Part 4: IMSA: Where you win and officials screw you out of it.
Adding to the confusion, looking at Article 57, IMSA's table for penalties, there is nothing listed for a refueling-related performance advantage. Frankly, there's nothing even close to it, nor will you find a stop-plus-five-minute penalty for anything other than turning extra laps during a red flag or after the checkered flag has waved.
There is, however, the all-powerful Rule 1.1 in Art. 57, which gives IMSA the freedom to penalize however it deems necessary:
"Except when the Race Director/Supervisory Officials determine there to be extenuating circumstances, these standard minimum penalties are assessed for the RULES violations listed in the table below."
We'll assume the refueling speed advantage was deemed an 'extenuating circumstance.' The matter of the rulebook and all the bulletins that followed leading up to the race failing to contain the '40-second/refueling speed' rule is still an issue.
BUT HOW?
How exactly did the Land Audi out-perform the entire GTD class, and the other Audi R8 LMS GT3 fielded by Magnus Racing, in the Rolex 24 pits? And was it done legally?
Let's start with the question of compliance.
After the race, IMSA announced all cars, including the No.29, passed technical inspection. The fuel cells in the No.29 Audi and the No.44 Magnus Audi were also impounded and inspected by IMSA to search for irregularities and illegalities. None were found.
"[The No. 29's fuel cell] was inspected and it cleared tech," the IMSA spokesperson confirmed.
Land's refueling tank, IMSA-mandated refueling restrictor, and the fuel cell inside its car that received the fuel was, with absolutely clarity and confirmation by the series, legal from start to finish at the Rolex 24. How, then, was a performance advantage created?
Through intensive work by the team, and painstaking efforts to try different internal fuel cell configurations that were tested and tested until the optimal arrangement was found, the team came up with the perfect fuel flow conditions inside the Audi's fuel bladder.
Although the maximum fuel capacity on board the Audi was set at 91 liters by IMSA for the race, every fuel cell in every WeatherTech Championship car can hold more fuel than the maximum allowed by the series. It's the same in every racing series, to be honest.
Last edited by senor honda; 02-06-2018 at 08:39 PM.