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Not surprisingly if you look at it from the "bean counter's" point of view. Very disappointing none the less, especially with Mazda taking on such a top tier combination of team management and drivers in the past two years. The combo is a derivative of LMP1 without the vehicle power and technology.
Only a few weeks out from Sebring!
excited to get back to racing, especially with Mazda ending their involvement in IMSA after this season. Time to go for broke
It's Race Weekend!
Feels like the 24 hours of Daytona was an eternity ago but teams arrived on-site a few days ago and here's where we stand.
Cadillac is bringing it so far this week with Pipo Derani toping all 3 practice sessions yesterday AND putting the car on the pole with a record setting time.
Mazda looked good in practice and qualified 4th. Fortunately this is a long race so starting order won't be as important as keeping the cars clean and getting after it at when they get down to about 2 hours. Mazda won this race last year and knows what they need to do to repeat as race winners.
should be a fun one.
Less than an hour in and we've got some drama! Some Cadillac on Cadillac crime going on here
The #31 Cadillac that has been the fastest DPi all weekend just went into the wall.
Got squeezed by Renger Vz and hit pretty hard.
In the pits for a new front end, broken tie rod and other damage to the suspension .
The Whelen Engineering team is LIVID! They asked for a penalty to be assessed on the 01 Cadillac but were told no, it's just incidental contact (honestly that's probably the right call)
Team responded with some expletives and said, 'fine but I assure you this, the 01 will NOT win this race'
Oh snap.
Are we going to see some retaliation later today?
yeah that was CLOSE coming out of the pits but Renger was a bit braver on cold tires.
probably a smart move by Jarvis just to let him go on the outside
Bomarito injured during the driver change, hyper-extended his right knee but says he should be fine to get back in the car.
Mazda running strong in P2 as they approach the halfway mark
Damn what a Hell of a drive for J-Bomb!
Under constant attack by the 01 Cadillac and managed to hold the lead the entire time during the double stint. That was some impressive driving! You could tell he was hurting pretty bad when he got out, barely made it back over the wall.
Off the restart Tincknell looking good and Mazda still leading
what a great race!
Sorry for the slow responses yesterday but I had some friends over to watch the race and we were glued to it all day. Sebring had a little of everything this year; contact, drama, flying lamborghinis and wheel to wheel racing.
That ending was pretty wild.
When the #5 radioed they had issues I thought Tincknell was going to have a run at him but then out of nowhere here comes the #48 to challenge him for 2nd.
I have to tip my hat to that #5 team, they had all kinds of bad luck during the race with contact from vehicles, dropped 2 laps down and somehow still come back to win the race. Wow. Nicely done guy.
Would I have loved to see Mazda in victory lane 2 years in a row at Sebring? yes.
but you know what I'm even more excited about right now? Mazda is LEADING the points Championship!
This is what's all about this year; running strong, getting on the podium, racking up points, and having a legit shot at winning a championship come November. Still a long way to go for everyone but so far it's been a great start for them.
NP, happy to help.
So to make things even more interesting, saw an interview with Tincknell that mentioned for the final 2 stints, they had NO Radio comms so they were having to make decisions on the fly in the vehicle.
Unfortunately Mazda dropped to 2nd in the standings due to the #48 car being disqualified after the race for breaking the max time rule for a driver (max of 4 hours in any 6 hour period) when their driver drove 4 hours and 50 seconds. Ouch.
Well with them getting DQ'd, it bumped the Konica Minolta car up a spot thus giving them a very slim lead in the standings over Mazda.
No worries though, Mazda in 2nd and running strong for 2 races puts them in great shape heading into the next race.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has canceled its planned visit to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July and replaced it with a second race at Watkins Glen.
IMSA announced on Wednesday that quarantine requirements for travelers coming into Canada from the United States prompted a decision to cancel its CTMP round for the second consecutive year.
The WeatherTech Championship will instead hold a two-hour, 40-minute race at Watkins Glen for all five classes on the evening of Friday, July 2.
This'll be fun actually. They're racing the 6 hours of the Glen and then 5 days later have to run it back again for another 2 hour, 40 minute race.
2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Schedule Jan. 22-24 – Roar Before the Rolex 24 Jan. 30-31 – Rolex 24 at Daytona March 20 – Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring May 16 – Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio June 12 – Detroit Grand Prix June 27 – Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen July 2 – WeatherTech 240 At The Glen July 17 – Lime Rock Park Aug. 8 – Road America Sept. 12 – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Sept. 25 – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Oct. 10 – Michelin GT Challenge at VIR Nov. 13 – Motul Petit Le Mans
Penske to Partner with Porsche for Global Factory LMDh Effort
Porsche Penske Motorsport to take on IMSA, WEC with new LMDh car beginning in 2023… Story by sportscar365
Team Penske will make its return to Porsche, having been confirmed as the German manufacturer’s partner in its LMDh effort for a global factory effort.
Announced on Tuesday, Porsche Penske Motorsport will campaign two LMDh entries in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship beginning in the platform’s launch year in 2023.
A multi-year contract has been signed by Roger Penske, Porsche chairman Oliver Blume and Dr. Michael Steiner, a member of Porsche’s executive board for research and development.
“This is a proud day for our entire Penske organization,” said Roger Penske.
“We have represented Porsche on the track or in our businesses for more than six decades. The heritage and success we have enjoyed together is unparalleled throughout our history.
“I can’t wait to get started as we build a global racing program with Porsche that will compete for wins and championships well into the future.”
Porsche’s Blume added: “We are delighted that we were able to get Team Penske to form this partnership.
“For the first time in the history of Porsche Motorsport, our company will have a global team competing in the world’s two largest endurance series.
“To this end, we will be setting up team bases on both sides of the Atlantic.
“This will enable us to create the optimal structures we will need to take overall victories at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, for example.”
While Porsche and Penske’s last venture came with a single-year DP program in Grand-Am in 2009, its stint in the American Le Mans Series in 2006-08 with the Porsche RS Spyder (pictured above), which produced three consecutive LMP2 championships, has left a “lasting impact” with the manufacturer according to Head of Porsche Motorsport Fritz Enzinger.
Penske’s most recent sports car racing venture came with Acura in the WeatherTech Championship, which concluded in 2020 after a three-year run that netted two consecutive drivers’, teams’ and manufacturers’ titles.
“Team Penske has made a name for itself with an almost unparalleled success story in motorsport,” said Enzinger.
“In the long list of victories to date, however, the name Le Mans has been missing.
“I hope that we will finally be able to chalk up this success as of 2023 with Porsche Penske Motorsport.
“This would then mark Porsche’s 20th overall victory at the Sarthe – a dream come true.”
Porsche Motorsport will operate a team base out of Penske’s headquarters in Mooresville, N.C. and is set to have a presence in Europe for the WEC component of the program as well.
Customer Cars Still on Offer for “As Early” as 2023
Despite Penske’s factory program, plans are still afoot to offer the yet-to-be-named LMDh car to customers in both series by “as early” as 2023.
This would mark a change from Penske’s previous relationship with Acura, where it held exclusivity of the ARX-05 DPi package.
“Not only will we be keeping our fingers crossed for the four factory cars we have in total, but also for our customer teams,” Steiner said.
“The new LMDh vehicle will also be entered as a customer car in both series as early as the 2023 season.
“These partner teams will be given our full support. Whatever insights we gain from our factory effort will also be shared with them.”
Porsche has yet to name its chassis partner for the project although it’s widely believed to be Canadian-based firm Multimatic, which currently works with the soon-to-be-defunct Mazda DPi program.
First Balance of Performance adjustments declared ahead of next weekend’s Mid-Ohio race…
The Mazda RT24-P has been given a power increase in the first round of Balance of Performance adjustments this season ahead of next weekend’s Acura Sports Car Challenge presented by the TLX Type S at Mid-Ohio. Issued on Wednesday, IMSA confirmed the BoP tables for the third round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which sees roughly a 7.5-horsepower increase across all power levels for the AER-powered DPi car.
It comes after the Multimatic-run squad, now down to a single-car effort, finished second in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.Fuel capacity adjustments have been made to both the Acura ARX-05 and Cadillac DPi-V.R, which take away 1 liter each compared to the configuration run at Sebring.
Oh, this is quite the interesting move by IMSA.
Yes, the Mazda ran well at Sebring and Daytona but it was obvious seeing the lap times and more importantly their times through the sectors that Mazda just didn't quite have the power to keep up with the pack. This isn't a drastic power bump but a few HP in the right area of that power band AND given that Cadillac and Acura are losing 1L of fuel could make Mid Ohio a fun race to watch.
I'm happy to see that IMSA has these cars pretty evenly balanced already just based on the results of the first two races so I expect it to be highly competitive.
Jedi- Reading your posts makes me think you're some sort of ambassador for the company. Just me? I've never seen anyone grandstand so much over a few pieces of metal. If you are, could you just say so. You basically put a target on your back for me to question your intentions. There's a whole wide world out there to enjoy and experience, so why spend a day staring at the idiot-box?
Imo, racing was once a great sport but now has to be one of the most pointless endeavors on earth. Accomplishments have been null in recent years and all I see is excess, extreme privilege, gross waste, continued pollution, etc. It's incredibly sad, especially in the way it's gloried. I'm sure this is not new news to anyone, but racing is about the superiority of a nation / nationalistic efforts. Not unlike the Olympics where the victor gets bragging rights, etc over a specific discipline. If we examine its' origins, you will see that the premise of 'which nation is greatest' is essentially rooted in racist ideologies.
02-15-2021, 03:14 PM
