2018 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar ChampionshipSports Cars 

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As much as people hate the Fords (Well Ganassi if we're honest), they played the strategy in the rain pretty well (Something that rarely happens) while everyone else struggled so its kinda earned really.

Great job with the 5 and 31, I was so sure the way the pace was going and the way the 54 was pushing that the win was gonna slip away but I was wrong.

And good job to Grasser Racing, they had to start way in the back so its even more impressive they got it done. Also a Lamborghini winning the Rolex 24, never thought I'd see that happen but here we are.
 
RACECAR
As much as people hate the Fords (Well Ganassi if we're honest), they played the strategy in the rain pretty well (Something that rarely happens) while everyone else struggled so its kinda earned really.

Great job with the 5 and 31, I was so sure the way the pace was going and the way the 54 was pushing that the win was gonna slip away but I was wrong.

And good job to Grasser Racing, they had to start way in the back so its even more impressive they got it done. Also a Lamborghini winning the Rolex 24, never thought I'd see that happen but here we are.
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Truth and justice was served in many ways.
Also remarkable in the extreme was the paucity of yellows.
IMSA and Fox also managed several well-done tributes to Dan Gurney, now one of the legends.
 
Welp, I won't say anything about the Mazdas for the remainder of the season. :lol: Good job to AXR, DPi was pretty much survival of the fittest, and they survived the best. Pretty bummed by GTLM, it's usually a cracker with an awesome finish but this year it felt more like the Corvettes had nothing for the Fords and their sudden speed, and Porsche and BMW were plagued with issues. Good job from Grasser in GTD, they really did an amazing job and deserved that win.

Oh well, a good start to the endurance season nonetheless, we'll see each other next week for Bathurst!
 
Not the results I was hoping for, but congrats to the teams that won regardless. This season is going to be insane. :drool:

On the wins:
P - Filipe Albuquerque did a great job at limping the Cadillac home, if they hadn't won that would've been some Vietnam levels of PTSD for him after coming so close 2 years in a row. :lol: AXR deserves a lot of credit as a whole, managed to keep those new 5.5's from exploding.

GTLM - Ganassi won. Weeeee. :indiff:
GTD - Big props to Lamborghini and the guys at Grasser, first Rolex 24 win for both. Really well done in the most action packed class of the race. :gtpflag:

Other:
Remember kids, even the power of Joest cannot dispel the Mazda bbq. :scared:
 
Meh, it played out like I thought it would: Cadillacs running away with it even having to nurse it home, Ganassi's virtual-prototype Fords cleaning up GTLM and an action-packed GTD race. Here's hoping something really crazy happens at Sebring.
 
As much as am really glad Ford one GTLM, it is a bit of shame we didn't quite the big Corvette V Ford battle I hoped, and seemed to get. But hey I'll certainly take it anyway :sly:.

Besides it's the first race of the season, and I'm sure once everyone's settles an all has evened out (and the beautiful M8's have their teething issues sorted...), then I'm sure the battles will continues.
 
The big takeaway for me: tires. What was going on? I can't remember so many failures in recent memory. It's really rather remarkable there were so few cautions given how many blowouts were suffered. Luckily most were slow leaks and not catastrophic failures.
 
raven214
The big takeaway for me: tires. What was going on? I can't remember so many failures in recent memory. It's really rather remarkable there were so few cautions given how many blowouts were suffered. Luckily most were slow leaks and not catastrophic failures.
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It's funny. I've never typed "#x right rear tire flat." as many times as I did for this race.
 
I think the race certainly highlighted why IMSA is moving to Michelen after this year. Granted they had some blowouts too but not more than you would expect in this long of a race.

I really hope Mazda can get their issues sorted and at least be competitive for the “sprint” races but those hopes are admittedly low.
 
I forget which corner it was but one of the broadcasts mentioned that some of the curbing might of worn down to where the bolts were sticking out, and happened to be where the right rears were crossing if cars were getting a good piece of the curbs when running through the corner, so it may have been a track issue.
 
Northstar
I think the race certainly highlighted why IMSA is moving to Michelen after this year. Granted they had some blowouts too but not more than you would expect in this long of a race.

I really hope Mazda can get their issues sorted and at least be competitive for the “sprint” races but those hopes are admittedly low.
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Joest has never faced such a challenge in its life. :lol:
 
longshot1314
I forget which corner it was but one of the broadcasts mentioned that some of the curbing might of worn down to where the bolts were sticking out, and happened to be where the right rears were crossing if cars were getting a good piece of the curbs when running through the corner, so it may have been a track issue.
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It may be the one exiting the bus stop.
 
1. Congrats to Cadillac on another well deserved Rolex win. Now go put the 6.2 Escalade/CTS V motor back in lol.
2. Friggin Fords! C'mon Corvette, I'm tired of getting shafted by those things.
3. Lambo wins something other than videogames and dumb Instagram arguments.
 
raven214
The big takeaway for me: tires. What was going on? I can't remember so many failures in recent memory. It's really rather remarkable there were so few cautions given how many blowouts were suffered. Luckily most were slow leaks and not catastrophic failures.
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Northstar
I think the race certainly highlighted why IMSA is moving to Michelen after this year. Granted they had some blowouts too but not more than you would expect in this long of a race.
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From what was said, there were many teams that ran outside the recommended parameters as suggested. I know Continental haven't exactly made the best racing tires (Running a 5 year old compound on cars that have got more aerodynamically complex and faster is questionable in itself) but its abit daft to ignore the recommendations and keep having that happen. While the 10 is abit of an odd one, kinda can't blame them for the many other ones.
 
longshot1314
I forget which corner it was but one of the broadcasts mentioned that some of the curbing might of worn down to where the bolts were sticking out, and happened to be where the right rears were crossing if cars were getting a good piece of the curbs when running through the corner, so it may have been a track issue.
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Dotini
It may be the one exiting the bus stop.
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I remember them talking about that. I believe it was the bus stop as they told it.
 
Very curious case of Wayne Taylor claiming Van Der Zande had "six or seven failures", while Continental Tire tweeted WTR had 5 issues, two of which were identified as punctures. Quite frankly, I've seen dear old Wayne go off the deep end of the emotional spectrum numerous times over several years now. One heartless wag in the Comments section linked below refers to him as "Whine Tielor".

Perhaps his engineer was pushing both camber and pressure right to the edge of limits, and then double-stinting. Maybe the diff set-up, bump-steer, toe-in, spring, shock, weight distribution or downforce balance were factors. Perhaps the drivers were going so far over the curbs the vulnerable inboard edge of the tire was exposed to the roughest "teeth" on the curb - or even exposed bolts. And we know from NASCAR experience that some oval drivers are simply harder than others on their right rear tires.

It will be good to get some sober analysis which answers these questions more definitively.

The defending race-winning No.10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R was officially retired early in the 18th hour, shortly after pole winner Renger van der Zande pulled off course at the West Horseshoe with a cut right-rear tire.

Van der Zande used a public road to get back to the garage. The team replaced all four tires so he could continue. Moments later, though, the car was retired.

"We have to figure out what's happening, but it's not safe to continue," van der Zande said. "We had a lot of tire failures, and we don't know why, so it was not safe to do it anymore and keep going. The pace was good, but the only thing that was holding us back was the tires. We'll figure out why."

Team owner Wayne Taylor said that his son Jordan Taylor had a tire problem early in the event, but he thought it was an isolated incident.

"We have been running within the tire pressures that we've run forever and ever," Taylor said. "But then Renger had six or seven failures, and we went through three sets of bodywork. Now, I can't afford to put a driver at risk."
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http://www.racer.com/imsa/item/147054-defending-rolex-24-winners-retire-with-tire-problems
 
Enjoyed the race, as is usually the case with Daytona! I watched the majority of it on imsa.tv

Was great to see so much green flag running! Definitely the right call from Wayne Taylor to pull the car out of the race. Hoping Mazda put on a better show at Sebring!
 
Dotini
Very curious case of Wayne Taylor claiming Van Der Zande had "six or seven failures", while Continental Tire tweeted WTR had 5 issues, two of which were identified as punctures. Quite frankly, I've seen dear old Wayne go off the deep end of the emotional spectrum numerous times over several years now. One heartless wag in the Comments section linked below refers to him as "Whine Tielor".

Perhaps his engineer was pushing both camber and pressure right to the edge of limits, and then double-stinting. Maybe the diff set-up, bump-steer, toe-in, spring, shock, weight distribution or downforce balance were factors. Perhaps the drivers were going so far over the curbs the vulnerable inboard edge of the tire was exposed to the roughest "teeth" on the curb - or even exposed bolts. And we know from NASCAR experience that some oval drivers are simply harder than others on their right rear tires.

It will be good to get some sober analysis which answers these questions more definitively.



http://www.racer.com/imsa/item/147054-defending-rolex-24-winners-retire-with-tire-problems
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Considering what happened to Memo not too long ago at this same track and race, I see nothing in his comments that are overly emotion driver or even whining.

The fact that continental confirmed 5 out of "six or seven" issues is alarming. Especially when WTR wasn't the only car out there with these issues if the tire pressures were fine then perhaps other settings were the reason. Though it's strange to see issues only during the race, and not the various practice, testing and quali run up to the race.
 
I'm a little disappointed that out of 20 Prototypes to only have 3 at the end with a realistic shot at winning and that is mainly due to the #5 cooling issues that forced them to slow down so much.

I guess with that much green flag running the emphasis was on reliability and so many cars didn't have it.

I do think that Penske is going to have something for the Cadillacs this year. The only problem is if JPM doesn't cost them a win somewhere being well, himself.
 
Jezza819
I'm a little disappointed that out of 20 Prototypes to only have 3 at the end with a realistic shot at winning and that is mainly due to the #5 cooling issues that forced them to slow down so much.

I guess with that much green flag running the emphasis was on reliability and so many cars didn't have it.

I do think that Penske is going to have something for the Cadillacs this year. The only problem is if JPM doesn't cost them a win somewhere being well, himself.
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I doubt Penske will be anywhere near as lenient with Montoya as Chip was with him driving...enthusiastically.
 
I don't have words for how happy I am that IMSA has made the Daytona 24 hours a proper endurance race again. It's now worthy to be mentioned alongside Sebring and Lemans as the triple crown of sportscar racing

Only 4 cautions. Goes to show you the relentless caution fests of the past were a joke and not necessary for compelling racing.

Thank you IMSA
 
Earth
Only 4 cautions. Goes to show you the relentless caution fests of the past were a joke and not necessary for compelling racing.
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The absence of a PC class was necessary for compelling racing... that may of had something to do with the lack of cautions also. ;)
 
Earth
I don't have words for how happy I am that IMSA has made the Daytona 24 hours a proper endurance race again. It's now worthy to be mentioned alongside Sebring and Lemans as the triple crown of sportscar racing

Only 4 cautions. Goes to show you the relentless caution fests of the past were a joke and not necessary for compelling racing.

Thank you IMSA
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I'll second that! It was kinda sobering to just have a standard endurance race with close calls, strategy and only a few FCYs.
 

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