Finally just got done watching the whole race, with the exception of the PC class you couldn't have asked for anything better. Looks like it will be a great season.
A Tremendous Race I don't know if endurance sports car racing can get any better than this year's Daytona 24. While from the old school of yellow flags only for the corner where the problem lies, and opposed to NASCAR's (oops, meant IMSA's) full course yellows, they did make for some close racing due to the 'drive arounds'. Have attached a link to a well-written article on the race. One thing I learned from this write-up is that the Audis and Lamborghinis use the same chassis and engine. The Lambos were much faster. This puzzled IMSA enough that they pulled the engines from all the Lambos after the race. WeatherTech Sportscar Championship - PRUETT: Rolex 24 At Daytona Rewind
Speaking of the PC cars. Timing and scoring had most of the PC cars behind the GTLM and GTD classes. It will be interesting to see in the coming races but it looks like the PC class could now be the slowest.
The PC cars gradually fell behind on the overall charts but that wasn't down to the PCs being inherently slower than the GTs. That is, if Pruett's numbers are right. So, did they spend more time in the pits or are they one-lap wonders, unable to sustain fast lap times over a long run?
I suppose this was early on during the Daytona race week? [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su4EmmEh3lY"]Hot Laps at Daytona - YouTube[/ame]
Hot Laps The Hot Laps were held Saturday about noon, after the Ferrari Challenge race and before the start of the 24 Hours. The photo above is of the Hot Lap MINI, which the MINI JCW team towed down from Indianapolis, and the other Hot Lap cars - Lamborghini, BMW M6, Porsche, and Audi. The cars other than the MINI were pace cars for the 24 Hours (look close and you can see lights mounted on the roof of the Lambo). The Hot Lap MINI on the track. There are so many activities going on at the track during the weekend of the 24 Hours that it is impossible to take them all in. I do believe there are people in the infield who are totally entertained all weekend although they never even see a car on the track. There are many, many vendors worthy of a visit, and the manufacturers all have freebees - Continental/hats, Corvette/t-shirts, Ford Performance/external electronics batteries. There is a Ferrari Challenge race on Friday and another one on Saturday (a lot of cars on the track and 3 or 4 different classes among the looking-all-the-same Ferraris). There are historic race cars on display in the garage area and they have a period on the track on Saturday for some hot laps. This year that group included a Ford GT 40 and a Cobra Daytona Coupe - multi-million dollar collector cars out on the race track running as hard as their owners desire. While I am sharing some photos, below is a close up of the #540 Porsche that finished 2nd in the GTD class. Interesting wrap.
A number of IMSA teams are on the Le Mans entry list that was announced today. It's a 60 car field this year (they built a few new garages).
The Continental race was good. I was surprised by how few GS cars there were. Only 8 and no Cameros. 29 in ST ran like a swarm on restarts. I guess a number of people moved up to the GT3 class.