IMSA Testing Day Two: Even though temps were cool, the action heated up in Daytona
AutoRacingDigest.com recaps the high points of Thursday's second day of the four-day IMSA test at Daytona International Speedway:
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Full Grid On Track
The second day of this week's four-day IMSA-sanctioned test has come and gone.
And it was a sight to see with many new cars that will be hitting the track in 2024 getting their first chance to log laps prior to the two-week marathon in January that includes the Roar Before the 24 as well as the greatest endurance race in the U.S. two weeks later, the Rolex 24.
Here's one of the best-looking GT3s on track Thursday. Photo: Dylan Spaulding.
While some of the new prototypes got their first lick of on-track run-throughs on the opening day of the test on Wednesday with the prototype-only sessions, Thursday was an all-class test that saw some healthy passing and truly is as close to race conditions as possible.
Although this wasn’t a race and the drivers approached the action in relatively conservative terms, there definitely were some key components that teams and drivers were able to take away that they'll be able to use heading towards the upcoming season.
GTD Looks Good
For many, it was an exciting day for the GTD classes, given many of the new entries, teams and manufacturers.
The big two were the new Ford Mustang GT3 by Multimatic Motorsports and the Corvette Z06 GT3.R by Pratt Miller Racing.
A rivalry that should be captivating throughout the season, both two-car tandems saw solid speed and looked smooth on track, with only one real hiccup with a slight electrical fire for the #4 Corvette entry.
Beyond the technical fault, both teams saw solid laps and should have some good insight into performance and the feeling of the car with the first of the two Daytona events approaching in just over a month.
Other new updates saw the debut of Heart of Racing’s GT3 Aston Martin, which was announced with the unveiling of the team’s GTP program slated for 2025.
Also, there were plenty of Ferrari's on track, with five hitting the racing surface Thursday afternoon in what has been an uptick for the manufacturer for 2024 with GTD entries, with the possibility of seeing a LMDh entry on track in the near future.
Nevertheless, the GTD classes saw positives Thursday, with more slated to come in their own solo test day on Friday.
Who's Hungry?
The GTP class has been the tale of many during their two scheduled test days, with teams' time on track varying amongst the group.
Porsche and BMW seemed to have the most laps logged, given their extensive time on track for testing. But Cadillac also saw some solid time on track as teams prepare for Year Two of the GTPs.
Acura and Lamborghini haven’t seen nearly as much time on track compared to their competitors, but given that Lamborghini will not be at Daytona in January, it is understandable why the team would want extended track time to get as much shakedown time as possible.
There is definitely a lot to learn with this GTP car. However, the question will be, “How balanced will the field be in 2024?”
Coming off a season that saw close to seven different entries eligible for a title, the tightness in regards to on-track results could change drastically with a second year, potentially similar to NASCAR's Next Gen race car.
However, even in Year Two of the Next Gen, the series still saw a historical number of winners during the season, which in part begs the question as to how IMSA’s second year of this new car will play out.
There should definitely be a lot to look forward to and with teams such as Lamborghini, BMW and Porsche looking solid out on track, it is looking much clearer that the tightness of the series will continue.
Take it from Porsche driver Kevin Estre, who talked about the expansion of the hypercar/GTP classes:
“It makes you feel proud to be a part of, first, especially with a brand like Porsche fighting against the others, but also a bit more pressure, because you know that if you have a bad weekend or bad quality already, you're going to start P-15 or P17, which was never really the case in the top class in the WEC,” Estre told AutoRacingDigest.com. “But now with all factory teams on a very high level or a lot of factory teams and also very good private teams, I think it raises a bit the pressure on anyone to have a good car, have a good setup, good performance and also a clean race.
"Because if you have one issue, you are going to be dropping out of the top 10, which we know from let's say the good Le Mans years in the GT Pro, it was the case in 2018 and '19, but not throughout the championship, and definitely not in the top class.”
Final Thoughts
Overall, Thursday’s test felt much more natural with all four classes on the track.
It felt like it allowed for more natural passing opportunities for drivers and gave teams a more realistic view as to how the cars handle with other traffic, even more so with the prototypes.
Many surprises came with testing, including some teams who showed solid speed with their new machines. But, for many of the teams, it was about getting laps, grabbing data and allowing IMSA to get an idea of how the BoP layout will look like for the upcoming season.
The night session seemed to have cars ease things a bit more, laying off braking in the hairpin turn.
But the afternoon session unquestionably saw most of the action with teams truly going full blast.
On Friday, we will see how the GTD classes perform in the final open test of the four-day session, with the classes running targeted tests featuring 14 entries, at least one of each manufacturer.