The New Era of IMSA Racing is Here: Recapping the 2023 Rolex 24
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship started off with a bang in this weekend’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.
With the return of the GTPs to the World Center of Racing and to the Rolex 24, people knew that it would likely be a special race, and sure enough, it delivered.
From start to finish, the 24 brought excitement, with the eventual cream on top coming when it was revealed it was the largest crowd in the event’s history.
If that doesn’t say anything as to the hype and attention there is around the sport and the new generation of racing, then there may not be anything that will.
Let’s take a look at some of the weekend’s top highlights and why things happened as they did – or didn’t, for that matter.
GTP
The GTPs had many questions heading into not only this race but also this season. How will the car respond? How will the car endure the lengthy endurance races? How will the new hybrid style of the car come into play?
There were so many questions that couldn’t be answered until this weekend – but for the most part, those answers were positive.
One question that did not require an answer was how impressive the Meyer Shank Racing #60 Acura was. Although the car ran into trouble with a fuel leak, it overcame the issue to turn in a great performance by that team, putting up the fastest lap time in the race and finishing where it started.
The Penske Porsche #6 and #7 both had their fair share of problems throughout the race, with the #6 Penske Porsche, consisting of Nick Tandy, Dane Cameron, and Mathieu Jaminet, needing to be pushed back to the pits with about an hour to spare left in the race.
The big key, though, with the GTPs was the car's energy levels.
Unlike your typical LMPs and GTD cars, the GTPs are hybrid cars, requiring a battery pack that is placed underneath the car itself. That seemed to be an extra layer that affected these GTP teams throughout the duration of the race.
Add that to the electronic problems that teams such as the Penske Porsche team ran into, and it creates a lot of intrigue as these GTP teams head to Sebring in a little under two months to race the second weekend on the IMSA calendar for the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.
LMP2
WOW!
That is the only word to describe how this race finished for the LMP2 class on Sunday, and with all the talk and intrigue about the new GTP vehicle, the LMP2 did not disappoint.
As was the case last year with the GTD Pros, year in and year out there is always a last-minute battle for the top spot in a class, solidifying their dreams as a Rolex 24 champion, and this year was no different.
It came down right to the end, but the #55 Oreca machine was able to grab the top spot by only 3/10ths of a second, a remarkable come-from-behind win for the class, bumping Ben Hanley in the Crowdstrike Racing #04 out of the way of victory.
Beyond the #55 machine, a team that had some big names in the car, Rick Ware Racing, unfortunately stumbled a bit with defending Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric and his team trying to grab a Rolex win, but the LMP2s should have a very competitive season this year and showed solid speed all weekend long.
LMP3
In the racing world, Andretti Autosport has been the talk of the town.
From F1 talks to their joint working relationship in the series with Wayne Taylor Racing, the Andretti camp has been moving forward, but the top practice times during the week did not translate, as the AWA Racing #33 Ligier had a very successful racing weekend, taking the checkered flag by 11 laps.
The LMP3s weren’t as competitive for the lead compared to their prototype counterparts, and AWA dominated the weekend for the most part, going uncontested for their victory.
The big surprise, however, was the #74 for Riley Motorsports.
A team that won the Endurance Cup a season ago, Riley Motorsports, dealt with problems throughout the race, leading to a last in class and also 60th-place overall finishes, a disappointing start to the year after what had been an Endurance title-winning year for the team.
GTD Pro
This has been a competitive class to watch in only its second year of competition, and although last year’s race came down to the wire with the Canadian-based Pfaff Motorsports program coming out with the Rolex win, it was still a very solid performance weekend for the class.
The WeatherTech Racing #79 Mercedes-AMG had a great two weeks, winning qualifying at the Roar and taking the 24 Hours to the checkered flag to win the Rolex watch.
The team, which features Cooper MacNeil, Juan Pablo Juncadella, Jules Gounon, and Maro Engel, was up front for a majority of the 24 Hours and rarely lost its lead, but it was clear they are going to have a threat this season in Corvette Racing.
Last season was a down year for the Corvette camp, which was highlighted by Wayne Taylor’s son, Jordan, who had a very successful weekend this year and improved on how the team raced in last year’s event, calling it simply "no fun."
Although it has only officially entered one race thus far, Corvette Racing should be a team to watch throughout the remainder of the season going forward.
GTD
How about GTD beating the entire GTD Pro class?
Although the cars are similar, the driver ratings are the reason for the two classes. However, #27 Ashton Martin and the Heart of Racing group controlled most of the latter part of the race, even having at one point a 60-second lead.
Although GTD is the lower of the 5 classes, Marco Sorensen, Ian James, Darren Turner, and Roman De Angelis all played big parts in why the #27 Ashton Martin got to victory lane as easily as it did and why it dominated the other classes for the most part.
Heart of Racing has had a competitive team in previous years, and based on their momentum in Daytona, they should be a threat going forward this season.
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