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Acura DPi, GTD cars get hit with pre-Rolex 24 Balance of Performance adjustments
Acura has been the heaviest hit with Balance of Performance adjustments, in both the DPi and GT Daytona classes, ahead of next weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Confirmed in a technical bulletin sent to teams on Thursday, the Acuras are among the many cars adjusted following data received and reviewed by IMSA at the Roar Before the Rolex 24.
The Acura DPi will face a roughy 6.7-horsepower reduction, through mid to high range RPMs, compared to its configuration at the pre-season test.
The Cadillac DPi.V-R, meanwhile, has been given a 10 kg weight break, with no performance-related changes to the Mazda RT24-P, which paced four of the seven timed sessions and claimed pole position for pit box and garage spaces at the Roar Before the Rolex 24.
Fuel capacity adjustments have been adjusted for all three DPis, meanwhile, with the Acura getting a 1-liter increase and 2-liter increases for both the Cadillac and Mazda.
I for one am glad to see this as I thought Acura wasn't showing their true speed at the Roar and I'm glad IMSA didn't punish Mazda for going all out during the weekend testing.
I'm hoping this gives us a good starting point for the season and we have a competitive race. I'm stoked for next wekeend's race.
Hey Jedi, just wanted to thank you for providing all these content rich posts. I don't post much nowadays, but I try to find time between tasks to check this thread throughout the week. It's certainly great to stay up to date with this season.
can't believe it, but it's Race Weekend already so lots to get caught up on!
Cars loaded in to Daytona 2 days ago and one of the major story lines is that this year will feature the smallest field in the History of the race as only 38 cars are participating in the 24.
A few reasons as to why that is:
LMP2 now has a Bronze driver mandate so that dwindled their already small field by a car or two but Ford retiring the GT from competition at the end of last season is a loss of another 4 cars right there.
All in all I think people are making a bigger deal out of it than it really is but it is a story line that is getting some attention.
John Doonan touched on it and I agree with his sentiment that this year's Quality of cars outweighs the quantity. Doonan's remarks
For those who have followed this series for a while, you all will know the Wayne Taylor Racing program and that both Ricky and Jordan were drivers for that team for years. Well, this year is the first in quite some time that neither son is in a WTR car as Ricky was recruited by Roger Penske to the Acura car a few seasons ago and Joradan Taylor is now driving the brand new Vette in the GTLM class. Pretty proud moment for Dad but it is odd to not see the name Taylor on the car.
Here's a story about Jordan's transition to GTLM (which has gotta be weird coming from a DPi car) https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/j...world-of-gtlm/
Last but not least, Scott Atherton (former IMSA Pres) is in attendance at Daytona along with the heads of the ACO.
What does that mean? Not sure but there are rumblings that we COULD hear an announcement at some point regarding a possible agreement to run WEC / DPi cars together at some point (LeMans)
not sure what that Hypercar / DPi formula would look like but it sounds like they're pushing hard to try to make it happen.
oh, and for those of us who were a bit surprised by the new Livery on the #77, here's an update:
***The No. 77 Mazda RT24-P DPi’s new livery for the 2020 season has been finished up with a set of silver wheels to complement its white paint scheme, contrasting with the black wheels found on its predominantly soul red sister car.***
Montoya Quickest for Acura in Damp First Session at Daytona
Juan Pablo Montoya on top in wet weather-affected opening practice run for the Rolex 24…
Oh look, Acura magically found speed again. (despite getting hit hardest with BoP prior to the race)
Juan Pablo Montoya set the pace for Acura Team Penske in a damp opening practice session for this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Montoya set the No. 6 Acura ARX-05 on top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:49.917, which put the defending IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi champion just 0.039 seconds ahead of Oliver Pla in the No. 77 Team Joest Mazda RT24-P.
Pla shot to second in the order right at the end of the session, with the Frenchman benefiting from a dry line that had emerged in the latter stages.
Practice 1 started out in rainy conditions but the wet weather subsided over the course of the hour.
Pla slotted his Mazda behind Montoya and ahead of Tristan Vautier who posted a time of 1:50.316 behind the wheel of the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R.
In fourth was the JDC-prepared No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi in which Sebastien Bourdais registered a 1:51.054 effort, while Montoya’s teammate Ricky Taylor lapped fifth in the sister Acura.
This could be a preview of what's to come this weekend. IMO, Mazda has the pace to lead the field but traditionally they've done best in dry conditions so I'm not surprised Acura was slightly faster in the wet.
If the weather forecast holds, we should see track conditions improving the next few days with no rain currently forecasted for the race. **Crossing fingers**
Ricky Taylor puts No. 7 Acura on top in second practice while Porsche lead the GTLM field…
Acura Team Penske topped the second practice session for the Rolex 24 at Daytona as Porsche set the pace in the GT Le Mans class.
The Acura ARX-05 DPis took a while to climb the timing screens before Ricky Taylor put the No. 7 car to the top overall with 30 minutes to go and then improved on the next lap to a 1:34.904.
Taylor’s time proved quickest of the session in the car he shares with Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi, with the No.77 Mazda RT24-P of Oliver Jarvis 0.2 seconds behind in second.
Harry Tincknell’s early 1:35.430 lap time in the sister No. 55 Mazda DPi saw the car finish the session third, while Wayne Taylor Racing was the first of the Cadillac DPi-V.Rs in fourth, courtesy of Ryan Briscoe.
Action Express Racing’s No. 31 Cadillac DPi completed the overall top five with Filipe Albuquerque setting the lap.
Mazda still showing good pace at 2nd and 3rd in this practice session!
Should be interesting to see what teams can do when they get the cars down to qualifying trim. You know Acura and Mazda are going to be gunning for that track record so I'm guessing at least one of them runs out of fuel during qualifying.
Breaking News: IMSA, ACO Set for Friday Convergence Announcement
IMSA and the ACO are set to confirm plans for convergence in top-level prototype racing tomorrow, with an announcement scheduled at Daytona International Speedway.
The ACO issued a media advisory that will see an announcement at 11:45 a.m. ET on Friday between ACO President Pierre Fillon and IMSA Chairman Jim France.
The announcement will be held in the Daytona International Speedway drivers meeting room, which can accommodate hundreds of people.
While no further details were communicated in the bulletin, Sportscar365 understands it will formally confirm plans that DPi’s next-generation platform will be eligible alongside the FIA and ACO’s Le Mans Hypercar formula beginning in 2022.
Series executives from both organizations met on Thursday in Daytona to finalize details of the arrangement, which has been in the works for the better part of six months.
A meeting in Miami in December is understood to have put forth the intentions for convergence plans, which will see the same top-class prototypes be eligible to compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time in decades.
Technical details are not expected to be revealed tomorrow, with IMSA still yet to finalize the regulations for its so-called DPi 2022 ruleset, largely due to the recent efforts to bring the two platforms together in terms of performance.
The Hypercar class is set to debut in the 2020-21 FIA World Endurance Championship season in September, with Toyota, Aston Martin and Glickenhaus the only confirmed teams for the launch season.
IMSA’s current-generation DPi formula, meanwhile, will remain in the WeatherTech Championship through the end of the 2021 season, prior to the introduction of its next-generation platform.
This is HUGE news for IMSA.
While there will still be a TON of work to do to figure out the details I'm really really excited (yes I put that in there twice for emphasis) at the idea of seeing Mazda back at LeMans.
Jarvis Takes Second Straight Rolex 24 Pole for Mazda
Second straight Rolex 24 pole for Oliver Jarvis, Mazda as Taylor Acura crashes…
Two years in a ROW for Team Mazda!!
Plus the record from last year still stands so that's kind of cool for Mazda. Would have been nice to see them top their own record but as long as the lap record is still held by a Mazda I'm okay with no one breaking it this year.
Couple things to digest here so I've emphasized a few of them.
Oliver Jarvis claimed a second straight Rolex 24 at Daytona pole position for Mazda Team Joest as the Japanese manufacturer beat Acura to the top spot in qualifying.
Jarvis led the way in the 15-minute prototype session with a time of 1:33.711 aboard the No. 77 Mazda RT24-P that he shares with Olivier Pla and Tristan Nunez.
However, the Englishman’s session-leading effort was not quite enough to beat the qualifying lap record of 1:33.685 which he set twelve months ago.
The Mazda will share the front row of the grid for this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opener with the No. 6 Team Penske Acura ARX-05.
Juan Pablo Montoya qualified the car that led the event’s opening practice session in second with a time of 1:34.514, putting the Colombian 0.443 seconds off Jarvis.
Mazda’s No. 55 car will start from third thanks to Jonathan Bomarito’s 1:34.619 effort while the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. will start fourth.
Reigning DPi co-champion Felipe Nasr was the fastest Cadillac driver in the field as the other cars from the American manufacturer qualified fifth, sixth and eighth.
Ryan Briscoe rounded out the top five for Wayne Taylor Racing, ahead of JDC-Miller Motorsports driver Tristan Vautier who was followed by Penske Acura’s Ricky Taylor and Joao Barbosa in the JDC-run Mustang Sampling Cadillac.
Prototype qualifying was brought to an early halt after Taylor crashed the No. 7 Acura ARX-05 at high speed going through the Bus Stop chicane.
The 2017 series champion’s car jumped over the apex curb on the first left-hander of the chicane sequence and speared head-on into the tire barriers after losing control.
Taylor walked away from the incident which triggered a red flag stoppage and essentially locked in the DPi qualifying results with three minutes of the session remaining.
Man, that was close to last yaer's time.
What's even more telling is that the Acura is .4 seconds slower than Mazda. Whoa, that could be huge in such a long race as Daytona.
#55 in 3rd is great news as the 77 has seemed to be the faster of the two Mazdas since the Roar but looks like #55 is improving and should be in the hunt as well.
Damn that sounds like a scary crash for Ricky Taylor. I know I rag on the Acura team a lot but sucks to hear that happened. Happy to see that he was able to walk away from the accident. I'm assuming Acura can rebuild the car in time for the race but I haven't read how badly it's damaged.
Here's the damage. I'll see if I can find a video of it tonight:
Despite Ricky Taylor’s heavy crash in qualifying, the No. 7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 could make an appearance by the end of tonight’s practice session according to Ricky Taylor. Taylor told Sportscar365 that it’s the team’s goal to get the car fully repaired and turn laps towards the end of the 90-minute session.
An Acura spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365 that a replacement chassis is not needed, although the team has two tubs on-site.
Good to hear the chassis is intact and they'll be able to have it ready by tonight but that is a LOT of work those engineers are going to have to put in. I remember being in the Mazda garage at LB when Bomarito crashed in qualifying and cracked the tub; those poor guys worked non-stop all night to swap out the tub.
Interesting comments from Ricky Taylor regarding the crash: (and I'm sorry but it sounds like a lot of excuses)
"We’re fighting really hard. The Mazdas are so fast we have to take a lot of risks to try and match them."
Taylor indicated that the pre-Rolex 24 Balance of Performance adjustment to the Acura DPi, which has seen a turbo boost reduction of nearly seven horsepower, has put the team in a different frame of mind in the build-up to the race.
“Normally you come to the race weekend and are fine-tuning things and you know you’re close and just tweak it for the race and make it good for long runs,” he said.
“But with how fast the Mazdas are, we’re really struggling to match them at all times.
“We got more power taken away from us after the Roar. We really have to overreach.
“Now we’re in a situation where we’re splitting setups between the cars still and trying to cover as much ground as we can.
4 hours in, 77 still in the lead and running strong.
In the first hour there was a reported "fuel alarm" from 55, but they said it was a sensor error, and 4 hours later doesn't seem to be a problem.
Not a good move from Tincknell in 55. The car was ok and had to do a drive through penalty, but the Acura had to go to the garage.
Absolutely.
Too many times I've gone to bed excited only to wake up to disappointment.
Cadillac is showing way more speed than I was expecting but Mazda still able to match them and running strong.
What a tough break for the #77, drive through penalty takes it from 1st to 6th in class. I'm surprised that all but one of the prototypes are still running on the lead lap after almost 11 hrs. Bomarito in #55 was briefly leading, but has now dropped back to 3rd.
01-18-2020 | 01:47 PM
(despite getting hit hardest with BoP prior to the race)
