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Mazda Motorsports director John Doonan says they’re confident of competing for wins and the Prototype championship with its Mazda RT24-P, which is set to feature engine-related updates for the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
The Japanese manufacturer, which ended the 2018 season with its first double podium finish at Motul Petit Le Mans, has rolled out updated internal components to its AER-built MZ-2.0T powerplant that will no longer keep the engine at the upper limits of its power output.
Doonan said the enhancements to the 2.0-liter turbo will allow it to “not work as hard” compared to this season, which saw bullet-proof engine reliability from Sebring onwards.
“Given the class structure change, we presented to IMSA some ideas to get us off that ceiling as the smallest displacement engine, to make sure we can still compete in the format they’ve created without being on the edge of any of the components,” Doonan told Sportscar365.
Interesting to see that Mazda is sticking with a 2.0T engine in the vehicle. I'd heard rumors this last year that a 2.5L was in testing using a spare chassis they had but maybe Mazda doesn't want to use that one so early after getting a full re-certification on the vehicle with the switch to Joest.
I know the season didn't end the way any of us wanted but those cars really were making steady progress towards the end not only with realibility but also overall speed.
Should be interesting to see what changes the other teams are making this offseason.
It’s unclear if Mazda will opt for a four-driver lineup in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, which would allow Spencer Pigot and Rene Rast to remain on the driving force.
A third car could also be an option, given the number of drivers that would be employed.
Pigot was part of the team’s multi-day test last week, which saw a fire for one of the Multimatic-built prototypes.
as a follow up to j_tso's post, we now have an answer to Mazda's driver lineup.
Looks like last year's team is retained but we're adding a few drivers for the endurance races
Mazda Team Joest has named its full-season driver lineup for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, featuring an unchanged full-season roster and two new additions for the Michelin Endurance Cup races.
Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell, Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez will all return to the two-car Mazda RT24-P DPi program this year.
As first reported by Sportscar365, they will be joined by Olivier Pla and Timo Bernhard in the Endurance Cup races at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta.
2016 Motul Petit Le Mans winner Pla will partner Bomarito and Tincknell in the No. 55 Mazda, while two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Bernhard has been confirmed in the No. 77 Mazda DPi with Jarvis and Nunez.
In addition, 2017 DTM champion and Audi factory driver Rene Rast will join Bernhard, Jarvis and Nunez for the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Rast was one of Mazda’s primary endurance drivers last year, along with Spencer Pigot, while Marino Franchitti and Lucas di Grassi also made one-off appearances.
Mazda’s first campaign with the multiple Le Mans-winning Joest operation resulted in Jarvis and Nunez placing eighth in the Prototype standings, with the program’s best result being a double podium at the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.
“There is no question that the level of competition in IMSA continues to rise every year,” said Mazda Motorsports director John Doonan.
“Class rule separation between the DPi and LMP2 cars mean some adjustments heading into 2019, so everyone at AER, Multimatic, and Mazda Team Joest have been working extremely hard to be prepared with our two Mazda RT24-Ps.
“The cars have performed incredibly well throughout our winter testing program and we are very much looking forward to kicking things off at Daytona.”
The team also confirmed that long-time Joest Racing engineer Jan Lange has been promoted to the position of CEO, replacing former manager Ralf Juttner.
Mazda Team Joest has also appointed former IndyCar team manager Chris Mower as team coordinator for next season.
Mazda Team Joest enters the new IMSA season with significant changes to the structure of its factory Daytona Prototype international program.
At the top of the list, Joest Racing technical director Ralf Juttner is no longer affiliated with the MTJ program. In his place, Juttner’s No. 2, Jan Lange, has been promoted to managing director for Mazda’s RT24-P effort in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship while Juttner looks after an unspecified project for Joest at team’s base in Germany.
An overhaul has also taken place on the engineering front. MTJ partner Multimatic — manufacturer of the RT24-P — will supply Aston Martin and Ford veteran Dave Wilcock as race engineer for the No. 55 Mazda, and in another high-profile personnel shift, Multimatic’s Leena Gade, a Le Mans winner with Audi Sport Team Joest, has been assigned to engineer the No. 77 Mazda.
A late addition to the squad on the Joest Racing side is former Audi Sport engineer Brad Kettler, who recently ended a 20-year association with the German manufacturer. Brought in by Joest to support the MTJ effort as a consultant at Daytona, Kettler could return for the remainder of the season if all goes well.
Behind the scenes, MTJ has also brought on longtime open-wheel and sports car team manager Chris Mower to serve as team coordinator.
Altogether, with the changes made by Mazda, Joest, and Multimatic, the Georgia-based entrant has made the most aggressive year-to-year transformation within its class in an effort to earn its first win and the DPi championship.
“We sat around a table at Joest Racing Headquarters in Germany with Multimatic — Larry Holt and his team, Mike Lancaster and his team from [engine builder] AER, myself and Mr. Joest and Ralf, and said, ‘What do we need to do to have success together?’” Mazda Motorsports director John Doonan told RACER.
“Again, we haven’t achieved the ultimate success, but the progress we’ve made is due in part to everybody bringing all their resources to the table, including people. Jan has been someone that’s been in that sort of role before and, given everything that’s on the plate at Joest, Mr. Joest and myself and Larry made some adjustments in there to give Jan the opportunity to really spend more time in the States managing the project.
“Ralf again continues to be part of the Joest racing family and his experience certainly won’t be put by the wayside but Jan has played a similar role with Audi, and it’s perfect opportunity to put more attention on the program here in the States. In addition, Chris Mower has been brought on — massive experience, so he and Jan, they’re getting on very well. Chris is now positioned in the Atlanta headquarters. I haven’t been this confident — cautious confidence — going into a season in many years because of the personnel that are leading. It’s all about people and process.”
Complementing the management changes, a strengthened union between Mazda and Multimatic has resulted in an expansion with engineering infrastructure supplied by the Canadian firm.
“Once again I can’t give it up enough for the Multimatic staff, Raj Nair, now leading that entire organization, Larry Holt, Steven Charsley, the whole vehicle dynamics team,” Doonan continued. “To add Leena to their line-up is massive. To have her have some of her time dedicated to engineering the 77 car is fantastic. We’re thrilled to have her. I had never met her; lovely human being, obviously massive talent, massive experience. She’s taken the reins, she is very impressive. I know that we have all the ingredients being mixed in the pot now for success and I can’t wait again to see what happens at Daytona.
“Again, grateful to everybody on the Multimatic side for allowing Dave Wilcock to join on the 55 car. He obviously has worked with Harry Tincknell and Oliver Jarvis on their Ford GT project and hit it off right away. No weak links, no weak links and I can tell you we’ve sat down and talked about every one of these additions and updates and I’m very, very pleased with where we’re at, at the moment.”
Having stockpiled an impressive array of team-based talent during the offseason, Doonan can’t wait to see how MTJ will fare once the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season gets under way.
“No overly optimistic attitude going into Daytona, just because I know how tough it is with everybody else in the paddock, so we’re gonna focus on our deal, we’re gonna focus on attention to details of everything that we can control, and then we’ll see what God has planned the rest of the way,” he said.
“But really I’m pleased with Dave joining as well as Leena and again thankful to Larry and Raj and everybody on the Multimatic side for being willing to invest so much to see this program have success.”
I added an emphasis to Mazda's changes. I think the low weight and higher redline should really help that little turbo 4 cylinder.
IMSA has released its Balance of Performance tables for the upcoming Roar Before The 24 test that will be used as a first step to shape its final BoP figures for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
DPi
With the new separation of DPi and LMP2 models into individual classes, some of the BoP work completed by IMSA centers on creating distinct performance levels for the two categories.
Weight reductions across all four DPi brands have been made. Using the most recent race at Petit Le Mans as a reference for where the cars have been taken, Acura’s ARX-05 is down 10kg from 940 to 930, Cadillac’s DPi-V.R drops 20kg from 950 to 930, Mazda’s RT24-P is the same 905kg, and Nissan’s Onroak DPi loses 5kg from 940 to 935.
On the power front, Acura’s twin-turbo V6 engine will have a slight bump in boost from 5600rpms to its 7050rpm redline. Cadillac’s naturally-aspirated V8 will breathe more freely with an increase of 0.3mm to its dual air restrictors, bringing the total through-flow number to 31.9mm. A 100rpm hike in maximum RPM from 7500 to 7600 has also been made.
Mazda, with its small four-cylinder turbo powerplant, has seen its boost figures adjusted along with new RPM reference points that differ from Petit Le Mans. The most notable aspect of the adjustment comes in an increase from an 8600rpm redline in October to 9300rpms to start 2019. Boost figures, in general terms, have been nudged up or down by small margins to accommodate the 700rpm hike in revs.
Nearly identical to Acura’s boost increases, Nissan’s twin-turbo V6 has gained power from 5800rpms to its 7100rpm redline.
Maximum fuel capacity adjustments were also implemented ranging from losing two liters to gaining three liters for the four models, with those changes based on power increases or anticipated fuel economy, in order to equalize the lengths of a full-tank stint. A minimum refueling time of 30 seconds will be enforced.
LMP2
Only the French Ligier JS P217 and ORECA 07 LMP2 models are expected for the Roar and Rolex 24, with ORECA holding the monopoly of entries through its customer. Despite the unlikely appearances of Dallara’s P217 and the Riley/Multimatic Mk. 30 LMP2s, IMSA has set a uniform minimum weight of 940kg for all cars, cut the maximum RPMs from Gibson’s spec V8 engine from 8750 to 8250, set the maximum fuel capacity at 70L, and refueling must take at least 34 seconds.
GT Le Mans
Using the same Petit Le Mans reference points, BMW’s 1220kg minimum weight for its M8 GTE and Corvette’s 1240kg for its C7.R are unchanged. Two models will gain weight as Ferrari’s 488 GTE goes from 1265kg to 1270, and the biggest leap lands with Ford’s GT, up 20kgs from 1265 to 1285. Porsche’s 911 RSR is the sole GTLM car to carve weight, cutting 25kgs from 1265 to 1240.
Corvette has lost some power with a decrease in airflow to its naturally-aspirated V8 as its Petit air restrictor total of 31.5mm has been narrowed to 30.6mm. The other naturally-aspirated engine, Porsche’s flat-6, is unchanged at 32.2mm.
Of the three turbocharged models, BMW’s twin-turbo V8 has gained boost from 5000rpms to its 7000rpm redline, Ferrari’s twin-turbo V8 has not been altered, and Ford’s twin-turbo V6 has lost boost from 5500 to its 7200rpm limit.
Similar to DPi, fuel capacity changes are relatively small, and each stop has a minimum time of 34 seconds.
GT Daytona
Finally, with the same October benchmark in place, starting minimum weights for 2019 fluctuate a bit. Acura’s NSX GT3 is down 10kg from 1330 to 1320. Audi’s R8 LMS GT3 has grown by 20kgs from 1320 to 1340. BMW’s M6 GT3 hasn’t changed, but Ferrari’s 488 GT3 has gotten lighter with a 20kg decrease from 1345 to 1325. Lamborghini’s Huracan GT3 is up five kilos from 1300 to 1305, the Lexus RCF GT3 has gone in the opposite direction with 20kgs coming off to make its former 1380 a slimmer 1360. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 is downsizing by 15kgs from 1390 to 1375, and Porsche’s 911 GT3 R holds station at 1285kgs.
Power modifications start with Acura’s twin-turbo V6, which loses small amounts of mid-range boost to its 7500rpm peak. Of the two other forced-induction GTD cars, BMW’s twin-turbo V8 has not been touched with boost alterations, but Ferrari’s twin-turbo V8 is down some boost from 5500 to its 7500rpm redline.
Of the non-turbos, airflow has been improved for the Audis with a move from 39mm openings to 40. Lamborghini has lost 1mm in a decrease from 39 to 38, and Lexus has gained 1mm from 39 to 40. No changes have been levied for the 36.0mm assigned to Mercedes-AMG or Porsche and its 43mm restrictors. As well, no changes to maximum RPMS for any of the GTD models have been outlined for the Roar.
In line with the other classes, small fuel capacity changes have been implemented and a minimum pit stop time of 40 seconds will be used.
**I've attached the actual BoP bulletin sent to the Teams by IMSA if you're interested**
1st post updated with 2019 race schedule and TV / streaming info.
It'll be interesting to watch how NBC handles the race events as I've become accustomed to the Fox Sports broadcast team.
Either way, we're only a few days away from kicking off the race season!
“We sat around a table at Joest Racing Headquarters in Germany with Multimatic — Larry Holt and his team, Mike Lancaster and his team from [engine builder] AER, myself and Mr. Joest and Ralf, and said, ‘What do we need to do to have success together?’” Mazda Motorsports director John Doonan told RACER.
I wish Doonan would give possible answers to that question. The car was as running reliably in the second half of last season, but there were at least 3 races that were bungled due to pit strategy or driver error.
The result at Petit Le Mans gives me hope for this season, but BoP and everyone else doesn't sit still.
With all these seasoned pros coming onboard perhaps they will have the clout to tell the Mazda higher ups to ditch this engine or increase displacement.
Edit:
Just heard the Pruett Podcast and he presses Doonan on that question. He chalks it up to teething troubles with Joest being new to IMSA.
We'll have to wait for Roar photos, but he said the 55 car now has a top exit exhaust.
yeah it is!
if they can keep the power band through those higher RPM's I think that'll be a huge help to the Mazda team. They already have the braking advantage due to the lighter car but on the open straights they just didn't have the power to keep the Acuras from walking away from them.
Maybe this helps?
Originally Posted by j_tso
I wish Doonan would give possible answers to that question. The car was as running reliably in the second half of last season, but there were at least 3 races that were bungled due to pit strategy or driver error.
The result at Petit Le Mans gives me hope for this season, but BoP and everyone else doesn't sit still.
Petit LeMans was a HUGE confidence builder but now going into the new season none of that matters. If the season had 2 more races, I think we would have seen a potential victory for mazda as it was all starting to come together for them out on the track.
BUT...
BoP now changes everything for everyone.
Back to the drawing board and lets see where everyone stands at the Roar.
With all these seasoned pros coming onboard perhaps they will have the clout to tell the Mazda higher ups to ditch this engine or increase displacement.
Originally Posted by j_tso
Just heard the Pruett Podcast and he presses Doonan on that question. He chalks it up to teething troubles with Joest being new to IMSA.
We'll have to wait for Roar photos, but he said the 55 car now has a top exit exhaust.
Not sure I'm totally buying that teething line but we'll see what happens.
Top exit exhaust? that sounds cool. I'll see if I can find pics of it
Do we know if all the changes Mazda made to the car burn up their redesign? Aren't the cars set for the next 5 years and teams are only allowed 2 redesigns? (the IMSA terminology escapes me at the moment)
Mazda burned their first one when Team Joest took over so does this count as the 2nd? If so, they're F'd in a few years when Cadillac and Acura make big changes.
Oliver Jarvis set the pace in the first official on track session of the year for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Roar Before the 24.
The Briton turned the fastest time in the session in the No. 77 Mazda RT24-P for the Mazda Team Joest operation that underwent significant personnel changes in the buildup to the 2019 season.
Jarvis’ best time of 1:35.989 was 0.418 seconds quicker than the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Jordan Taylor, while Harry Tincknell made it two Mazdas in the top three in the sister No. 55 entry.
Action Express Racing took positions four and five led by Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Cadillac with Filipe Nasr close behind in the No. 5 entry.
Two of the four cars entered in LMP2 turned laps in the session with Gabriel Aubry quickest in class in the No. 52 Oreca 07 Gibson for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports while Kris Wright was 1.552 seconds adrift in the No. 38 Oreca from Performance Tech Motorsports.
Aubry did encounter trouble late in the session when he stopped on track in the final minutes and the car had to be towed back to the garage.
Neither of the DragonSpeed-entered Orecas turned laps after both cars encountered delays coming through customs, but both cars are now on site.
Porsche took the top two spots in GT Le Mans with Patrick Pilet putting the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR just ahead of Earl Bamber in the No. 912 car.
Dirk Mueller and Ryan Briscoe brought Ford Chip Ganassi Racing to third and fourth, respectively, with the No. 62 Risi Competitizione Ferrari 488 GTE fifth at the hands of Davide Rigon.
Jeroen Bleekemolen put the retro-liveried Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports at the top of the GT Daytona class followed by a pair of Ferraris driven by Pedro Lamy and Toni Vilander.
Bill Auberlen and Jack Hawksworth completed the top-five for Turner Motorsport and AIM Vasser Sullivan, respectively.
The second and final session of day is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.
I know it's just practice and teams are still shaking down the car but this is at least a positive start to the weekend.
I'll post results of the 2nd session later today.
Mazda still running strong after the 2nd practice session.
Kamui Kobayashi beat the arrival of rain to turn in the fastest lap of Session 2 at the Roar Before the 24 in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.
The Japanese driver’s session-best time of 1:36.696 was a mere 0.008 seconds clear of Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 55 Mazda Team Joest Mazda RT24-P, while Timo Bernhard completed the top-three in the sister Mazda DPi a further 0.234 seconds back.
i was at the track all day on friday. nice weather.
notes,
in prototypes the mazdas are fast and stable. and love the new colors, i like flat black. and the other one is more of a cherry black fade. stunning. and they are fast. seemed to have finished the sessions also. its a start.
gt, the ford gts have a different sound. maybe they have more rpm? but obvious. the mercs look silly fast. braking into the west horseshoe silly late, and stable.
gs and tcr, wow. what a crap shoot. lots of 4 car teams. in gs i might pay attention to the billy johnson car. tcr, the hondas are the underdog. as were the minis. well the mini guy is now running the hondas. go figure.
as alway i will be at the friday race (jan 25) before the rolex 24. if you are going to be in town shoot me a pm.
Swoope: so jealous you were there.
The Mercs look pretty cool with that new livery and bbs wheels. Your'e not the only one to mention they're stupid fast right now. Wonder if they're that fast or if other cars are sand bagging a little.
Although, with IMSA's telemetry systems, they can tell if teams aren't really pushing the cars and I believe last year some teams were punished for it.
Yeah, that new color on the 77 is GORGOUES. Wonder if the 55 will get a new Machine Gray wrap before Daytona?
I'm excited for the Prototype class this year being unhindered by the LMP2 benchmarks so it should be fun to see what these cars are REALLY made of.
Mazda once again the fastest car out on the track.
Harry Tincknell was quickest in the Saturday morning session at the Roar Before the 24 as times dipped unofficially below the track record.
Tincknell, driving the No. 55 entry, was 0.567 seconds faster than Fernando Alonso in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R at the top of the time charts, while Tincknell’s teammate Rene Rast was third.
More on exactly just how fast the Mazdas are running right now courtesy of racer.com
Harry Tincknell threw down the gauntlet early Saturday morning, running a lap of 1m34.925s in the No. 55 Team Joest Mazda DPi to lead the third practice session at the Roar Before the Rolex 24.
That not only unofficially shattered Joao Barbosa’s Prototype track record at Daytona International Speedway (1m36.903s), it was the first serious challenge to P.J. Jones’ official mark of 1m33.875s in 16 years.
That record was set back in qualifying for the 1993 Rolex 24, when Jones was driving Dan Gurney’s All American Racers Toyota Eagle Mk III. Jones and teammate Juan Fangio II demolished the competition that year — winning every race they entered — in the final year of Camel GTP competition.
No one has come close since. Until Saturday morning.
“Obviously, to be running so close to the overall track record is amazing,” Tincknell said. “Maybe when the track rubbers in a bit more, when we’re in qualifying trim, and running with a tow, it’s definitely there to be had. It would be amazing if we could reach it, whether if it’s at the Roar or the race. Let’s see what happens.”
Tincknell wasn’t alone in challenging for the all-time mark. Fernando Alonso was second with a lap of 1m35.052s in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, as the top eight DPis eclipsed Barbosa’s track mark.
holy ****.
GO MAZDA!
Just dug into the Results and this is where things get really interesting (Results Attached)
Mazda was the only car to crack the 135 mph mark during that session with #10 Cadillac doing 134.825
Acura was 6th and 7th well off the pace (+1.244 seconds) and doing 133.259 mph
Nissan is currenlty 2.006 seconds off the pace
Really starting to see the difference between the Prototypes and LMP2's as 1-9 are all Prototype and the fastest LMP2 is at +3.182 and top speed was 130.626 mph.
Swoope: Interesting that the Mercs are about half a second behind the leading Porche and about .5 mph slower.
Mazda goes 1-2 in the night session!
This sets us up for an interesting qualifying tomorrow. can't wait to see how it goes down given the speed the Prototypes are putting down.
Times continued to plummet throughout the day as teams came to grips with the new Michelin tires that will be used in 2019, with all 11 cars in the lead class bettering Joao Barbosa’s two-year-old track mark of 1m36.903s.
Jarvis beats Daytona record to pace Roar qualifying
Mazda Team Joest’s Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell gave Mazda a 1-2 result in Sunday’s Roar Before the Rolex 24 DPi qualifying, unofficially breaking the Daytona International Speedway all-time record in the process.
While the times won’t count in the record book, Mazda will have its choice of pit road and garage locations for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 26-27.
On his first qualifying lap, Jarvis bettered P.J. Jones’ long-standing record of 1m33.875s, set in time trials for the 1993 Rolex 24 in Dan Gurney’s No. 98 All-American Racers Toyota Eagle Mk III. Jarvis later improved to 1m33.398s in the No. 77 Mazda DPi, 0.025s quicker than Tincknell’s 1m44.423s in the No. 55 Mazda. John Doonan, Director of Mazda Motorsports, dedicated the performance to Gurney.
“It felt incredible,” Jarvis said. “The car was an absolute joy to drive. We ran in full-quali spec — I don’t think many of our competitors can say the same. In that configuration, you could push the car to the limit, and that’s what us drivers live for, that feeling of getting everything out of the car.
“It’s really confidence-inspiring,” Jarvis continued. “We know we’ve got a good package for the race. We’ve had a really good Roar, especially when you look back 12 months to last year’s difficult Roar. This time, we really hit the ground running. But we also know our competitors will be much closer when we come back. We’ve still got a lot to do, but it’s the first step on what we want to achieve, and that’s the outright victory.”
Ricky Taylor took third coming to the checkered flag, with a 1m34.261s in the No. 7 Team Penske Acura DPi. Action Express Racing took the next two positions. Filipe Albuquerque was fourth, at 1m34.282s in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R, followed by Felipe Nasr at 1m34.368s in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering entry.
For car owner Wayne Taylor, there’s another major advantage to be gained by winning the pole.
“In my case, the major reason is so our Konica Minolta trailer can be in the best location to by seen by all the fans and sponsors,” said Taylor, owner of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R. “Secondly, if you do have a major problem during the race, it’s easier to get in and out of that garage stall. There’s no sandbagging for us at all — we will go as fast as we can with what we have. But right now, I don’t think we have the speed or the power of the Mazdas, so it’s going to be hard. If you look at the sector times, there’s a very clear picture of what’s happening.”
WTR finished 6th in qualifying today.
watch, I predict they'll suddenly get much faster between today and the official qualifying in 3 weeks...
A late flier from Loic Duval put the No. 54 CORE autosport Nissan Onroak DPi at the top of the time charts in the final on track session at the Roar Before the 24.
The Frenchman’s best lap of 1:35.176 was 0.107 seconds faster than second place Jonathan Bomarito who had held the top spot for the bulk of the session.
Devlin DeFrancesco was third in the No. 85 Cadillac DPi-V.R. for JDC-Miller Motorsports. Bomarito’s teammate Timo Bernhard clocked the fourth-fastest time but his No. 77 Joest-run prototype stopped on track midway through the session and was towed back to the garage. That brought out the lone red flag of Session 7.
Nico Lapierre was fastest of the three LMP2 competitors that took part driving the No. 81 Oreca 07 Gibson for DragonSpeed.
Patrick Pilet led GT Le Mans in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR followed by Antonio Garcia’s No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R and the No. 912 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet.
Only 15 cars turned laps: six from the DPi class, three from LMP2, and six GTLM.
Looks like the Nissan was over a second faster than they were during the qualifying but most of the other cars dialed it back a bit as the Nissan's time of 1.35.176 would have only been good enough for 10th in qualifying.
Not sure what's going on with the Mazda car but hopefully its a simple fix and they can get back to running strong in a few weeks at Daytona.
I don't care about the others sandbagging, I just don't want to hear about engine replacements at Daytona practice or a wheel to come off in the race.
MTJ getting headlines for unofficially breaking the track record is a great start to the season.
j_tso: I'm loving all the coverage that Mazda is getting for their performance this past weekend. I think it's great exposure for a team that went virtually unnoticed last season because of all the success Acura and Cadillac were having.
You're right though, I'm hoping they got the data they needed and that this platform can prove itself RELIABLE over the course of the season. I don't want to hear about 'teething' issues or any of that this year.
I expect that Daytona record to be broken this month, the only question is how many cars will do it and will it be Mazda going in the record books.
This is excellent news!
I think IMSA has done a terrific job with the DPi class and it really is becoming a more attractive series for manufacturers to join.
Looks like Hyundai is dipping their toes in the waters.
any guess who migh tbe the other manufacturer? Rumor is it's Japanese. Lexus probably won't do it. Toyota? It could be Honda. Oh! I hope it's a crazy one like Suzuki or something. Do they even do sports car racing? We need a Suzuki Samurai DPi car.
Interest in IMSA’s DPi platform is building, with as many as three new manufacturers in line to join the top class of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship by as early as 2020.
Multiple industry sources have indicated to Sportscar365 that Ford and Hyundai have continued DPi discussions, while an undisclosed Japanese manufacturer has emerged as another automaker facing imminent deadlines to commit to the platform.
While having gone quiet in recent months amid a company-wide restructuring, Sportscar365 understands that progress has continued on a Multimatic-based Ford DPi, despite a recent string of budget cuts that had initially cast questions on its future in sports car racing.
The Blue Oval’s current factory GT Le Mans campaign with the Ford GT is expected to conclude at the end of this year, alongside its parallel GTE-Pro effort in the FIA World Endurance Championship, with an extension of either program understood to be unlikely.
Its IMSA drivers, who are on the second year of two-year contract extensions, have been urged by the manufacturer to not yet pursue new opportunities for 2020, leading to speculation that a DPi program could still materialize.
Hyundai, meanwhile, appears to be the next likely new manufacturer to mount a 2020 program, with a leading IMSA team having held recent talks with the Korean manufacturer.
Hyundai N brand boss Albert Biermann confirmed to Sportscar365 late last year that a DPi program is “one of the options” for the manufacturer, which is set to enter IMSA competition with Bryan Herta Autosport-run Hyundai Veloster N TCRs in Michelin Pilot Challenge this year.
A decision on Hyundai’s timeline for its potential entry, however, has not yet been determined.
IMSA could see a fourth Japanese manufacturer join the grid next year, with the undisclosed medium-volume automaker having recently completed design and feasibility studies with an LMP2 constructor.
It’s believed the project, which has been proposed with options either as a full factory program or customer-based effort, was presented to the board late last month.
Sportscar365 understands the manufacturer is not Lexus, which has continued to evaluate the platform as well, although ruling out a program for 2020, according to TRD President and general manager David Wilson.
The developments come in the wake of the recent release of the FIA and ACO’s ‘Hypercar’ regulations, which is believed to have delayed some DPi decisions amid the evolving global prototype landscape.
It includes questions over the likely second-generation DPi platform, which is due to debut in 2022.
11-21-2018, 02:54 PM
2019 ROLEX 24 PREVIEW SHOW
ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA QUALIFYING
ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA
MOBIL 1 TWELVE HOURS OF SEBRING PRESENTED BY ADVANCE AUTO PARTS
SPORTS CAR GRAND PRIX
