IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The latest slew of changes on the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series calendar due to the COVID-19 health crisis unfolded Monday with new doubleheaders, a third stop at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the cancellation of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix being the headlines. Starting off with the latter, Belle Isle Park’s doubleheader that was scheduled to take place on May 29-31, 2020. Monday’s announcement meant the 2.35-mile circuit becomes the fourth INDYCAR venue officially cancelled, joining Barber Motorsports Park, Long Beach and Circuit of the Americas asRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For the first time ever, Southern California’s most prestigious race won’t commence as the 46th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which also includes the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, is officially cancelled. The Grand Prix Association of Long Beach confirmed its fate Tuesday as the drivers, teams and fans alike will have to wait until April 16-18, 2021 to return at the 1.968-mile street circuit. The obvious reason for its cancellation is because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the first four INDYCARRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway will be postponed to November 11-14 due to multiple circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak. Following a European travel ban enacted as part of the U.S. government’s plan to combat the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), IMSA has decided to postpone Sebring until the November 11-14 weekend. Many team members, drivers and other personnel needed for the weekend would be unable to fly to the United States. The rescheduled race will take place the same weekend asRead More

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Wayne Taylor was noticeably emotional atop the pit box as Kamui Kobayashi guided his No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R across the start/finish line to the overall win the Rolex 24 At Daytona – the second straight for Wayne Taylor Racing and the fourth total for the team. And the first without one of Taylor’s sons in the driver rotation. Kobayashi, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon and Renger van der Zande filled out the Cadillac’s lineup with Ricky Taylor racing for class rivalRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA — Qualifying on medium tires was BMW’s strategy to hide their true pace ahead of the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona. After qualifying, it was easy to see how one could predict Porsche to win the GTLM class. The German manufacturer qualified first and second by a decent margin over the Corvette Racing pair in third and fourth and the BMW M8 GTE pair in fifth and sixth. However, as the race went on through the night, the No. 24 M8 of John Edwards, JesseRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA — The final preparations for the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona are underway at Daytona International Speedway with as much action off the track as on track before the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship kicks off another campaign. Convergence IMSA and the ACO announced a common set of regulations for the prototype category that will allow manufacturers to build a prototype-class sports car to race in both the WeatherTech Championship and in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The announcement is the culmination of decades of discussionsRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer IMSA and the ACO have announced a preliminary set of rules that will see sports car teams be able to compete in both 24 hour races at Daytona and Le Mans in the same prototype car. The new category, called LMDh (Le Mans, Daytona, yet to be identified h), is built around both IMSA’s DPi and the ACO’s Hypercar formula. From the IMSA release, the new LMDh car: “Based on a new chassis common to both ACO and IMSA, using elements of the Le Mans HypercarRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA — Different year, same result for Oliver Jarvis and Mazda Team Joest as the British racer captured pole position for the second year in a row for Saturday’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. Jarvis turned a fastest lap of 1 minute, 33.711 seconds around the 3.56 mile road course to average 136.760 mph. Jarvis’s lap was .026 seconds slower than his track record lap set last year. “This year feels different, this year feels business like,” said Jarvis. “Last year, huge amount [of] emotion, it wasRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer (Editor’s note: This story originally indicated that Black Swan Racing would be withdrawing from the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The team subsequently acquired a chassis and as such, updates have been made.) DAYTONA — After an incident in Thursday’s morning practice session for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Black Swan Racing was ready to withdraw from the first race of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. However, Wright Motorsports has stepped in and the Black Swan Racing team is pulling an all-nighter to build a carRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Mazda Team Joest confirmed its 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship lineup Thursday with former NTT IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay being among the headlining drivers. Hunter-Reay will participate in the Michelin Endurance Cup, piloting the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P. He’ll be joining co-pilots Jonathan Bomarito and Harry Tincknell, who’ll be sharing the ride together for the third straight year. The INDYCAR veteran drove the No. 55 entry at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last year, finishing third overall. Hunter-Reay said that the moment he strapped himselfRead More