Hi all! It's great to be back! I took a hiatus from following a lot of things, including TUSC, after my son was born last summer. I just got caught up on all the races I missed (finished Petit Le Mans last night - thanks YouTube!), read through this entire thread today (wanted to avoid spoilers till I saw all of last season), and am pumped for Daytona!!!
These developments pretty much are what most people thought would happen. LMP2 cars don't race well compared to the DP making it next to impossible to win with. That coupled with there being literally 2 LMP2 teams in the 2012 ALMS season in America while only drawing 1 overseas team this past year makes the merger really just a way to water down the P class grid further because now a DP is more expensive than a LMP2. That's a total mismanagement trying to appease everyone. Whether you like the Grand am model or ALMS model better, it's very obvious to see that IMSA has not done what it needs to in order to keep grids up in the P class. Had the DP been kept as is, there would have been at least 14 full season entries just carrying over from Grand am. Had they gone LMP2 straight away, there would have been in the neighborhood of 8-10 full season probably. Keeping one series's equipment is about the only thing that was done right in the IndyCar and ChampCar merger. Had IMSA done that, we could've seen 18-20 full season P class cars assuming the ALMS teams weren't too cool for a DP.
This completely! A year ago I was unsure how DP and P2 would get along in one class. The season proved they could not, as DP held the advantage most of the year with the exception of the Ligier. What is that anyway - is it a P2? It seemed to perform more like a DP (quick off starts and with plenty of power) compared with how the open cockpit P2's were so slow on starts and described as momentum-based by the commentators. Or is Yacaman just that much of a beast? I know he did well in the open cockpit model, too, but it seemed like the Ligier has none of the faults of the older model.
At any rate, I totally agree that IMSA should have picked either P2 or DP and just run that. It proved too difficult to balance the 2, or they are horribly inept which would be even more concerning. As a Grand-Am fan, I would prefer the DP - also I lose control of bodily functions when I hear a DP do a proper burn out
- but ultimately I don't care, just pick one or the other! The prototype class has suffered greatly from this mismatch.
Also, PC still needs to go. There was a race last season - Mosport I think - that didn't have PC in it, and it was perfect. There were still plenty of cars but a little more room, and GTD actually got some coverage. Ah well.
More to come...