RacingNation.com

The Long And Short Of It

Ford scored their first win at Laguna. [Photo by Jack Webster]

Ford scored their first win at Laguna Seca. [Photo by Jack Webster]

By Jack Webster & Eddie LePine

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship now has four races in the 2016 season completed and the competition has been fierce, with more to come.

The first two races were endurance contests, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. That’s the long of it, and the overall victories at both events went to the Tequila Patron ESM team with their Honda HPD Ligier.

At the first of the short races, Long Beach, the Taylor brothers took the overall victory in their Konica Minolta Chevrolet Corvette DP. At the second short race, held at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, Honda was once again victorious, this time with Michael Shank Racing. The surprise at Laguna was the speed of the Mazda P2 cars, which qualified first and second.

The bottom line, with two long and two short races run, is that the series is healthy and the fight for the championship is going to be tight all year long. IMSA certainly has the balance of performance (BoP) right on the money, as the competition in the prototype class has been very close and the race results show it.

Things are just as tight in the GTLM class. At Daytona, Corvette took a dramatic 1-2 win, with teammates allowed to fight it out for a dramatic photo finish. At Sebring, the winning C7.R repeated its Daytona success, taking first place in GTLM over BMW.

At Sebring, Porsche and Corvette tangled on the track, with one of the factory Porsches taking out Jan Magnussen’s Corvette in dramatic fashion entering Turn 1 on a wet track. That incident was to be a prelude to things to come at Long Beach, where a factory Porsche took out the leading Corvette with just one lap to go in the race, handing victory to Porsche.

At Laguna Seca, it was Ford’s turn to shine with their all-new Ford GT. In a race that again saw close competition in the GTLM class, Ford took their first class victory, by not only being fast but getting better fuel mileage than anyone else on the track. Hat’s off to the Ganassi crew and in particular drivers Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook who met and exceeded their fuel numbers to win and even have enough fuel left for the cool down lap.

So, after 4 races the championship points battle in the two top classes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship couldn’t be much tighter. In the prototype class Honda has a slight lead over Chevrolet and Mazda. In GTLM, Corvette enjoys a small lead over Porsche, Ferrari, Ford and BMW.

It has already been an outstanding season, with much more to come. Next up: Belle Isle in Detroit on June 4.

You should make plans to be there. If the season so far is any indication, there will be close racing and surprises in store in Detroit.

Share Button