2015 TUDOR United Sportscar Championship

[Northstar]

I don't get the doom and gloom over the entry numbers, ELMS seems to have been around 30 for 2015 and that series has half the amount of races.

 

[IforceV8]

I dont know about doom and gloom, these transitional years were always going to be lean.

Morand Judd run by a Conti team for NAEC. http://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/morand-to-support-planned-naec-lmp2-program/ I am guessing it is Stevenson.

 

[Northstar]

I am guessing it is Stevenson.

I'm going to guess Rum Bum as they don't have any manufacturer ties like Stevenson.

It's good to finally see some international teams make the leap for a few races.

 

[IforceV8]

I'm going to guess Rum Bum as they don't have any manufacturer ties like Stevenson.

It's good to finally see some international teams make the leap for a few races.

Does that crew have any endurance experience? I would have said Doran if the car had a Nissan engine but that makes no sense with Judd power.

 

[Northstar]

Does that crew have any endurance experience? I would have said Doran if the car had a Nissan engine but that makes no sense with Judd power.

They've ran an R8 at Daytona a few times.

 

[RACECAR]

Does that crew have any endurance experience?.

Plenty

 

[IforceV8]

 

[RACECAR]

 

[Northstar]

Plenty

I completely forgot they ran a DP at one point, must be the boring paint scheme.

 

[RACECAR]

Well that was their paint scheme at the time before they went all psychedelic on us.

 

[AnthonyD1993]

I completely forgot how ugly DPs were years ago until that post.

 

[RACECAR]

Doesn't help at all that its a Riley, does it?

 

[IforceV8]

Viper Exchange is back in GTD. http://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/viperexchange-com-returns-with-keating-bleekemolen-for-2016/

So GTD for now
3-4 Lambos
3- 911's
1- BMW M6
1- Viper
and a bunch of ???

 

[TDZdave]

Viper Exchange is back in GTD. http://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/viperexchange-com-returns-with-keating-bleekemolen-for-2016/

So GTD for now
3-4 Lambos
3- 911's
1- BMW M6
1- Viper
and a bunch of ???

I was hoping they would continue their GTE campaign from Le Mans, but I guess with the new regs its a bit difficult,

 

[catamount39]

Viper Exchange is back in GTD. http://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/viperexchange-com-returns-with-keating-bleekemolen-for-2016/

So GTD for now
3-4 Lambos
3- 911's
1- BMW M6
1- Viper
and a bunch of ???

Based upon how things are going:

Mercedes-Benz(should have at least 1 car in at Daytona, and most likely will be in it from Sebring on. A few American teams are edging for the car apparently) - 1 car
Aston Martin (should get in with TRG...IMSA DON'T BE STUPID) - 1 car
Mclaren (Depends on how Flying Lizard feels I guess, probably just NAEC) - 1 car maybe 2 cars
Ferrari (non-existent...no entires of a GT3 488 GTB) - 0
Audi - 0 (went from a possible 5 Audi's to nil in about a month)
Cadillac - ? (P&M seem to be plotting something...or not)

 

[Earth]

Judging by your "loose" figures, there seems to be enough room for another 3 championship series in pit lane, 30 odd cars spread across 4 categories is going to be fairly lifeless next year,

The WEC has 4 classes and 30-32 cars for its entire existence now. I think USC and the WEC are about even in terms of which classes are interesting, LMP2 in the WEC is far more interesting then PC in USC, and GTD in USC is far more interesting then GTAM in the WEC.

Anyways I've never really liked the class structure of either, I believe each class should be completely different looking and recognizable by an average spectator. They shouldnt have to look for a little sticker on the car. If they cant do that then just make it prototype and GT

 

[IforceV8]

I was hoping they would continue their GTE campaign from Le Mans, but I guess with the new regs its a bit difficult,

+20-25% increase in cost for WEC vs Imsa full season http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/riley-keating-evaluating-switch-to-fia-wec-with-viper-gts-r/

 

[TDZdave]

+20-25% increase in cost for WEC vs Imsa full season http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/riley-keating-evaluating-switch-to-fia-wec-with-viper-gts-r/

Well, by this article versus the previous article you posted it looks likely they have confirmed running IMSA only, this article says they're not doing both,

 

[IforceV8]

Well, by this article versus the previous article you posted it looks likely they have confirmed running IMSA only, this article says they're not doing both,

I wouldnt rule out a Le Mans entry again.

 

[TDZdave]

I wouldnt rule out a Le Mans entry again.

Nor would I, but as the article says, the best way to get a Le Mans invite is to compete in the WEC, and not just sit and wait for an entry to pop up from the reserve list,

 

[RACECAR]

+20-25% increase in cost for WEC vs Imsa full season http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/riley-keating-evaluating-switch-to-fia-wec-with-viper-gts-r/

That's pretty interesting considering one series has four enduros (three ranging from 24 to 12) while the other has only 1 24 one. Then again, there's also travel to consider and that's not cheap to begin with.

 

[Snaeper]

No GTS-R for the WEC, Keating will return to GTD.

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/viperexchange-com-returns-with-keating-bleekemolen-for-2016/

 

[RACECAR]

No GTS-R for the WEC, Keating will return to GTD.

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/viperexchange-com-returns-with-keating-bleekemolen-for-2016/

Tree'd by many posts above.

 

[Snaeper]

Tree'd by many posts above.

Missed Iforce's post, saw you guys were debating about the WEC.

 

[IforceV8]

Partner it is for Viper. I wonder if that lawsuit against SCRAMP and Imsa went away and this was the settlement.💡

 

[IforceV8]

One step forward-three steps back. http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints/item/123217-pruett-inside-imsa-s-pay-to-play-policy

 

[catamount39]

One step forward-three steps back. http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints/item/123217-pruett-inside-imsa-s-pay-to-play-policy

IMSA is being run by idiots, they're officially stupider than NASCAR (who owns them...and actually have some brains compared to these stupid ************s).

 

[Northstar]

I like the idea behind the "official partner" thing, but its execution has been terrible.

That being said, it's hard to believe that a company like Aston can't afford it seems like they are on the verge of a big F1 deal.

 

[catamount39]

GTD went from being tied for best class (with GTLM) to garbage. It's disappointing as ****. I hope AMR at least does the full NAEC in GTLM. The car list in GTD isn't impressive, 8 cars? With 3 being Lambo's, 3 Porsche's, 1 BMW and 1 Viper. I hope Mercedes does get to Daytona, and Lexus too, because the class looks boring as heck compared to the insane onslaught of GTE machinery. Heck it looks boring compared to this year's GTD! No Aston, no Ferrari, no Audi...really IMSA? It's disgusting. So much for the amazing miracle class that was looking to be amazing...

And because I know somebody is going to say it...no I'm not just annoyed about Aston Martin being excluded. This is truly the most ridiculous circus of a governing body. You have a good thing going, and then what do you do? **** it up. Excited everybody for FIA GT3? Too bad we have some special "criteria".

Good thing GTLM is going to be the battle of the century, otherwise the one strength of North American racing, GT, has been neutered in this championship.

 

[Northstar]

no Ferrari, no Audi...really IMSA?

I'm not sure how it's IMSA's fault that Audi and Ferrari can't develop a car teams want to buy. I've only heard of one non-Audi affiliated team switching to the new R8 and haven't read anything about the Ferrari other than it being slow at the BoP test.