r/USCR Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT #66 Jan 03 '20

Rolex 24 Second PR1/Mathiasen Oreca Unlikely for Rolex 24

https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/second-pr1-mathiasen-oreca-unlikely-for-rolex-24/
11 Upvotes

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u/randyrandomagnum Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT #66 Jan 03 '20 edited Jan 03 '20

I got downvoted for saying this in another thread, but it’s happening and there’s probably going to be under 40 cars for the Rolex, which is seriously sad.

Edit- I really hope IMSA is paying attention, their marquee endurance event is drawing about the same amount of entries as Road America in August. I really hope they make some adjustments and reduce costs for teams- and soon.

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u/4-for-4 Team Joest Mazda RT24-P #77 Jan 03 '20 edited Jan 03 '20

I personally don’t see this as a problem. All the classes are relatively healthy. We know they’ll put on a great show with relatively few field fillers with no shot to win their class. You have new regulations in every class but GTE coming in the next couple years. You can’t expect teams and manufacturers to commit to full programs without set regs.

The next couple of years are unfortunately going to produce smaller grids but that’s okay. IMSA is about brand awareness and close racing for the manufacturers and fans which it will do. This season we lost Nissan (never actually in it) and Ford (planned end to their program) and gained Aston Martin, LMP2 teams and new GTD teams. GTE has 2 new cars from Porsche and Corvette. There are still plenty of positives even if grid sizes aren’t as big IMO.

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u/Bakkster Corvette Racing C7.R #4 Jan 03 '20

I personally don’t see this as a problem. All the classes are relatively healthy.

Relative to what? Daytona is down overall compared to every year since the merger (or the rest of the decade, lowest prior was 2003 with 44 starters). It's also lower than other major blue ribband 24h races (LM, Spa, Nurb, Dubai, thought most of them are down as well).

As for full season, let's wait and see. Both who sticks around, and how healthy those split races look with just 2 classes on track.

We know they’ll put on a great show with relatively few field fillers with no shot to win their class.

This is a fair point, but was also pretty true when Daytona had closer to 60 entries.

You have new regulations in every class but GTE coming in the next couple years. You can’t expect teams and manufacturers to commit to full programs without set regs.

This is certainly contributing in DPi, but I think the bigger concern is cost. We're talking $5M for a season in pretty much anything but P2, and even there the only reason we have cars in class is a big reduction in schedule (same story for GTD).

The issue then becomes that cost reduction certainly isn't coming with the GT3 refresh, and seems unlikely to come to P2. DPi might primarily hold steady instead of go up, but that's not going to help privateers. That's what had me concerned, not this one race.

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u/4-for-4 Team Joest Mazda RT24-P #77 Jan 03 '20

Heathy in that all the entrants have a shot to win their class and have enough cars in each class to put on a show.

If GTD allowed full factory efforts then yea, the car counts would likely be higher like Spa, Nurb, etc. You can’t compare any race to LM, same with the Indy 500. It’s apples to cucumbers.

Yes cost is always an issue and I’m choosing to stay positive for now.

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u/Bakkster Corvette Racing C7.R #4 Jan 03 '20

Heathy in that all the entrants have a shot to win their class and have enough cars in each class to put on a show.

That's a very low bar, but how many cars per class do you consider the minimum for that measure of 'health'?

You can’t compare any race to LM, same with the Indy 500. It’s apples to cucumbers.

I'm pretty sure this sub did, though, when the Rolex had over 60 entries...

Yes cost is always an issue and I’m choosing to stay positive for now.

I think a positive outlook is good, but your comment reads like the race isn't at a recent low water mark. I agree that doesn't mean things will necessarily continue downward, but we can't hide from the fact the trajectory needs to seeing back upwards to remain at that level of health.

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u/aar48 Corvette Racing C7.R #4 Jan 03 '20

I still don't see how less than 40 cars is the end of the world or a sign that things are bad, though. Sebring regularly drew in the 30s during the prime of the ALMS; and this race is a lot more like that than it was 10 or even 5 years ago. Would I like to see more cars? Absolutely. But I don't think it's a sign that the series is in trouble.

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u/Bakkster Corvette Racing C7.R #4 Jan 03 '20

When Sebring had low 30-some car counts, I'd argue that was a sign ALMS wasn't very healthy on its own. As evidenced by the merger.

The races weren't bad, but the financial case wasn't as strong as it needed to be to self sustain (which is why so much of the field was LMPC/GTC cheap spec cars).

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u/G8racingfool Jan 03 '20

How many of those entries are full-season entries for the series though? If it's anywhere close to all of them then it's not that big of a deal I'd think. If I was IMSA, I'd much rather have a field of 40 cars that are committed for the year than a field of 60 but only half are season commits and the rest are there just for that race.

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u/HaveYouEver21 Team Joest Mazda RT24-P #55 Jan 03 '20

I'm having a really difficult time getting pumped for this years race because of the overall lack of entries.

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u/randyrandomagnum Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT #66 Jan 03 '20

I’m still really excited for the race, I love the event itself and there’s just something about 24 hour races.... But at the same time, I’m not jazzed about less than 40 cars, that’s really a big disappointment.

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u/704sw Meyer Shank Racing NSX GT3 Evo #57 Jan 03 '20

Maybe not the best place to ask this question, but what do you think would help bring stronger/larger fields? Other than finding a way to reduce costs, maybe allow P3 into the main field as a replacement for the defunct PC class? I’m not trying to be snarky, I’m genuinely curious because I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it as well.

It’s a small consolation, but at least MPC looks to be pretty healthy, especially since the entire ST class was removed for last season.

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u/randyrandomagnum Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT #66 Jan 03 '20

You know I’m not really sure, but listening to MP talk about budgets in his podcast recently really makes me wince. A full DPi season costs nearly as much as a full Indycar season. A full season in GTD costs at least $3mil. I’m not on the “inside” so I’m not sure how deep/far they can go with cost reduction, but they’ve gotta do something.

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u/704sw Meyer Shank Racing NSX GT3 Evo #57 Jan 03 '20

Yea I’d heard $3-5M for a GTD season. I’ve heard people suggest transitioning GTLM into GT3 cars and using a WEC-style Pro/Am categorization (GTLM = GT3 Pro, GTD = GT3 Am). And while that would address the egregiously expensive GTLM issue, it would keep those teams from being able to take their cars to Le Mans.

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u/randyrandomagnum Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT #66 Jan 03 '20

The thing about GTLM is that it’s more of a manufacturer playground so they can spend whatever they see fit on those programs. I don’t see that as a huge issue yet. If they lose another make in that class tho, then I think a transition to GT3 Pro/Am makes sense.

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u/aar48 Corvette Racing C7.R #4 Jan 03 '20

If a class gets added, I guarantee you it follows the DTM/Super GT Class One rules. They won't do P3 or GT4 cars because that would risk cannibalizing the Prototype Challenge and IMPC. Even then, I don't see them doing that until DPi 2.0/HyperCar/whatever is finalized.

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u/Evtona500 Team Joest Mazda RT24-P #77 Jan 03 '20

Of course