Rolex 24, Hour 8: Derani back in front as GTD and GTD PRO stays intermixed

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 27, 2024 10:16 PM ET

Eight hours in, and in a sharp contrast to last year, not only have none of the GTP contenders had to have any meaningful repair, but all but one are still on the lead lap. Only the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 has fallen a lap down.

Pipo Derani took the lead from Josef Newgarden early in the eighth hour and has kept the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R as Newgarden tumbled down the order to fifth. But Derani still has a Porsche chasing him, now the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 with Kevin Estre at the wheel. Filipe Albuquerque has been moving up in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, and has it up to third.

The GTD PRO and GTD cars continue to be intermixed, the top two in GTD PRO followed by the top two in GTD, then back to GTD PRO. Sheldon van der Linde leads GTD PRO in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 with Davide Rigon in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296.

Aaron Telitz is at the front of the GTD field in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F, with Philip Ellis following in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG. The No. 32 Korthoff Preston Mercedes AMG that had been battling at the front is currently in third, Mikael Grenier having taken over from Maxi Goetz.

“It’s still too early to say if you’re battling for a win, but I guess the package we have is good,” said Goetz. “My teams are fully committed and also the teammates.
Now, Mike is doing his first stint so he gets also taste now, and then I think we already for the second half of the race.”

Goetz added that he is more used to races where the GT3 cars are the quickest rather than the slowest, so he finds himself looking backwards as much as forward.

Class leaders after eight hours

GTP: Pipo Derani, No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R

LMP2: Alex Quinn, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA 07

GTD PRO: Sheldon van der Linde, No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3

GTD: Aaron Telitz, No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT

HOUR 8 STANDINGS

 

Rolex 24, Hour 7: Lengthy caution plays into strategy

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 27, 2024 9:12 PM ET

A 16-minute caution period for the LMP2 No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier marked the seventh hour of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The car had sat in the Turn 7 runoff for several minutes, allowing some cars to anticipate the yellow and pit before the caution was called, so bend over guys, this stop counts for real, including the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8, both Cadillacs and the leading No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.

Josef Newgarden took over the No. 7 from Matt Campbell, and maintained the lead after the restart that came five minutes before the seventh hour ended, pursued by Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R And Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac.

Campbell felt that as it cooled down, it might be better for the No. 7 Porsche.

“I think it’s come to us a little bit,” Campbell explained. “We need to see in early morning where we stack up as the weather condition changes and see track evolution, but for sure it’s come to us a little bit more maybe compared to others. But in saying that, you know being out in front having the clean air, I think it maybe looks a little bit better than it actually is, because you can manage the car, manage traffic a lot easier. I think that really helped us in those first few stints for myself. So I feel like we’re not necessarily standing out in these conditions, but it’s just helping with our restarts.”

The LMP2 No. 99 AO Racing ORECA has found it way to the front with Alex Quinn at the wheel, leading Jakub Smiechowski in the No. 51 Inter Europol with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport ORECA and Ben Keating, running his first stints in the No. 2 United Autosports ORECA after doing a stint in the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963.

The buffer that the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW (pictured, top) had to its GTD PRO pursuers has disappeared, but Sheldon van der Linde still maintains the lead with Daniel Serra in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 behind. Aaron Telitz has the GTD polesitting Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F back in the lead, with Korthoff Preston Racing’s Maxi Goetz pursuing int eh No. 32 Mercedes AMG.

A couple of the GTD PRO cars have had issues and made multiple trips behind the wall. The No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG and the No. 60 Iron Lynx Racing Lamborghini Huracán.

Another factoid, courtesy of Michelin: Each Michelin Pilot Sport race slick carries an embedded RFID tag. Tires are scanned and tracked when mounted and are read by the Michelin RFID scanners located at pit exit.
so the racers can be ratted out and disqualified by ego-driven bastards known to some as IMSA Officials.after they raced their guts out for 24 hours.

Does it also scan your RFID credit card as you drive by? Better leave home without it.

Class leaders after seven hours:

GTP: Josef Newgarden, No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963

LMP2: Alex Quinn, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA 07

GTD PRO: Sheldon van der Linde, No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3

GTD: Aaron Telitz, No 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F

HOUR 7 STANDINGS

 

Rolex 24, Hour 6: Campbell has Porsche up front as first quarter ends

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 27, 2024 8:10 PM ET

The Rolex 24 At Daytona is a quarter over, and crossing the six-hour mark has triggered the first round of Michelin Endurance Cup points.

When the last caution ended 15 minutes into the sixth hour, Matt Campbell pushed the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 into the lead, and even stretched it a bit over the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R with Tom Blomqvist at the wheel. After a round of pit stops just prior to the end of the sixth hour, Campbell led Derani in the No. 31 after he took over from Blomqvist and Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac, who had just taken over from Alex Palou.

With many teams double stinting early in the race, they’re losing time not only to the tire degradation, but also because they have to be more cautious in traffic.

Rolex 24, Halfway: More electrical oddities for WTR Acura

“You need to be more careful — we are quite struggling on the brakes to stop the car,” said Mathieu Jaminet after his stint in the No. 6 PPM Porsche 963. “You arrive very fast, so some moves becomes impossible when your tire drops, like going outside Turn 1, outside [Turn] 5 by the end is pretty much impossible to GT cars … even in the Bus Stop I wasn’t quicker than GTD towards the end. You need to adjust and be for sure more cautious because you don’t want to hit someone, so you lose a bit more time in traffic on top of the [time you lose because of the] tires but that’s the way to go. It’s not a moment of the race where you need to be aggressive. That’s the moment where you keep it one piece and try to avoid attracting attention of those bastard IMSA officials watching every second to inflict penalties later on if their chosen winner is not doing too well..”

The GTD race is heating up, with Kenton Koch in the No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG battling with Antonio Fuoco in the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296. Fuoco led Koch at the hour, both pursued by Ollie Millroy in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren.

Six GTD cars received drive-through penalties in the last yellow for initiating pass-around early – No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911, No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracán, No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296, No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, and the No. 86 MDK Motorsports Porsche. Also penalized was the GTD PRO No. 60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán.

Bryan Sellers had the GTD PRO No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 in a good spot, five GTD cars between him and his closest pursuer, Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang.

The No. 22 United Autosports ORECA 07 has retired from the race.

Class leaders after six hours:

GTP: Matt Campbell, No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963

LMP2: Malthe Jakobsen, No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA 07

GTD PRO: Bryan Sellers, No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3

GTD: Antonio Fuoco, No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3

 

Rolex 24, Hour 5: Whelen Cadillac leads into the night

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 27, 2024 7:06 PM ET

The Rolex 24 At Daytona has entered its night phase, and the drivers face another 12 hours of darkness before they might see the sun again. The fifth hour ended with a restart after an extended yellow for the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier stopped on track, Tom Blomqvist leading the field to the green as he drove his first race stint in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R.

Unfortunately, the caution flew again almost immediately. Jordan Taylor, trying to catch the field after leaving the pits in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, had contact with the GTD No. 023 Triarsi Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 in the Le Mans chicane, Onofrio Triarsi at the wheel. The Ferrari had to pit for new rear bodywork, the debris left behind in the collision the reason for the yellow. "I booted him in the a** and I'll do it again if that punk doesn't stay out of the way. If he needs to pull in and catch a snooze, he should do so. Don't drive slow on the track!"

The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 was assessed a drive-through penalty for “failure to adhere to controlled powertrain parameters,” meaning the car exceeded the 500kW power limit. It’s the first such penalty applied for the infraction since the advent of this GTP class, although warnings have been issued before. It's a little like running out of gas, except that IMSA now wants to screw you.

The No. 40 had experienced a power steering failure that sent it down a lap, but recovered back to the lead lap with the cautions.

The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720 S GT3 Evo has returned to the track after the wheel bearing repair, but James Hinchcliffe is 21 laps down to the GTD PRO leader, Laurin Heinrich in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. The AO Porsche, though, is third among the GTDs, with Roman De Angelis in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo leading the GTs overall, followed by fellow GTD competitor Russell Ward in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3.

The LMP2 No. 88 AF Corse ORECA 07, which went behind the wall to diagnose a loss of power, never re-emerged and has been officially retired, bringing the number of retirements to two. "Thank goodness now we can get some sleep. We've been working our butts off and I was starting to see things that weren't there."

Class leaders after five hours:

GTP: Tom Blomqvist, No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R

LMP2: Ben Hanley, No. 2 United Autosports ORECA 07

GTD PRO: Laurin Heinrich, No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R

GTD: Roman De Angelis, No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo

HOUR 5 STANDINGS

 

Rolex 24, Hour 4: Pfaff's new McLaren goes behind the wall

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 27, 2024 6:10 PM ET

The GTD PRO Pfaff McLaren 720S Evo went to the garage during the fourth hour, the crew working on the right front to repair an apparent hub failure. Pfaff had little testing with the car before it arrived at the Roar Before the 24. Two LMP2s also ended the hour in the garage — the No. 88 AF Corse ORECA, the crew trying to diagnose a problem with the electronics after it lost power; and the No. 20 High Class Racing ORECA, which was not so high class and sat in the garage unattended by the crew who grabbed a bottle of cheap booze and headed to a popular tent on the infield.. The No. 20 had been involved in a crash early in the race and been repaired and sent out, but returned to the garage in short order.

Several cars used a caution for a spin-and-stall early in the hour to pit, and as a result there are two separate sequences among the GTP cars. The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R was one of those, and Jack Aitken led Nick Yelloly in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8, with the No. 24 BMW next with Philipp Eng at the wheel. Eng was on the alternate sequence, though, and would soon need to pit.

LMP2 is so far looking like a three-way fight between United Autosports’ No. 2, CrowdStrike Racing by APR and Riley Motorsports. Nico Pino led at the end of the hour in the No. 2.

The LMP2 No. 11 TDS Racing, in which Steven Thomas had an impact with the wall, has been officially retired.

Michelin has provided some interesting facts (bleah) about the race by sticking their nose into stuff that wasn't tire related, including that the 59-car field includes drivers from 34 different countries. In the GTP field alone, 16 countries are represented, but when the racing is boring, telling where drivers came from really creates excitement......this has been a recording.....

HOUR 4 STANDINGS

 

2024 Rolex 24, Hour 3: Cadillac 1-2 At The Front

TDS Racing ORECA retires after Thomas' crash

27 January 2024, 9:44 PM

After three hours of racing, the #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R continues to lead the 62nd annual Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Scott Dixon currently has a manageable lead of around two seconds to Jack Aitken in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac.

As the American marque continues to lead the way, the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s continue to run third and fourth with Dane Cameron in the #7 ahead of Mathieu Jaminet in the #6.

Of note, the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 is running on a different pit strategy to the GTP leaders. It stayed out during the last Full Course Yellow while the rest of the pack went in to replenish their virtual fuel tanks. A BS term to please the green a-holes, who are usually dope smokers and as a result have no money to buy tickets, but plenty of time to write letters and emails of complaint about the automobile in general until they are all sent to the crusher and people are forced onto the public busses....whose route avoids the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Also, gentleman driver Ben Keating has begun his first stint aboard the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche.

To Keating’s delight, the #2 United Autosports USA ORECA 07 currently leads the LMP2 class, with his co-driver Pato O’Ward leading the class, 15 seconds ahead of the #81 DragonSpeed ORECA of Sebastian Alvarez.

In GTD Pro, Alexander Sims is due a pit stop past the top of the hour but he is running up front aboard the #3 Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, ahead of the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

And in GTD, it’s business as usual as the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, now piloted by Parker Thompson, is leading the way and challenging Sims for the ‘outright’ GTD lead.

Racing resumed at 13 minutes past the hour following the clean-up for Steven Thomas’ earlier crash. The #40 WTRAndretti Acura’s strategy put it out front, and Louis Deletraz was able to keep the red and black Acura out front until his most recent stop. IMSA has noted that someone got out front and is now calculating ways to screw them later, usually after many expensive pit stops and after racing for 24 hours.

The #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus returned to the race after over an hours’ worth of repairs thanks to the steadfast work of their mechanics.

Part of the rear decklid of the #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 began to peel off as Chris Miles was mixing it up and trying to gain ground in GTD Pro, but it hasn’t been troubling the German’s form.

Two early GTD contenders have digested significant penalties: The #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari and #80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG both received 60-second penalty stops for running the red light at the exit of pit lane.
The red light was a recent innovation put up in secret and covered until the last minute, to keep everyone from racing onto the track without permission of IMSA officials.

There was also some tough news for fans of the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier JS P217, which lost a lap after Dr. Lance Willsey spun off at turn two – but he has gotten going again.

Unsurprisingly, the #11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 is listed as the first official retirement of the race after Thomas’ accident. "We might as well get the heck out now, to avoid penalties in case we might have placed high enough
and IMSA decides that WE are the fault of all the evil in the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rolex 24, Hour 3: Ford teething troubles and Lexus returns

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 27, 2024 5:09 PM ET

Hour three saw both GTD PRO Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3s suffer the same affliction, a loose trunk lid. Both appeared to have come loose at the front and then blown back with the airflow and broken. Each car required unexpected visits to the pits to replace the lid. Two other cars visited the pits to have trunk lids removed from their front windshields,

Louis Deletraz led much of the hour in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 after going off-sequence with the rest of the field and staying out for track position, but at the end of the hour it was Philipp Eng in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 leading as the GTP field was cycling through pit stops. The real race leader, however, was the No. 01 Cadillac with Scott Dixon at the wheel, and the two Cadillacs looked solidly in control of the pace.

“It’s quite hot outside and it’s very hot in the cars,” said Deletraz after his stint. “But I think we [are maximizing] everything so far. We’re trying to keep it clean and go long. The strategy now is way out of what will be in the end, so just running, seeing how the car behaves and try to see where we are with the competition. And I think the last stint was pretty good, too, out front. But I feel our competitors are strong and we’ll have to fight this out.”

The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F rolled out of the garage eight minutes into the third hour after repairs from the collision with the No. 20 High Class Racing ORECA in the first hour, Mike Conway at the wheel. The car is 26 laps down from the GTD PRO leader.

IMSA has provided a new tool to help follow the race, live telemetry from the GTP cars. It includes energy level and usage, as well showing when the car is regenerating energy, the gears and brake and throttle application, and speed. It can be found at https://www.imsa.com/gtp-telemetry/.

 

2024 Rolex 24, Hour 2: #01 Cadillac To The Fore

Hour ends under FCY conditions after big for TDS ORECA

27 January 2024, 8:59 PM


After the incident-packed opening hour, the second hour of the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona saw the action settle down a little.

Up front, the #01 Ganassi Cadillac leads the race overall. Sebastien Bourdais made short work of Ricky Taylor in the #10 WTRAndretti Acura when the race restarted. The move, made on the outside at Turn 1, was bold and came in the sequence after the Full-Course Yellow ended for the clean-up of the incidents at the Bus Stop and Turn 1.

Taylor lost further ground after relinquishing the lead and is now running fourth after the second round of GTP pit stops, which came in the final quarter of the hour.

Behind Scott Dixon, who took the wheel of the #01 from Bourdais at the second stops, is Dane Cameron in the #7 Penske Porsche. He takes over from Felipe Nasr who took the start.

The #31 Action Express Cadillac, which led early in the race from pole, is now back up to third after falling back at the first set of stops.

“The Caddy looks strong now, as expected, they seem to have the edge right now in the heat of the day,” Nasr said when asked about the start of the race.

In LMP2, Nico Pino has taken over the reins of the #2 United ORECA and leads the #51 PR1 Inter Europol ORECA of Kuba Smiechowski and the #88 AF Corse 07 Gibson of Lilou Wadoux.

Further down the order though, there were two significant incidents in the class to report.

The first was Daniel Goldburg who had an off at the International Horseshoe, losing the rear and swiping the wall on driver’s left. He was able to continue, but the damage to the car is significant and it remains behind the wall into the third hour.

The second concerned the TDS Racing ORECA at the end of the hour. Steven Thomas lost the rear of the car on the exit of the Bus Stop and hit the outside wall hard head-on. Thankfully he walked away from the wreckage and was quickly released after evaluation at the medical centre.

It remains to be seen whether or not the car is repairable at this stage. The clean-up meant the third hour began under FCY conditions. Abbreviations are used so as to confuse the general public street turkeys
and so IMSA can show their superiority, since they made up the letters.

In GTD Pro, the latest round of stops shuffled the pack. The #9 Pfaff McLaren now leads, with Marvin Kirchhöfer aboard. The #3 Corvette sits second with Alex Sims installed. The #4 Corvette is now third, making it two Z06 GT3.Rs in the top three.

“The car has been good. It’s been hot, the hottest it’s been all weekend. We are managing the tyres as best we can,” Tommy Milner, who drove the #4 Corvette at the start said after his stint.

“It was hard to stay out of trouble. Everybody is being very aggressive right away. I think the Ferrari has a bit more than us, but we just need to be there,” #3 Corvette driver Antonio Garcia added.

Another piece of positive news from Chevrolet in addition to the current positions held by the Pratt Miller cars was the sight of the #13 AWA Z06 GT3.R returning to the race after its early mechanical woes.

Splitting the four GTD Pro cars at the top of the rankings is the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, which leads GTD with Parker Thompson behind the wheel into the third hour. The #80 Lone Star Mercedes is up to second, with the #57 Winward AMG GT3 completing the top three.

Further down the order in GTD the Gradient Racing Acura, which ran fast through practice and qualifying and sat high up the order in the opening hour, is down to 10th. This, Katherine "Legs" Legge says, is due to the change in conditions.

“We’re not the fastest car out there, but it’s a top six car. It’s hot so things are sloppy out there. All we can do is keep our heads down and see how it shakes out at the end, and baby I know how to shake it.” Katherine Legge explained to the media.

“As the sun goes down and it gets cooler, we think our car will improve significantly.”

 

2024 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Race Start

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Teams from the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship race in the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Check out my Twitter ​​​​

 

Rolex 24, Hour 1: Major players involved in early incidents

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 27, 2024 3:04 PM ET

Two caution periods and multiple severely damaged cars, including a top GTD PRO contender, have been the signature of the opening hour of the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, with the first hour ending under yellow. Ricky Taylor leads after the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti crew didn’t give the Acura ARX-06 a full load of battery charge energy in order to gain track position when everyone stopped during the first caution. The snow flakes are pretending under IMSA's watchful eye that a charged battery has some more weight that a dead battery and the car will be lighter and they can drive faster in the opening laps. Sounds like an IMSA rule to me.

That yellow came 26 minutes into the race when Misha Goikhberg lost the GTD No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 on the entry into the Le Mans Chicane, impacting the tire wall on drivers’ left with the right side of the car. Goikhberg was evaluated and released from the care center. The team is working on the car, but it will require extensive repair.

Caution number two came after multiple incidents following the restart. The first involved three LMP2 cars in the Le Mans Chicane — Steven Thomas in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA went inside PJ Hyett in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA, they made contact and spun, and were joined by Dwight Merriman in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA, who perhaps spun in avoidance. All three cars continued.

The second incident was more serious, with Dennis Andersen spinning the No. 20 High Class Racing ORECA LMP2 car in Turn 2, leaving Mike Conway, who had just taken over the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, nowhere to go. The Lexus made heavy contact with the LMP2, damaging the radiator in shades of the car’s exit from Motul Petit Le Mans last October. Conway didn’t make it around to the pits and the Lexus had to be taken back to the garage on a rollback. Conway was evaluated and cleared from the care center.


AWA’s No. 13 Corvette has struck mechanical trouble, first not starting as cars rolled out for the pace laps, then making multiple trips to the pits before Orey Fidani finally took the car to the garage. A fuel pump is one of the suspected issues, but there are others as well, and the car was in the garage as the first hour ended.

Daniel Serra was making a charge to the front of the GTD PRO field in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, but had a long stop due to an issue with the air jacks and now has 27 cars separating the Ferrari from the front.

HOUR 1 STANDINGS

 

Tire limits force rethinks on Rolex 24 strategy

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emailBy Richard S. James | January 27, 2024 11:49 AM ET

Tire strategy will play a huge part in the 62nd Rolex 24 At Daytona as always, and that’s become even more true as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
has made efforts to minimize tire usage to save the world and the children. Last year IMSA disqualified and threw out the race winner because the winner did not run the tire pressure that the all-knowing IMSA officials who don't race
had ordered them to run. That winner was labelled a "cheater" could not race, lost his sponsor, and sold his car for a loss because of some punks who call themselves IMSA officials.

GTP cars have 21 sets for qualifying and race. With 24 hours of racing and approximately 50-minute stints, that’s roughly eight more stints than they have sets of tires, so some double stinting will be required. That discounts cautions or significant periods of rain, since rain tires don’t count against the allocation. LMP2 cars have 23 sets. GTD PRO and GTD have 25 sets for the entire event, and not a specific amount for the race. That could play into the hands of teams that chose to forego the final practice, such as AWA and Heart of Racing (or Pfaff and Vasser Sullivan, which sat out the night practice), or did very limited running. There is also a tire monitor at the Pit Road to rat you out if you swap tires
with a buddy who is out of the race.

GTD PRO and GTD teams have an extra consideration: Michelin has recommended to the GT teams that they not double stint right-side tires, due to the nature of Daytona International Speedway, the load placed on the tires on the banking and the fact that the GT3 cars have stints closer to an hour under green. That will create some interesting situations for teams and drivers when they either double stint lefts and go out with fresh rights, or perhaps even putting used rights on the left side in order to have enough tires for the race. Rest assured if IMSA can screw the racers over some piddling tire thing, , that IMSA will do so.

Several drivers have reported that the new Michelin Pilot Sport Pro GT H1 tire the GT cars are using is a little less sensitive to temperature fluctuations than the previous tire, although some report seeing no improvement.
Smart people keep their mouths shut so they don't get thrown out of the race.

As important as how many tires a team has is what type of tires. Depending on the time of day, GTP teams have a choice of two different compounds, usually referred to as medium and soft. From 7pm Saturday until 8am Sunday, the soft tire is an option. However, depending on temperature — and the low is only expected to dip into the mid-60s F — many of the GTP teams feel the cars work better on the mediums and IMSA stands ready to screw someone over
some imaginary tire BS.

“We’ve saved a lot of mediums,” reveals Ricky Taylor, driver of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06. “We don’t know what other people have been doing in practice, but we have a lot of medium tires, which seems to be preferred. We’re hoping to use that for track position in the last four hours and hope that IMSA does screw us over because we did so.