WEC and IMSA

[Matt]

How much do any of you follow sports car racing? I went to Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta last year, and since then I've decided that sports cars are the best type of racing to view live. At least as far as IMSA goes, the access is unlike any other series (garage and paddock passes with all tickets). The on-track action is always good because of BOP and multiple classes. The sounds are better because of the diversity between cars. I've since been to the 24 Hours of Daytona in January and the IMSA GT race at Virginia International Raceway this last weekend, but the prototypes weren't in that one. I'll be back to Petit Le Mans next month.

IMSA has a lot of exciting stuff happening for next season too. Joest took over Mazda's prototype program. Penske is entering prototypes with Acura. It's rumored that Button might be joining Penske, Montoya is already signed, and Helio Castroneves will likely be a driver as well. Many of the WEC LMP2 teams will probably come over for Daytona and Sebring.

Also, more generally, do you guys make it to any races in person, any series? F1 is expensive, but any others?

[Penfold]

British Touring Car Championship is the obvious choice over here for some live action but my interest has waned ever since they ditched the 'feature' race (long enough to warrant tyre changes) and went instead for three sprint races - the last one with a partly-reversed grid.  Plus I'm not in love with the 'success ballast' that the top performers get to lug around.  Shame really as it's a pretty cheap way of seeing some racing, especially as there's normally a decent spread of support races to maintain interest.

Never much cared for endurance racing, damn things just go on for too long!  Yes, I clearly have Goldilocks syndrome when it comes to watching races, with the length of an F1 GP being 'just right'.

Talking of endurance racing, Alonso wants a chunk more time behind the wheel of the Toyota LMP1: https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/11/23/alonso-says-he-needs-much-more-time-in-car-before-wec-debut/

[Matt]

I didn't really care about sports car racing until I went to Petit Le Mans in 2016. Incredible access to the cars and drivers (and I didn't even know that I could go into the garage at that race), a fun environment at the track, good racing, relatively affordable, and the sound is better than anything else I've been to because all of the cars sound unique.

On the affordable point, I got a four-day ticket and camping for the 2018 Daytona 24 for $152. I don't think there's a better deal in all of sports.

I just realized that I said the exact same things in my original post. Oh well.

[Matt]

Stroll joins Alonso in running the Daytona 24. And he?s teamed with Rosenqvist, Frijns, and Juncadella.

http://www.racer.com/imsa/item/146041-stroll-among-those-confirmed-for-jackie-chan-dc-daytona-entry

Side note, Apple seems to have fixed the problem with typing I on the iOS update, but it?s still turning all of my apostrophes into question marks in my posts here.

[Chrill]

Yes, and I struggle with all the Swedish letters, as well as the German umlaut for Hulkenberg. Maybe this site uses a weird type of encoding?

[Chrill]

Let's talk WTCC, because Swedish motorsport is actually quite healthy there. Swedish driver Thed Bjork become world champion when he drove his Swedish Volvo to the championship. The Volvo is entered by Swedish team Polestar. That's a very Swedish championship win.

[Penfold]

Plus the car's paint job looks just a wee bit Swedish....

Now let's talk Super GT as that's where Button will be racing in 2018: https://www.f1today.net/en/news/f1/234139/button-confirms-full-time-super-gt-programme-for-2018

Now what else do I have to say about Super GT... umm, it's where Heikki Kovalainen has been hiding out for the last three years.  And that's about it.

[Penfold]

Hypercars for 2020: https://www.racefans.net/2018/06/07/wec-aims-to-slash-budgets-with-new-hypercar-regulations/

Get a decent spread of manufacturers racing cars based on road-going machines and I might actually watch it.

[Matt]

All I want is for these to be real: https://drivetribe.com/p/todays-hypercars-in-le-mans-gt1-bAW7cF5CQV-qBdPezVlR8A?iid=HdniF4HeTVO2uXNWUOK-vg

Is that too much to ask? Probably.

[Penfold]

You never know, maybe we get something along those lines.  Blurb did say entrants would have "freedom of design for brands based on a hypercar concept", I'm just not sure how much "freedom" it will actually be.

[Matt]

Chrill's mate Joel won the second DTM race this weekend in tricky conditions with perfect strategy and good driving. Zanardi finished fifth with good strategy as well in only his second DTM race (his first being the first race this weekend) and without having raced in quite some time.

[Penfold]

Saw Paul di Resta take the first race but didn't catch the second round.  Can't say that I find night running adds anything to motorsport, bit of a novelty I suppose, but I'd pick watching cars in daylight over floodlighting any day of the week.

[Matt]

I'm not sure where Giovinazzi falls in all the silly season rumors anymore, it seems like maybe he will end up without a seat. But he'll be racing at Petit Le Mans in October: https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/esm-signs-bernhard-giovinazzi-for-petit-le-mans/

[Matt]

Felipe Nasr just completed his first season in IMSA prototypes and won the championship with his teammate. I also saw Kevin Magnussen in the paddock talking to his dad.

[Penfold]

Good on Nasr (Oates).

... and good on Paffett for clinching the DTM title.