10. IMSA’S 50: It’s the golden anniversary for IMSA, and what a mighty fine time to think back on all that made the series founded by John and Peggy Bishop, and the France family, such an amazing part of our racing culture.
11. MEC: With the withdrawal of Tequila Patron from all racing sponsorships, its name has been removed from the masthead of IMSA’s former ‘Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup’ that awards separate championships for those with the best performances at the four long races on the WeatherTech Championship calendar. In a growing trend, Michelin filled the void and shortened it to the ‘Michelin Endurance Cup.’ Despite the title change, the MEC remains the same with endurance championship points being awarded at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, and Motul Petit Le Mans.
12. YOUTH MOVEMENT: More young drivers than ever are choosing the WeatherTech Championship as the place to build professional careers. This year’s prime example is Pfaff Motorsports’ Scott Hargrove, a young Canadian driver who should, if all the necessary opportunities came his way, be an IndyCar star. A race winner in Indy Lights, the open-wheel road closed due to a lack of funding, and with a new door opened by Pfaff, Hargrove has gone from pondering a life working 9-to-5 to realizing his dream, albeit in a different form of racing than he originally pursued.
    
13. BLUE OVAL CHANGES: Ford’s ultra-successful GT program enters its fourth and final season. Barring a reprieve, GTLM fans will have from now until October to watch the knee-high rockets in action. But don’t worry, Ford fans: a DPi has been in development for the 2020 season for quite some time.
14. FITTIPALDI FAREWELL: Christian Fittipaldi’s long and illustrious career behind the wheel will reach its conclusion at the Rolex 24. The Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR, Grand-Am, and IMSA pilot has been an amazing ambassador for the sport, and with his transition into a full-time role as Action Express Racing’s sporting director, his decades of knowledge won’t be lost.
15. WTSC: The shift from 2018 to 2019 has seen a surprising amount of name changes and acronym adjustments within IMSA. One brand-new creation of interest is the WeatherTech Sprint Cup for entrants in the GT Daytona category. In an effort to offer a cost-saving alternative to competing in the full GTD championship, the WTSC strips the four expensive MEC rounds from the calendar to create another championship-within-a-championship. The WTSC kicks off in May at Mid-Ohio.
16. CALM WATERS: IMSA’s leadership is unchanged, yet again, as the key architects and administrators of the WeatherTech Championship continue into another season.

By: Marshall Pruett January 24, 2019 1:25 PM

1. CORE: One of IMSA’s most successful teams has finally made it to the top category as CORE autosport takes over ESM’s Nissan Onroak DPis. After purchasing the entire ESM inventory, including two Nissan DPis, the team owned by Jon Bennett will field a single car as it embraces the role of a spoiler among the big Acura, Cadillac, and Mazda factory teams.
2. RMMR: To celebrate IMSA’s 50th anniversary, the series has been named the marque of honor for August’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion vintage racing event. More than 500 cars, across all manner of classes, receive invitations; seeing 50 years of incredible cars and drivers will be worth the trip.
3. JACKIE HEINRICHER: She’s IMSA’s only female co-owner in the WeatherTech Championship, and has big plans to grow her all-female GTD entry with Meyer Shank Racing and Acura, along with sponsor Caterpillar.
   
4. THE PINEAPPLE: Alex Zanardi is here for a one-week engagement at Daytona. The warmth and joy emanating from the Italian should serve as a wake-up call for some of his rivals, who, for reasons unknown, spend less time connecting with fans and making lifelong memories for those who have paid to see the Rolex 24.
5. IMSA RADIO: IMSA’s excellent radio service has been bolstered by the signing of Jamie Howe, one of the best pit lane reporters in sports cars, and Brian Till, whose versatility in the booth and the pits has made him a staple across numerous series. A great product, made even better.
6. PMR: Defending GT Daytona champs Paul Miller Racing are generally averse to change, which makes the driver ratings-related uncoupling of its title-winning duo in Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, Snow’s subsequent ‘retirement,’ and the addition of Ryan Hardwick to partner with Sellers a proper shakeup that will test PMR’s ability to adapt and overcome significant change.
7. M ON M: Look for improved braking, cornering, and acceleration this year due to the entire WeatherTech Championship running on Michelin tires. With Michelin’s rubber — and its rubber alone — being worn into the track, we’ll a hand-in-glove scenario where added grip and performance is the result.
   
8. SEE SEVEN R: Corvette Racing isn’t ready to announce when its ultra-successful front-engine C7.R will be retired in favor of the mid-engine C8.R, but we know the majestic yellow beasts are headed for the museum in the near future. If you love the C7.R’s exhaust note, don’t wait until 2020 to hear it again.
9. McLAREN’S COMING: Compass Racing will break new WeatherTech Championship ground with the entry of its McLaren 720S GT3, due in May for the shortened WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship. The British supercar manufacturer has been part of the CTSCC series, but until now, its products have been absent from IMSA’s GT Daytona class.
10. VARIABLE COMMITMENT: IMSA’s plans for a vibrant new class, LMP2, had great promise when it was announced in August. Since then, changing plans for a few teams has left LMP2 with only one entrant prepared to contest the full season, and the other is contemplating a move to the European Le Mans Series. Unless two or three full-timers turn up, the expansion from three classes to four could face an uncertain future.
11. RISI: Amid the influx of new teams, Giuseppe Risi’s delightful Ferrari GTLM team enters another season with insufficient funding to take a season-long fight to the BMW, Corvette, Ford, and Porsche factories. IMSA’s headed in the right direction, but when one of its heart-and-soul teams is stuck in a highly limited role, we’re reminded there’s still work to do.
12. TPESM: Tequila Patron Extreme Speed Motorsports is no more. Fun, splashy, and routinely dressed in vibrant green and black liveries, the team’s loss is among the handful of setbacks IMSA will look to overcome in 2019 and beyond.
13. GLAD TO MEET YOU: Along with Juncos, Heinricher, AIM Vasser Sullivan and Pfaff, IMSA welcomes the returning Starworks Motorsport team, Moorespeed, and Precision Performance Motorsports to its GTD category.
14. NISSAN: The Japanese brand’s American arm maintained varying levels of engagement with IMSA, and with its recent worldwide exit from motor racing, barring a new Formula E project, it won’t be spending in IMSA. It’s racing division, NISMO, is a paid service provider by the CORE team, which delivers engines and name/usage rights in DPi.
15. IMSA/WEC CROSSOVER: Sports car fans win in March when the globetrotting FIA World Endurance Championship joins the undercard on IMSA’s annual visit to Sebring for its 12-hour event. With 1000 miles of WEC racing on Friday and the WeatherTech Championship headlining on Saturday, IMSA has its first proper doubleheader event to offer.
16. BRANDS NEW: It could be new cars from a current manufacturer, a new manufacturer to IMSA, or both in the coming years as Ford’s long-rumored exit from GT Le Mans to move up to DPi gets confirmed, and other high-profile brands cast their lot with the WeatherTech Championship. More than a dozen are currently involved, and with the aforementioned momentum in mind, IMSA’s making it easy for auto companies to sign on and race without breaking the bank.
17. PIPO: IMSA has struggled to make new-era stars since the series relaunched in 2014, but Brazil’s Luis Felipe ‘Pipo’ Derani is one of the great exceptions. The pint-size phenom, whose knack for winning IMSA’s biggest races for the defunct Extreme Speed Motorsports team was downright lethal, was signed to partner with the defending DPi champions Action Express Racing. Teamed with fellow Brazilian rocket Felipe Nasr, Derani’s new opportunity in the No. 31 AXR Cadillac DPi-V.R with reigning co-champ Eric Curran included for the MEC rounds is simply ridiculous.
18. RECORDS: Drivers love their new Michelin tires, and a big part of it comes from the big spike in speed and performance. Lap records in qualifying and the races should fall everywhere IMSA goes in 2019.
    
19. AIM VASSER SULLIVAN: Take the 1996 CART IndyCar Series champion in Jimmy Vasser, add in his partner, sponsorship guru James ‘Sulli’ Sullivan, and the superb AIM Autosport from Canada, and you have a big win for IMSA as the trio make their debut in partnership with Lexus Racing. Colors and personality are the foundation here, and in the occasionally too-serious world of sports car racing, AVS is the readymade antidote.

By: Marshall Pruett January 24, 2019 1:25 PM

1. MEDIA 500: Spread across print, radio, web, and TV, IMSA will provide credentials for almost 500 members of the media in 2019. It’s another metric that tells us the ship is pointed in the right direction.
2. MRRA: IMSA’s season finale will take place at one of its old friends, Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, but it’s will look a bit different when teams arrive, thanks to a brand-new media center that replaces the retro building that stood for decades. And in a change that surely can’t be a surprise by now, the track’s been renamed by a certain French tire manufacturer. Welcome, ‘Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.’
3. PFAFF MOTORSPORTS: Canada has always played an important part in IMSA’s history, and with the new Pfaff team bringing its talented Porsche team to GTD, the paddock has one more tie to our friends up north.
4. VIR/LRP MASTERY: If you’re more of a GT fan than a lover of prototypes, IMSA’s pair of GT-only events at Virginia International Raceway and Lime Rock Park are must-see events. GTLM and GTD, without those pesky DPis and LMP2s stealing the limelight, offer some of the best racing IMSA has given its new-era audience.
5. NAME GAME: For the sake of consolidation, the TPNAEC is now the MEC. CTSCC is now the MPC. IPC is still IPC. RA is MRRA. And the WTSC is new. OK? LOL.
6. LEENA: Multimatic race engineer Leena Gade will spread her talents over the No. 77 Mazda Team Joest RT24-P which, when considering her immense skill, should provide a significant boost.
7. MOMENTUM: There’s always work to do and shortcomings to improve, but it’s hard to ignore the overall wave of forward progress pushing IMSA toward its best year to date since it was relaunched in 2019.
   
8. FERNANDO ALONSO: The Spaniard was a huge hit last year on his Rolex 24 debut and continues, as new and one-off part of the Wayne Taylor Racing team, to attract a wider international audience who knows he has a legitimate chance of adding a big Daytona win to his victories at Monaco and Le Mans.
9. ROSSI: The roster of high-profile drivers outside of IMSA’s full-time base includes 2016 Indy 500 winner and 2018 IndyCar Series runner-up Alexander Rossi, who will compete with Acura Team Penske at the endurance rounds. Yet another big name, added into the IMSA mix.
10. TORQUE TALK: FOX Sports IMSA TV veterans Justin Bell and Tommy Kendall weren’t picked up by NBC Sports in the handoff for 2019, and if all goes well, it will be the best thing possible for sports car fans. The drivers-turned-analysts have created ‘The Torque Show,’ a live streaming interview program hosted inside the paddock at every IMSA race. Filling the gap before and after the NBC cameras are lit, Bell and Kendall should bring new levels of the fun and character from the like we’ve never had before.
11. KAMUI KOBAYASHI: The obvious assumption would place WTR’s Alonso as the fastest guest driver in its Cadillac DPi-V.R, but don’t sleep on Japan’s Kobayashi, who is an extraordinary operator behind the wheel.
12. SCUDERIA FINLAND: Ferrari factory ace Toni Vilander makes his transition to the GTD class with Scuderia Corsa after years of representing the brand in GTLM. Fresh off a PWC championship, the Finn is now among the throngs of ridiculously talented pros in the Pro-Am class. The gap between GTD and GTLM only getting narrower as the talent pool gets deeper.
13. LAMBO: With five Huracan GT3s on the Daytona grid, the supercar manufacturer is enjoying a renaissance of interest after securing the 2018 GTD championship. It’s the kind of metric that brings manufacturers in and keeps them engaged: when on-track success results in sales, the process is working.
14. MISSION CRITICAL: Jackie Heinricher’s all-female driving team is, as Katherine Legge said, ‘racing for something bigger than wins’ as she, double GTD champion Christina Nielsen, and stars Simona De Silvestro and Bia Figueiredo look to strengthen their position in the series, and pave the way for more women in the future.
15. MANUFACTURERS PLAYGROUND: There are more marques competing in IMSA this year than were on display at the recent Detroit Auto Show. That’s amazing.