Calendar-wise, we are more than half way through the IMSA season! It’s been 143 days since the cars first rolled out for their first competitive laps at the Roar Before the 24, and it’s only 123 days until they park for the winter after Petit Le Mans.
So now seems like the perfect opportunity to take a look
back at what we’ve seen so far in 2023! We have had 4 rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech
Sportscar Championship but we have 7 more to go, starting with the Sahlen’s 6
Hours of the Glen. That race will be the 113th since the Merge in
2014. It will be the 95th for the top class of prototype, and
Cadillac has won 30 of those races! Chevy is 2nd in standings for
race wins with 20, giving GM a combined 50 wins! Mindboggling! Acura is 3rd
on that list, with 18 wins to their name. The GTD class has been the ever-present class
in IMSA and the Glen will be the 106th race for them. BMW has won
the most races with 20 victories, one ahead of Porsche. In third is a 3-way tie
between Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Lexus, each of whom has won 10 times.
I’m expecting between 50 and 54 cars to feature on the entry
list, which will be released Wednesday. 55 is the maximum number of cars
permitted at the Glen. So who’s good here? Qualifying and racing have shown different
stories. In the top class, variety is the name of the game. Nissan took pole in
’14 (Brundle – OAK) and ’17 (Derani – ESM), Honda got it in ’16 (van Overbeek –
ESM), and Gibson won the award in ’18 (Braun – CORE). Mazda took pole enroute
to their first race win in 2019 with Olly Jarvis, but the last 2 years it’s been Acura’s party
(’21 Taylor WTR, ’22 Blomqvist MSR). Notice anyone missing from that list?
Anyone big and dominant when it comes to race wins? That’s right, no poles for
GM. Race wins tell a different story. Chevy won in ’14 ’15 and ’16, Cadillac
carried on the good work in ’17. It was an Oreca that won in ’18, and as
mentioned Mazda won in ’19 and then again in the post-COVID visit in ’21. It
was Acura who won last year.
Now seems like an appropriate time to mention I’m only
taking into account the 6 Hour race, not any shorter races run at this track as
far as we are concerned with race wins. For example, Lexus has wins at Daytona,
Sebring, and the Glen in short races but have yet to claim victory in the
endurance races.
GTLM is now a defunct class, but let’s still pay tribute to
accomplishments there. Qualifying at the Glen always put on a show worth
watching! Andy Priaulx’s lone pole came in ’14, Ford held dominant with Westy
in ’16 & ’18 and Hand in ’17, but Antonio Garcia won it twice himself in ’19
& ’21. The races were equally diverse. Corvette won in the first year and
the last of the class, 2014 and 2021. Porsche took it in 2015 and 2019 with
Ford victorious in 2016 and 2018. BMW won for the lone time in ’17. It was a
perfect sandwich of wins! In the first year of GTD Pro, BMW took both pole and
the win across the line before being disqualified for drive time, a factor that
plagued a lot of the grid due to a lengthy red flag. Diversity has been the
name of the game in GTD Pro victories with no manufacturer repeating a win at a
track, so my money would be on BMW this year at the Glen, with John Edwards
looking to finish what he almost did last year!
Last but certainly not least comes GTD. Qualifying has seen
Porsche (’14 ’16) and Lexus (’18 ’21) each get pole twice but they’ve yet to
win the 6 Hours. Lally and Hindman got it each year that Acura and MSR took
victory (’17 & ’19). Last year it was McAleer for Mercedes, but it was a
different Mercedes that crossed the finish line in the race first, only later
to be disqualified due to the drive time infraction mentioned above. The race winners? I mentioned MSR already
getting it done twice. Last year the Heart of Racing Aston inherited the win
after all the drive time infractions were issued, and it was the first double
win for the team! The Riley run Viper won in 2015, and the Scuderia Ferrari in 2016,
but it’s been Turner’s show 3 times. They won in 2014, 2018 and 2021. This race
suits Turner and Don Salama, no matter who is driving their car.
Okay, that’s a good generic preview of the Sahlen’s 6 Hours
of the Glen…now let’s review the first segment of the 2023 IMSA season!
Podium finishes often give us an idea of who is going to be fighting
for the championship long term. Being consistent is key, and while consistency
doesn’t always result in a trophy, we frequently see names pop up over and over,
and by the end of they year they’re the ones most stressed because they’re
still in it for the big prize.
GTP has had 16 podiums this year. Those spots have been
occupied by 7 different cars and 22 drivers. In fact, everyone in the class
full season has taken home a trophy this year except for Augusto Farfus and
Philipp Eng. Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy (points leaders) have visited the
most often, standing on the podium in 3 of the 4 races.
LMP2 has only had 3 rounds, so only 9 possible podiums. The
only drivers to visit twice are George Kurtz, Ben Hanley, Mikkel Jensen, and Steven
Thomas. There have been 23 drivers and 7 different cars.
LMP3 is the least experienced class for 2023 so far with
just two races, but impressively the 6 podium positions have been occupied by 6
different cars and 21 different drivers.
GTD Pro is where the gaps in the championship are most evidential.
4 races have meant 16 podiums, yet we’ve only had 4 cars and 14 drivers stand
on them. Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth (championship leaders) have been on
every one. Pfaff and WeatherTech have been on 3. There have been no trophies
this season for Alex Riberas and Ross Gunn.
GTD also has had 4 races and 16 podiums, but we get a lot
more diversity in this class than the Pro version. 9 cars and 27 different
drivers have held trophies. Sellers/Snow (1st 1st), De
Angelis/Sorensen (1st 2nd), and Andlauer/Udell (3rd
3rd) have each made 2 appearances.
Qualifying:
GTP – 4 races, 4 different polesitters for 3
different manufacturers. Acura took Daytona (Blomqvist) and Long Beach
(Albuquerque). Cadillac got Sebring (Derani) and Porsche claimed Laguna Seca
(Campbell).
I’ve paid close attention to the choice of qualifying driver
ever since BamThor won the 2019 GTLM championship aided by Laurens qualifying
every time. The strategies for choosing a qualifying driver is very diversified
in this class. CGR has used Bourdais every time. The two Porsches and BMWs swap
drivers every time. Tandy Jaminet Tandy Jaminet. Nasr Campbell Nasr Campbell.
Farfus Eng Farfus Eng. Yelloly De Phillippi Yelloly De Phillippi. For the Acura
camp, Albuquerque got a pole in his only attempt this year, and Blomqvist has
been out every session except at Laguna Seca. Similarly, Pipo has gotten the
call at every round except Long Beach, where Alexander Sims drove for such a
short amount of time he didn’t even get a full green flag lap.
LMP2 – This is mandated Bronze qualifies, so there’s
no mystery. Ben Keating got pole at Daytona and Sebring, and looked on for
another one until George Kurtz snatched it away at Laguna! We are on for a real
treat at the Glen, with Steven Thomas right on pace with them as well.
LMP3 – Only two races to go off of, but both poles
claimed by silvers under 30. Nico Pino got it at Daytona with Glenn van Berlo
at Sebring. AWA and Riley always qualify their bronze drivers, but we could get
any wildcard claiming pole at the Glen.
GTD Pro – 4 races, 4 polesitters, 4 manufacturers, 4
teams. Diversity. Maro Engel for Mercedes at Daytona. Antonio Garcia for
Corvette at Sebring. Jack Hawksworth for Lexus at Long Beach. Klaus Bachler for
Porsche at Laguna. By that logic, it’ll either be Risi Ferrari, GRT
Lamborghini, Turner BMW, or the Heart of Racing Aston Martin who wins pole at
Watkins Glen.
3 Garcia has done every one except Laguna. It’s been
Hawksworth for every race except Daytona for the 14 Lexus. Dani Juncadella
similarly has been given the honors for the WeatherTech Mercedes every race
since Engel took pole at the Rolex. Variety for Pfaff and Heart of Racing means
Pilet and Gunn will qualify at the Glen. Looking at our Endurance cars, Serra
and Auberlen have been the only qualifiers for Risi and Turner. The 63 Lambo is
up in the air, with Caldarelli getting the call for Daytona but Perera doing it
for Sebring.
GTD – 4 races, 4 polesitters, 4 manufactuers, 4
teams. Diversity. Hey wait… this is where it gets interesting. The class was
opened this year to any driver regardless of rating. We’ve had Phillip Ellis
(Gold, Mercedes), Kyle Marcelli (Gold, Acura), Marco Sorensen (Platinum, Aston
Martin), and Alec Udell (Silver, Porsche).
|
Car |
Daytona |
Sebring |
Long Beach |
Laguna Seca |
|
1 |
Snow |
Snow |
Snow |
Snow |
|
12 |
Telitz |
Telitz |
Montecalvo |
Montecalvo |
|
27 |
De Angelis |
James |
Sorensen |
De Angelis |
|
32 |
Grenier |
Grenier |
Skeen |
Skeen |
|
57 |
Ellis |
Ellis |
Ward |
Ward |
|
66 |
Farnbacher |
Monk |
Monk |
Monk |
|
70 |
Kirchhofer |
Iribe |
Iribe |
Iribe |
|
77 |
Estre |
Brynjolfsson |
Brynjolfsson |
Brynjolfsson |
|
78 |
Goikhberg |
Spinelli |
Goikhberg |
Goikhberg |
|
80 |
Priaulx |
Hyett |
Hyett |
Priaulx |
|
91 |
Andlauer |
Metni |
Metni |
Metni |
|
92 |
Bleekemolen |
Brule |
Bleekemolen |
Udell |
|
96 |
Foley |
Gallagher |
Gallagher |
Gallagher |
Qualifying Points:
GTP:
|
01 CGR Cadillac |
115 |
|
6 Penske Porsche |
107 |
|
7 Penske Porsche |
114 |
|
10 WTRAndretti Acura |
121 |
|
24 BWM M Team RLL |
98 |
|
25 BMW M Team RLL |
98 |
|
31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac |
112 |
|
60 MSR Acura |
123 |
|
Acura |
134 |
|
BMW |
114 |
|
Cadillac |
127 |
|
Porsche |
125 |
Best consistent qualifying of the year so far goes to the 60.
Their worst starting position has been 5th! Compare that to the
BMWs, who’s best starting spot between the two cars was 4th at Long
Beach for Nick Yelloly. 3 out of the 4 races, a BMW has started last. Where
they finish is a different conversation for later, but there are points to be
gained through qualifying and that’s important to acknowledge!
LMP2:
With only two points scoring races, this is harder to get a
solid read on.
|
0.4 |
63 |
|
8 |
49 |
|
11 |
60 |
|
18 |
46 |
|
20 |
51 |
|
35 |
60 |
|
51 |
50 |
|
52 |
67 |
The 52 has had the strongest qualifying performance of the
year with Keating taking two poles, but the points have only been awarded for
one of those races (none for Daytona). Early sights say the defending champion
car of Tower Motorsports still needs to improve on qualifying performance, but
the weakest link is still Era. If they can find a bit more speed for Dwight
Merriman in qualifying, all of a sudden they become more of a conversation in
the championship battle.
LMP3: Insufficient data with only one race to read.
GTD Pro:
|
3 |
117 |
Aston |
126 |
|
|
9 |
114 |
Chevy |
117 |
|
|
14 |
125 |
Lexus |
125 |
|
|
23 |
126 |
Mercedes |
114 |
|
|
79 |
114 |
Porsche |
114 |
Ok, so remember when I said earlier that Aston was the only
car without a podium in GTD Pro? Well, they’re taking names and kicking exhaust
pipes in qualifying! They don’t have a pole, but they’ve started on the front
row for every race except Sebring, where they started 3rd.
Interestingly enough, Lexus and Aston both have an average starting position of
2.25 in class, but Lexus has started from every spot except 5th.
Mercedes has been up and down, as has Porsche. Corvette was great at Sebring,
but started either 4th or 5th for the other 3 races. If
Aston stays consistent at the front, they don’t need a pole to still claim the
most points from qualifying by the end of the season.
GTD:
|
1 |
104 |
Acura |
114 |
|
|
12 |
116 |
Aston |
118 |
|
|
27 |
111 |
BMW |
108 |
|
|
32 |
97 |
Lambo |
97 |
|
|
57 |
68 |
Lexus |
120 |
|
|
66 |
78 |
McLaren |
104 |
|
|
70 |
92 |
Mercedes |
111 |
|
|
77 |
67 |
Porsche |
111 |
|
|
78 |
87 |
|||
|
80 |
75 |
|||
|
91 |
69 |
|||
|
92 |
79 |
|||
|
96 |
93 |
Big round of applause for the 12 Lexus, who’s average
starting position of 4th has also gained them the most points
through qualifying thus far this year! You’ll notice there are a few individual
cars in the red. Well, the 57 Mercedes lost it’s starting position at Daytona
for needing to switch chassis then at Sebring when Ellis got out of the car in
qualifying which penalized them to back of the class. The 77 and 91 Porsches
have both qualified their Bronze drivers every race since Daytona and have an average
starting spot of 14th and 13th respectively. Manufacturer
wise, I’m most surprised by Lamborghini’s lack of performance. This is a
manufacturer that has won the GTD title. For them to have earned 23 fewer
points than the leader is quite shocking. Remember, it’s not points per car,
but points for the best placed car representing each brand, so there isn’t the
same power in numbers that might appear elsewhere.
At the line:
GTP:
|
0.1 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
6 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
7 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
10 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
|||
|
D24 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
D24 |
9 |
8 |
1 |
D24 |
2 |
7 |
-5 |
D24 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|||
|
S12 |
2 |
7 |
-5 |
S12 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
S12 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
S12 |
3 |
4 |
-1 |
|||
|
LB |
3 |
8 |
-5 |
LB |
6 |
1 |
5 |
LB |
8 |
3 |
5 |
LB |
1 |
7 |
-6 |
|||
|
LS |
6 |
1 |
5 |
LS |
2 |
2 |
0 |
LS |
1 |
9 |
-8 |
LS |
5 |
4 |
1 |
|||
|
Total |
-4 |
7 |
-6 |
-5 |
||||||||||||||
|
24 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
25 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
31 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
60 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
|||
|
D24 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
D24 |
8 |
9 |
-1 |
D24 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
D24 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|||
|
S12 |
6 |
8 |
-2 |
S12 |
8 |
2 |
6 |
S12 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
S12 |
5 |
6 |
-1 |
|||
|
LB |
5 |
4 |
1 |
LB |
4 |
2 |
2 |
LB |
7 |
5 |
2 |
LB |
2 |
6 |
-4 |
|||
|
LS |
8 |
5 |
3 |
LS |
7 |
8 |
-1 |
LS |
4 |
3 |
1 |
LS |
3 |
6 |
-3 |
|||
|
Total |
3 |
6 |
4 |
-8 |
||||||||||||||
*italics denote DNF
Initial thoughts? Both the 6 Porsche and the 25 BMW have
made up a LOT of positions in the races, especially considering there aren’t
that many cars to pass in the class! On the exact opposite end of the spectrum,
the 60 Acura has struggled quite a bit. Take away their dominant Daytona where
they qualified on pole and won, they’ve been going backwards this year. It’s
also been a very difficult year for the Ganassi Cadillac. They’ve had the two
DNFs, which really impacted their championship early on. That said, the race at
Laguna Seca turned them around and put them on the right trajectory, especially
going into Le Mans.
LMP2:
|
0.4 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
8 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
11 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
18 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
|||
|
D24 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
D24 |
9 |
5 |
4 |
D24 |
3 |
10 |
-7 |
D24 |
8 |
9 |
-1 |
|||
|
S12 |
4 |
5 |
-1 |
S12 |
6 |
1 |
5 |
S12 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
S12 |
8 |
3 |
5 |
|||
|
LS |
1 |
3 |
-2 |
LS |
7 |
8 |
-1 |
LS |
3 |
1 |
2 |
LS |
8 |
7 |
1 |
|||
|
Total |
0 |
8 |
-4 |
5 |
||||||||||||||
|
20 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
35 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
51 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
52 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
|||
|
D24 |
7 |
|
-1 |
D24 |
2 |
4 |
-2 |
D24 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
D24 |
1 |
7 |
-6 |
|||
|
S12 |
5 |
6 |
-1 |
S12 |
2 |
8 |
-6 |
S12 |
7 |
7 |
0 |
S12 |
1 |
4 |
-3 |
|||
|
LS |
6 |
6 |
0 |
LS |
4 |
4 |
0 |
LS |
5 |
5 |
0 |
LS |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|||
|
Total |
-2 |
-8 |
0 |
-9 |
*italics denote DNF
If you’ve stuck with me thus far, then this chart makes
complete sense. The 8 Tower Motorsport entry which struggles in qualifying has
made up the most positions of anyone. They won Sebring, and even with the DNF
at Laguna Seca, they are showing why they won the championship last year, by consistently
finishing ahead of where they started. The biggest disappointment of the year
thus far has been the 52 PR1 Mathiasen.
Keating has plunked the car on pole twice, but their only trophy has
come from Laguna, when they finished where they started. They expect to be up
front, but haven’t gotten all the way to the front this year. Watkins should
help them sent that straight. Francois Heriau has also been super strong in
qualifying in 2023, but the results haven’t been there yet for the 35 TDS
Racing entry. When it clicks, they’ll be serious contenders.
LMP3:
|
13 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
17 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
33 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
36 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
|||
|
D24 |
8 |
4 |
4 |
D24 |
9 |
1 |
8 |
D24 |
1 |
2 |
-1 |
D24 |
2 |
7 |
-5 |
|||
|
S12 |
7 |
2 |
5 |
S12 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
S12 |
8 |
7 |
1 |
S12 |
1 |
9 |
-8 |
|||
|
Tota |
9 |
9 |
0 |
-13 |
||||||||||||||
|
38 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
74 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
85 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
|||||||
|
D24 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
D24 |
5 |
9 |
-4 |
D24 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
|||||||
|
S12 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
S12 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
S12 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
|||||||
|
Total |
0 |
-2 |
0 |
|||||||||||||||
*italics denote DNF
With only two races to go off of so far, this is the
trickiest class to read. AWA, the team which already wins my award for Most
Improved, has visited the podium with each car this year, including the win at
Daytona where the 17 was the only car on the lead lap at the end. In fact, the
17 had a more than half an hour buffer back to second place! They’ve gained 9
spots per car, showing how much better they race than qualify. Andretti has
struggled badly, with 2 DNFs after two front row starting positions! I’m very
surprised by that. Also, the 74 Riley entry won’t be in the red for long! They
know how to win races from wherever they start, so that -2 will swap over
quickly with more opportunity.
GTD Pro:
With the two GT classes, I’ve overcomplicated things by
adding in the Overall Qualifying and Overall Finishing positions for each, as
well as the Overall differences. Since the two classes are coexisting on track
at the same time, I thought this might be an interesting feature to look at for
2023, and I was right!
|
3 |
Q |
OA |
F |
OA |
Diff |
OA |
9 |
Q |
OA |
F |
OA |
Diff |
OA |
|
|
D24 |
4 |
11 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
7 |
D24 |
8 |
19 |
5 |
10 |
3 |
9 |
|
|
S12 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
-4 |
-4 |
S12 |
6 |
24 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
23 |
|
|
LB |
4 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
LB |
3 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
LS |
5 |
7 |
4 |
15 |
1 |
-8 |
LS |
1 |
1 |
3 |
13 |
-2 |
-12 |
|
|
Total |
1 |
-2 |
Total |
6 |
21 |
|||||||||
|
14 |
Q |
OA |
F |
OA |
Diff |
OA |
23 |
Q |
OA |
F |
OA |
Diff |
OA |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
D24 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
D24 |
2 |
4 |
7 |
18 |
-5 |
-14 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
S12 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
S12 |
3 |
4 |
8 |
20 |
-5 |
-16 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LB |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
LB |
2 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
-2 |
-3 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LS |
4 |
6 |
2 |
12 |
2 |
-6 |
LS |
2 |
4 |
5 |
16 |
-3 |
-12 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Total |
2 |
-4 |
Total |
-15 |
-45 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
79 |
Q |
F |
Diff |
OA |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
D24 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
S12 |
8 |
27 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
24 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LB |
5 |
14 |
5 |
15 |
0 |
-1 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LS |
3 |
5 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
-3 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Total |
7 |
21 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
*italics denote DNF
What jumps out first? How about the massive negative numbers
below Aston Martin. -15 positions in class, but -45 positions overall! On
average, they’ve lost 11.25 spots overall per race! Compare that to Pfaff,
masters of strategy, and WeatherTech, who’ve gained 5.25 spots per race. The
Mercedes has also gained more spots than anyone else in class, with the huge
performance at Sebring contributing massively. Lexus, although leading the
championship, have finished behind out of class cars in half of the races this
year.
GTD Pro Manu:
|
Aston |
BMW |
Chevy |
Ferrari |
Lambo |
Lexus |
Mercedes |
Porsche |
|
7 |
9 |
2 |
10 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
|
8 |
7 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
|
4 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
|||
|
5 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
|||
|
6 |
8 |
3.25 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
2.5 |
3 |
*italics denotes DNF
First thing first, do not compare these numbers to what you’ll
see with GTD. The much smaller class skews the data, so they have to be treated
individually.
Lexus’s average finishing position of 2 is simply awesome.
2.5 for Mercedes-AMG and 3 for Porsche, with Chevy hot on their heels with 3.25
means the class is still wide open! Except for Aston Martin, which has an
average finishing position of 6 when most weekends the class has 5 cars. They
know they need podiums and wins, and the best news for them is their strength
at the next three tracks on the schedule!
GTD:
*italics denote DNF
This chart is far more complex than the previous ones. First
off, who’s done well? They’ve been massively under the radar this year, but
Wright Motorsport is doing it again. 21 places gained in class, 27 overall, and
no races where positions have been lost.
While they’re still far from the podium, they’re building a consistent
resume! The car 2nd in the championship has been consistent as well,
gaining positions in every race. Both of these come as a result of poor
qualifying, it needs to be said. Whereas we go to the complete opposite end of
the spectrum to take a look at the 12 Lexus. They’ve lost places from
qualifying in every race except Daytona, and have the second worst record in
class, beaten only by the 32 Mercedes, who’s lost 13 positions in class and 20
overall. It is interesting, to me at least, that as far as the championship is
concerned, the points leader and 2nd have both gained race positions
from their qualifying, whereas 3rd, 4th, and 5th
have all lost.
GTD Manu:
|
Acura |
Aston |
BMW |
Ferrari |
Lambo |
Lexus |
McLaren |
Mercedes |
Porsche |
|
4 |
1 |
8 |
10 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
15 |
9 |
|
12 |
9 |
1 |
13 |
11 |
5 |
4 |
10 |
3 |
|
9 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
6 |
4 |
10 |
|
|
13 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
14 |
5 |
12 |
1 |
|
|
9.5 |
4 |
3 |
11.5 |
8.5 |
6.75 |
4.5 |
10.25 |
5.75 |
*italics denote DNF
Finishing averages are interesting here. The first thing I
see is how BMW’s finishing average is 3, well ahead of Aston (4), McLaren
(4.5), Lexus (6.75), and Porsche (5.75), all chasing them in the championship.
Also, look at the colors, because they represent different teams. Heart of
Racing has twice been beaten this year by partial season runner Magnus. PMR has
3 times finished higher than Turner. Korthoff has outperformed Winward
everywhere except Laguna when both cars retired. Porsche has been a complete
hodgepodge, with a different car finishing best in each race (16 at Daytona, 92
at Sebring, 77 at Long Beach, 91 at Laguna). By that pattern, the 80 will be
the best placed Porsche at Watkins Glen. The biggest shock of this chart is
Mercedes-AMG with an average finish of 10.25.
Pace:
GTP:
01 Cadillac – Renger van der Zande 3 – 0 Seb Bourdais
Renger
set the fast lap of the class at Sebring, was 2nd quickest at
Laguna, and 4th at Daytona. The furthest he’s been off the fast lap
was 0.321. He’s having a killer year! But don’t overlook Bourdais. He was the
starting driver at Laguna, not getting the shiny new tires that Renger did.
That race, he was 1.112 off Renger’s fast lap. Otherwise, he’s been less than 2
tenths off his teammate. They are truly well matched, and a potent combo for
the championship!
Porsche Penske Motorsport
6 – Nick Tandy 3 – 1 Matthieu Jaminet
Tandy
was the fastest of the Porsche drivers at 2 of the races so far this season, 2nd
to Campbell at Long Beach as well. He and Matthieu have been very closely
matched, working well together, as evidenced by their points lead. Jaminet is
never far off his teammates either, always within half a second of the fastest
Porsche driver.
7 – Matt Campbell 2 – 2 Felipe Nasr
These
men are very well matched (seeing a theme for this category yet?). Each of their
fastest laps at Daytona (.084) and Laguna Seca (.083) were set in a window of
time so quick that most can’t stop a clock in that window. They worked well
together last year with Pfaff, and have picked right back up.
10 WRTAndretti Acura – Ricky Taylor 3 – 1 Filipe Albuquerque
None of
the Konica Minolta drivers has set a fast lap yet, which is kind of a surprise,
but they haven’t been far off! Ricky and Filipe were separated by 0.04 at
Daytona, 0.087 at Sebring, and 0.038 at Long Beach. These two are a perfect
match. They’ve come super close to winning the championship the last few years
and continue to click in all the right ways.
BMW M Team RLL
24 – Philipp Eng 2 – 2 Augusto Farfus
A new
combination for two drivers new to prototypes in 2023 and it’s no surprise
they’re switching fast laps due to their sharing of qualifying duties. For BMW,
the fastest driver has typically been the finishing one, and we see this
carried over in both cars. The average difference between who’s faster is about
half a second.
25 – Connor De Phillippi 3 – 1 Nick Yelloly
This
might surprise a lot of people, but Connor has been the fastest BMW driver
twice, and set the fast lap of the race at Long Beach! He’s been driving
really, really well this year. Nick Yelloly, his teammate who’s got extensive
single seater experience, hasn’t been slacking either. Nick was fastest of the
BMW guys at Laguna, but that was nearly a second down to the fast lap. There’s
still pace to find for the BMW crews, but it won’t be long till they do.
31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac – Pipo Derani 4 – 0 Alexander
Sims
This one
is the hardest to read of the GTP cars because Alexander wasn’t given any real
opportunity to drive at Long Beach. He circulated behind the safety car, then
pitted almost immediately upon asking. His fastest lap, therefore, was 43.154
seconds off pace. Pipo set the fast lap in the race at Laguna, and was 3rd
quick at both Long Beach and Sebring. He’s having another Pipo Derani year,
doing the Pipo thing of being consistently fast!
60 MSR Acura – Tom Blomqvist 3 – 1 Colin Braun
Tom
Blomqvist set the pace (literally) for the season at Daytona, and at Long Beach
was the second quickest driver. But at Laguna Seca, Colin Braun started and set
a lap .668 ahead of the best Tom could do! At Sebring though, Helio and Colin
both set laps of the exact same time, .154 slower than Tom. These two are very well
matched, on paper and on pace! They are gelling well. Both know how to win
championships having each won a class last year. Although they have a long way
to go to claw back into this one, they can. They’re consistently fast and
quiet.
LMP2:
|
Car |
Driver |
Avg Pos |
Time off Co Driver |
Time off FL |
|
0.4 |
Hanley |
4.67 |
0.000 |
0.505 |
|
0.4 |
Kurtz |
20.33 |
2.663 |
3.117 |
|
8 |
Farano |
23.33 |
2.077 |
3.648 |
|
11 |
Jensen |
5.00 |
0.215 |
0.278 |
|
11 |
Thomas |
21.67 |
3.184 |
3.247 |
|
18 |
Dalziel |
9.00 |
0.288 |
0.744 |
|
18 |
Merriman |
26.00 |
4.316 |
4.772 |
|
20 |
Jones |
14.00 |
0.000 |
1.105 |
|
20 |
Andersen |
24.67 |
2.903 |
4.008 |
|
35 |
GvdG |
12.33 |
0.698 |
1.101 |
|
35 |
Heriau |
21.67 |
2.890 |
3.293 |
|
51 |
Lux |
23.33 |
2.310 |
3.564 |
|
52 |
Chatin |
6.00 |
0.127 |
0.574 |
|
52 |
Keating |
18.33 |
2.167 |
2.614 |
The chart shows all the truths. Keating has been the
strongest bronze this year in where his Fast Lap stacks up against the class
and minimizing time off the Fast Lap. John Farano is the closest bronze to his
co-drivers’ pace, impressive for the defending champ. As far as the pros in
this class go, Ben Hanley has been the most consistently quick, and only he and
Ed Jones have never been bested in their own cars. Mikkel Jensen is miles ahead
of everyone else on time off the Fast Lap, averaging just over a quarter of a
second.
LMP3:
I don’t think its fair to analyze this class yet since we’ve
only seen them twice. Yes, they’ve raced for 36 hours in 2023, but in those
contests the winning car was the only one on the lead lap. I want
more data before delving in and giving a judgement on performances.
GTD Pro:
3 Corvette – Antonio Garcia 2 – 2 Jordan Taylor
This
championship winning duo has set the 3rd best average Fast Lap pace,
with Garcia faster at Daytona and Long Beach while Taylor took best laps for the
car at Sebring and Laguna. The results have been suboptimum as per Corvette
Racing’s standards; It’s been more than a year since their last victory, and
they’ve only visited the podium twice in 2023. Corvette sits 4th in
points out of 5 manufacturers. I don’t expect that to last!
9 Pfaff Porsche – Patrick Pilet 3 – 1 Klaus Bachler
First
off, credit where credit is due. Laurens Vanthoor, the third driver, present
only for the endurance races, has set the fastest lap for the car every race in
which he’s taken part. Pilet set the fastest lap of the class at Long Beach,
and Klaus was only a tenth off! That’s especially impressive for Klaus,
considering he’d never been to Long Beach before the start of the weekend
whereas Patrick has won there before. At Laguna Seca, Klaus got his first pole,
but Patrick outpaced him in the race. The duo, with Vanthoor, got their first
win at Sebring, so you’d have to say it’s only been getting better and better
since the rough start for all Porsches at Daytona. Because of that race, they
sit the furthest off in average pace for the class at 11.25. But more on that
later. What’s important is that they’re trending in the right direction. Pfaff
wins championships, as they’ve proven over the last 2 years. They win the big
races. So sitting third in points with the 3rd best average finish,
looking at CTMP, Lime Rock, Road America, and VIR as 4 of the next 5 races (all
tracks where they’ve been victorious since 2019) means Pfaff are still very
much alive and well in this championship fight.
14 VasserSullivan Lexus – Jack Hawksworth 2 – 2 Ben
Barnicoat
These
two really are a dream team. They are a perfect match, and they’re super fast!
At Daytona, Jack’s fastest lap was a whole 0.002 faster than Ben’s! Long Beach
saw Ben pull out a whopping 0.021 over Jack. They are very, very well matched.
But it’s their consistency that has me most impressed. A streak of podium
finishes that started in April 2022 means this duo is firing on all cylinders.
They are points leaders and hold the best average finish but interestingly
enough they have the second to worst fast lap average amongst the class! A weak
pace showing at both Daytona and Sebring dragged them off quite a bit, which
would probably make them a bit nervous going to the Glen, where the class
should be expanded by 3 cars. Jab for jab though, this duo is the one to beat
for 2023.
23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin – Ross Gunn 3 – 1 Alex
Riberas
Let’s
start with the good: they’re crazy fast. We’ve established that. They average
the best Fast Lap pace of any in the GTD Pro field. Ross and Alex, in their
second year as equals, truly are just that. The furthest they’ve been apart in
a Fast Lap situation: 0.105, when Ross set the fast lap and Alex set the second
fastest lap of the race. Yeah. Long Beach Ross was 0.018 faster than Alex, 2nd
and 3rd in class. Sebring Ross was 0.009 faster than Alex, 9th
and 10th in class. Daytona? You guessed it. Alex was 0.096 faster
than Ross, 3rd and 4th in class. They’re always tethered
together on timing, each extracting the most and all the car has to offer.
That, beyond almost anything else, is stunning. They are both phenomenal
drivers, getting every last drop of performance out of their machine. So where
are the results to back up the speed? On paper from the speed, this duo should
be killing the points battle and running away with the championship. If they
can get it sorted, they will. But what needs to happen for that to be a
reality? Well, they’re nearly 300 points behind the leading Lexus. If they can
repeat their win at the Glen (becoming the first manufacturer in GTD Pro
history to win at a track twice), and there’s an inverse in points for
finishing order, it would look like this:
1: Aston Martin 1496 pts, 2: BMW 849 pts, 3: Ferrari 831
pts, 4: Lamborghini 892 pts, 5: Chevy 1557 pts, 6: Porsche 1574 pts, 7:
Mercedes-AMG 1614 pts, 8: Lexus 1645 pts.
Notice anything? Aston Martin is still last in the full
season runners, and last by a lot. It would cut the deficit, but they would
need SEVERAL races of winning and I don’t think you could hold any of the other
teams down for long enough to catch and surpass. It’s a challenge that Aston
Martin is up to for sure, but it’s a steep climb!
79 WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG – Jules Gounon 4 – 0 Daniel
Juncadella
For
anyone who watches sportscar racing globally, Jules Gounon is a known quantity.
He’s fast, he’s consistent, and when he’s behind the wheel of a Mercedes, he
can be almost unstoppable. At Daytona, he set the fastest lap of the race
enroute to taking the Rolex home along with Dani Juncadella and Maro Engel. At
Sebring, he didn’t drive a lot, putting in the least amount of drive time for a
full season competitor in the GTD Pro class. But he was still quick enough to set
the third quickest lap of the race (credit to Maro Engel here who did set the
fastest lap). Juncadella, who did the lion’s share of the work at Sebring, was
only .011 off Gounon. The pace wasn’t there for the Mercedes duo at Long Beach,
and it wasn’t really there for them at Laguna Seca either, but that didn’t stop
them from getting their second win in 4 races! Speed was the story of the first
half of the season, and they average the best Fast Lap and 2nd best
finishing in the GTD Pro class. They’re hot on the heels of the Lexus team, but
they still need a two-spot finishing advantage to reclaim the championship
lead. Mercedes has never won at the Glen, Lime Rock, or Petit Le Mans. The
gauntlet has been thrown.
GTD:
1 Paul Miller Racing BMW –
Bryan Sellers 3 – 1 Madison Snow Avg.
Pace difference – 0.146
Championship
Leaders. 2nd in Sprint by 1 point. Winners at the 12 Hours of
Sebring and three times in a row at the Long Beach Grand Prix. From Long Beach
2022 to Long Beach 2023, GTD raced 13 times. This team and driver combo won 4
of those races and occupied a step on the podium 7 times. In that window, their
only finishes outside of the top 5 were the disqualification at Watkins 2022
(where the red flag caught many teams out, including two class winners on the
track) and Daytona 2023 where they finished 8th. This team knows how
to win championships. They’re the first and only team to claim the full season,
endurance, and sprint trophies (2018 2020 2022 respectively). Bryan and Madison
are potentially the best matched duo in the class. Their pace is always close,
which is a huge asset for the team. They can lean on their silver in ways that
few others can, as evidenced by Snow having the most drive time of anyone in
the GTD class at Sebring. 3 times in 4
races they’ve been the best finishing BMW even though only once have they’ve
been the fastest. So what’s ahead for them? They’ve won Lime Rock twice, VIR in
2016, and each has 2 wins of Petit. They’ve stood on the podium of ever race except
Indy, but the team finished 2nd there in the IMSA race in 2014. The
best friends have never won more than 2 races in a season, but they’ve also
never won 2 races so early in the season either. You kind of get the feeling
with this team that they’ll be there or there abouts every weekend. Strategy,
luck, and fuel saving won them Sebring. Great driving and an excellent pit stop
won them Long Beach. The question isn’t if they’ll win another race this year
but how and where will come their next.
12 VasserSullivan Lexus – Aaron
Telitz 3 – 1 Frankie Montecalvo Avg.
Pace Difference – 0.333
4th
in the championship and 7th in Sprint. One podium. Both of these
guys are Lexus staples. You’d think they’d be pretty happy sitting 4th
in the championship after 4 races, but there’s a lot more to come from Frankie
and Aaron! The pace this year hasn’t really been there. The car, while super
competitive in GTD Pro, has only warranted one Fast Lap performance in the top
10! The best the car’s been within it’s class was 0.173 off at Long Beach.
Thus, they have a solid mid-pack average Fast Lap. Now, we didn’t get an
indication of pace at Laguna Seca, with the car retiring shortly after Aaron
Telitz climbed aboard, but that’s typically not a strong track for the Lexus
anyway. Where do we expect to see this duo back on the podium? While the 6
Hours of the Glen has been a struggle, they did win the short race in 2020.
Lexus has won twice at Road America, one of which was Montecalvo’s only
WeatherTech win. Petit will also be good for the brand, having won in GTD Pro
last year. Frankie is always a front row threat in qualifying, and there’s no
reason the 12 won’t get more trophies this year!
27 Heart of Racing Aston
Martin – Marco Sorensen 3 – 1 Roman De Angelis Avg.
Pace difference – 0.180
3rd
in championship. Sprint Leaders by 1 point. Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona winners.
Defending GTD Champions for Roman. And yet in 2 of the 4 races they’ve been
beaten by Magnus Racing, who actually holds the best average finish for the
make in the class (5 vs 6.5). For Marco, every race track left is a new one,
not that it really matters to a 3x WEC champion. He’s been adapting very
quickly to IMSA! The overall GT win at Daytona came when he was behind the
wheel. He was the quickest Aston driver at Sebring, and was going for the win
when taken out by GTD Pro competitors. He earned his first pole at Long Beach.
Marco is slotting in perfectly for Maxime Martin, and Roman De Angelis is as
quick as ever. So where do we expect the biggest things for this crew? Last
year, Roman and Heart of Racing won at the Glen and CTMP, and finished 2nd
at Lime Rock and VIR. They won Petit Le Mans in 2021. Road America is always a
hard one for them, so that, I’m sure, will be circled with a red pen as
unfinished business. This team wins one major endurance race a year (Petit ’21,
WG6 ’22, D24 ’23), so they’ll be looking to try to get back to the championship
lead and break their one-a-year curse/blessing at either Watkins or Petit!
32 Team Korthoff Mercedes-AMG
– Mik Grenier 3 – 0 Mike Skeen Avg.
Pace difference – 0.445
Although this car has competed in
all 4 rounds, it retired before Grenier could drive at the last race so we are
basing pace on the first three performances, during each of which it was the
best finishing Mercedes in class! That’s especially impressive, given how many
of them have run in GTD. Grenier claimed fastest lap of all at Sebring, but the
3 of the drivers in that race were within the top 8 for Fast Lap! At Daytona,
all four were all 6th-16th, showing lots of speed. The
results, however, tell a very different tale. 15th at Daytona, 10th
at Sebring, and 15th but retired at Laguna Seca. Their only top 5
all year came at Long Beach. This team, which fought valiantly for the
championship last season and finished 3rd for Stevan McAleer in the
driver’s standings, is currently mired in 11th for full season and
12th for Sprint. Last year, they earned the first pole for the team
at Watkins Glen. It could be the place where they turn their luck around!
44 Magnus Aston Martin – Andy
Lally 4 – 0 John Potter Avg.
Pace difference – 1.221
Magnus is the fan favorite, most
affable team in the paddock. Their lack of full season efforts for a couple
years now has been felt, and the rumors abound that they’re coming back for
quite a few more races this year than last. The Aston is quick, and they’ve
proven to have a solid handle of the platform, outdueling the defending
champions in half the races so far! It’s very impressive for a team to come in
with a partial season effort and cause such a stir. They finished runners up at
Daytona, had a quiet Sebring, then roared loudly at Laguna Seca with a bold
fuel strategy that had Andy Lally defending for his life to hang on to fourth.
The Glen is a race where John and Andy have finished 2nd together a
couple of times, but it’s also the site of Andy’s last IMSA race win. With
Acura, he got the pole and win in 2017. We know that Aston Martin can win at
Watkins, having done it in both applicable classes last year, and in the hands
of Magnus and Lally, it could very well be the car to beat! They’re not in the
points hunt for either GTD championship, and that means they’re out only to
win!
57 Winward Mercedes-AMG –
Phillip Ellis 4 – 0 Russell Ward Avg.
Pace difference – 0.769
After the second half to their
2022 season, it’s a huge shock to see the combo of Ellis and Ward sitting 13th
in the full season championship and 10th in Sprint. Their season did
get off to a rough start. After taking pole for the Rolex, they were forced to
use a new chassis after a crash in practice. Add on top of that 3 DNFs in the
first 4 races and it looks like another challenging year for Winward. They did
have a killer second half to last year though. They crossed the finish line
first at the Glen before being disqualified for drive time, so you know they’ll
be hungry to set that right this year. They were leading at the penultimate
turn of the last lap at Lime Rock before a mechanical issue pushed them back to
5th. They were on course for a good finish at Petit too before drama
struck in the dying moments of the race. The other 3 rounds? Well, they took
victories back-to-back at Road America and VIR, and finished 2nd in
Canada. If any team feels good about the remaining races this year, it’s
Winward. Twice this year Ellis has been the fastest man in GTD for Mercedes,
and I’ve got a feeling he’s going to continue to extend that lead. Things can
only go up from the start of the season they’ve had, and this is a team that’ll
never stop clawing their way back into contention.
66 Gradient Acura – Katherine
Legge 3 – 1 Sheena Monk Avg.
Pace difference – 0.969
Welcome to a full season in
WeatherTech, Gradient! They’ve done Sprint, they’ve done endurance, and now
they’re doing it all. They’ve been the best finishing Acura in every race,
although in the other two races where there was another from the same stable
they’ve been outpaced. Kat set the fastest lap of the class at Long Beach,
which honestly came as a shock that round because the time came when the car
was well out of contention for a win. Although the car wasn’t blisteringly fast
the round before at Sebring, Sheena and Kat were separated by almost nothing,
and that shows a lot of promise for this duo moving forward. Sheena is new to
the GT3 platform racing, although she knows all the tracks coming up. Kat knows
it all, and is a great role model. I think Lime Rock, Road America, and VIR
will be the best tracks for the combo, since Sheena has been on the podium of
all 3 in the Michelin Pilot Challenge. They sit 9th in full season
standings and 13th in Sprint, so their goal is getting trophies, not
getting points.
70 Inception McLaren –
Frederik Schandorff 4 – 0 Brendon Iribe Avg.
Pace difference – 0.695
Brendon Iribe has never hidden the
fact that he is a McLaren man through and through, and that’s reflected
entirely through the lap times he’s able to turn, which are shockingly close to
his professional co-drivers. He is by far the closest Bronze driver to a
teammate’s pace. This team represents the only McLaren in the field as well,
giving them a huge advantage. Full season, the GTD champions have come from
teams representing a brand solely, the lone exception being Pfaff in 2021.
McLaren can choose their own path with this team, and their speed is
undeniable. The season so far sees them 2nd in full season
championship standings and 5th in Sprint, having finished 3rd
4th 6th and 5th. They drove back through the
field after serving a lot of drive thru penalties, including one for ripping
off their refueling nozzle and dragging it a third of the way down the pit
lane. Schandorff is one of the quickest men in the world in a McLaren. Last
year, they bailed on the championship after Watkins Glen, where they finished 2nd,
and only returned for Petit Le Mans, where again they finished 2nd.
The team will be learning a lot of new and different challenging tracks for the
second half of the year. They are more than capable of taking victories, but
they do need to iron out the kinks and not get penalties. They could’ve won the
last race by a half lap if they hadn’t made so many unnecessary visits to the
pits to pay for infractions.
77 Volt/Wright Porsche – Trent
Hindman 4 – 0 Alan Brynjolfsson Avg. Pace
Difference – 1.290
This combo works. Let’s start with
the truth. The duo won the Michelin Pilot Challenge GS championship last year
with consistently good results, and have a lot of the same people on the box
and over the wall. Trent knows how to do well in GTD, as does the Wright
organization. But it doesn’t come easy. They’ve only once been the best
finishing Porsche (as a matter of fact, no Porsche has been the best finishing
in two races). They’ve never been the fastest Porsche. But they’ve been quiet,
learning, going about their business and not attracting the wrong kinds of
attention. They’re 8th in the championship and 11th in
Sprint. This won’t be a top-3 season for them, but it is a very important one.
This, if you will, is the appetizer for what’s to come.
78 Forte Lamborghini – Loris
Spinelli 4 – 0 Misha Goikhberg Avg.
Pace difference – 0.758
The only full
season Lamborghini in the field comes at the hands of Forte Racing Powered by
USRT, but that’s not to say they’ve been the only Lamborghini. At Daytona and
Sebring, there were quite a few bulls running around, but it was Loris Spinelli
who was the quickest of them all. He’s the only driver in GTD or Pro who’s claimed
the fastest lap for a manufacturer in every race! As we’ve seen with
Mercedes-AMG, however, speed does not equate to results. 7th at
Daytona and Long Beach, then 9th at Laguna with a DNF at Sebring has
left this duo 10th in full season standings and 9th in
sprint. Already it looks like a long road to any championship contention. Misha
has driven at every track on the schedule, and Loris has experience at a lot of
them from his Super Trofeo days. This is a team that has done very well in
other tiers of motorsport, so it won’t be long until they are successful in GTD
as well.
91 KellyMoss with Riley
Porsche – Kay van Berlo 4 – Alan Metni Avg.
Pace difference – 1.586
The key part to this team’s
success comes in the second half of the name. Riley. Yes, KellyMoss has
dominated Porsche one make series in North America for more than half a decade,
but it’s Riley who’s got the name of the game for GTD. Bill Riley’s
organization claimed it’s 15th GTD win at Laguna. There have been
106 GTD races and Riley’s won 14% of them, without competing in all. That’s
bonkers! But I digress. The 91 Porsche is the only one of the two with a stable
driver line up this season, so it’s the one that gets examined. It’s been the
fastest Porsche of GTD in 3 of the 4 races, with van Berlo taking honors twice.
It also, however, has the biggest gap on average pace. Alan Metni is drinking
from the firehose coming into GTD, a fact he hasn’t been shy about at all. He’s
got a lot of experience in Cup cars, and a good amount of Super Trofeo running
too, but the GT3 spec machine, especially this new Porsche, is a lot. He was
actually closest to van Berlo’s pace at Daytona, although Andlauer was
significantly faster than both of them. But this duo has now won a race and
sits 6th in the championship and 3rd in Sprint. Their
focus needs to now shift towards Sprint, and getting Metni closer to van
Berlo’s pace. Without that, races like CTMP and Lime Rock will be especially
hard on the team if yellows don’t come out. As evidenced at Laguna, you’re
never out of a race when Bill Riley’s name is above the door, so don’t count
them out for more wins this year!
96 Turner BMW – Robby Foley 3
– 1 Patrick Gallagher Avg.
Pace difference – 0.500
I can’t lie, I’m still sad that they
dynamic duo of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley are in separate cars this year.
They’ve been so much fun to see winning together over the years, always a
threat for the championship. That said, I love that Turner brought in Patrick
Gallagher to team up with “Folbert”. I am really surprised that the results
haven’t come yet for them. Yes they finished 2nd at Sebring, but
they haven’t had another top 5 finish and have shockingly never been the best
finishing BMW in the GTD class! Foley was the quickest guy for the roundel at
Sebring, but Bill’s taken the honors at each race he’s run in the class. All
this can turn around at Watkins though. Turner has won 3 times in GTD for the 6
Hours. They’ve won twice at CTMP, twice at VIR, and did get that awesome win at
Petit in 2019. They’re still 5th in the championship but 8th
in Sprint. Their sister car with Bill and Chandler is in a good position to
fight for Sprint, but Robby and Patrick need to stay focused on the bigger
picture and earn some tacos!
GTD Manufacturer Bigger
Picture
Since the GTD Pro and GTD cars are
all running to the same specs, we get a much larger window than each class
individually to gauge performance. I’ve assessed everything by each individual
driver’s best lap time in each race, divided them up into clusters with their
manufacturer, then averaged out the Place in Class, Place Overall, and Time off
Fastest Lap. Looking at the pictures for each race is really interesting. Now,
we have to take it with a small grain of salt because, for example, Corvette,
McLaren, Acura, and Lamborghini have 2 drivers each on the sprint weekends
whereas BMW or Mercedes has 6 each. That does balance out a bit when you factor
in the endurance races, but still keep that nugget stored somewhere.
|
D24 |
S12 |
LB |
LS |
|
||||||||||
|
By PIC |
By PIC |
By PIC |
By PIC |
|
||||||||||
|
Corvette |
8.67 |
Merc |
4.44 |
Aston |
3.5 |
Porsche |
9.7 |
|
||||||
|
Merc |
12.06 |
Corvette |
4.67 |
Corvette |
7.5 |
Corvette |
7.5 |
|
||||||
|
Aston |
13.87 |
Aston |
17.89 |
Lexus |
8 |
Lexus |
13.3 |
|
||||||
|
Lexus |
18.29 |
Lexus |
19.67 |
McLaren |
8.5 |
Lambo |
13.5 |
|
||||||
|
McLaren |
23.25 |
BMW |
25.89 |
Acura |
11.5 |
Aston |
13.9 |
|
||||||
|
Acura |
30.25 |
Porsche |
26.39 |
BMW |
12.7 |
Merc |
15 |
|
||||||
|
BMW |
43.17 |
McLaren |
32.67 |
Porsche |
14 |
BMW |
15.2 |
|
||||||
|
Lambo |
45.45 |
Ferrari |
33.25 |
Merc |
14.2 |
McLaren |
15.5 |
|
||||||
|
Ferrari |
49.29 |
Lambo |
35.22 |
Lambo |
16 |
Acura |
17 |
|
||||||
|
Porsche |
64.96 |
Acura |
45.83 |
|
||||||||||
|
D24 |
S12 |
LB |
LS |
|||||||||||
|
By OA |
By OA |
By OA |
By OA |
|||||||||||
|
Merc |
21.25 |
Corvette |
6.67 |
Aston |
7.25 |
Porsche |
15.4 |
|||||||
|
Corvette |
21.67 |
Merc |
9.78 |
Corvette |
12.5 |
Corvette |
16 |
|||||||
|
Aston |
30.27 |
Aston |
30.44 |
Lexus |
12.75 |
Aston |
20.14 |
|||||||
|
Lexus |
33.29 |
Lexus |
36.67 |
McLaren |
14.5 |
Lambo |
22 |
|||||||
|
Mclaren |
36.75 |
Porsche |
44.17 |
BMW |
16.5 |
BMW |
22.17 |
|||||||
|
Acura |
46.75 |
BMW |
51.56 |
Acura |
20.67 |
Lexus |
23.25 |
|||||||
|
Lambo |
72.2 |
Ferrari |
52.08 |
Merc |
21.38 |
Acura |
24.5 |
|||||||
|
BMW |
78.58 |
McLaren |
52.33 |
Porsche |
24.5 |
McLaren |
24.5 |
|||||||
|
Ferrari |
79.29 |
Lambo |
57.67 |
Lambo |
25.83 |
Merc |
25 |
|||||||
|
Porsche |
107.1 |
Acura |
68 |
|||||||||||
|
D24 |
S12 |
LB |
LS |
|||||||
|
Manu |
ToP |
Manu |
ToP |
Manu |
ToP |
Manu |
ToP |
|||
|
Merc |
1.014 |
Corvette |
0.220 |
Aston |
0.223 |
Corvette |
0.834 |
|||
|
Corvette |
1.095 |
Merc |
0.367 |
Corvette |
0.327 |
Porsche |
0.853 |
|||
|
Lexus |
1.373 |
Aston |
0.946 |
Lexus |
0.437 |
Aston |
1.091 |
|||
|
Aston |
1.413 |
Lexus |
1.081 |
McLaren |
0.475 |
Lambo |
1.092 |
|||
|
McLaren |
1.483 |
Porsche |
1.417 |
BMW |
0.691 |
Lexus |
1.101 |
|||
|
Acura |
1.758 |
BMW |
1.424 |
Acura |
0.767 |
BMW |
1.140 |
|||
|
BMW |
2.627 |
McLaren |
1.450 |
Lambo |
0.951 |
McLaren |
1.224 |
|||
|
Lambo |
2.631 |
Ferrari |
1.571 |
Merc |
1.065 |
Merc |
1.254 |
|||
|
Ferrari |
2.792 |
Lambo |
1.626 |
Porsche |
1.096 |
Acura |
1.375 |
|||
|
Porsche |
3.846 |
Acura |
2.162 |
The data doesn’t lie. Mercedes
was super strong with all of their cars to kick off the year, but haven’t
showed anywhere near that performance since the BoP hit before Long Beach.
Corvette has always been fast, but remember what I said about a skewed data
point since both of their drivers are top caliber whereas every other
manufacturer has at least one weak link. Lexus struggled pace wise at Laguna
Seca, but have been very competitive everywhere else. Aston Martin is always
fast, no matter the track or who they have pulling down the average in non-pro
cars. The McLaren is hindered yes by their bronze, but they only have the one
car representing them in every race. Acura has had a very down season, ranking
in the bottom half of manufacturers in every race and bringing up the tail of
the field twice. BMW speed-wise has been solidly mid-pack if not back-pack.
There used to be a joke in the ALMS days that BMW would complain constantly
about a lack of speed. They’ve actually demonstrated that in lap time this
year! Lamborghini and Porsche both have pulled themselves back from the brink
and found a ton of pace at Laguna Seca. They were solidly at the back prior to
the last round, but it seems as if both new cars might be headed in the right direction.
So what to make of all this
data? I can’t predict who’s going to win each of the remaining races (that’s
why they call it racing and not just awarding trophies), but I do feel as if
we’ve got a clearer picture of who has to do what in order to give themselves a
better shot! Teams, I’m talking to you now. Some of you, and you know who you
are, need to put more emphasis on qualifying. Some of you need to spend more
time testing with your less quick drivers. Some of you need to figure out pit
stops. Some of you need to study the rule book closer. All of you need to keep
improving, because the people you’re fighting against won’t stop getting
better. Every championship under the IMSA umbrella is fought for and deserved.
Who’s going to take home the big awards this year? I’ve got some guesses but
we’ve got a lot of miles to go before we get to the final banquets in Atlanta
in October! And I’ll be there, microphone in hand, in every pit lane to bring
all the stories possible! The next article will be a breakdown of how everyone
got their championships. So teams, drivers, everyone…go earn it!
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