Fernando Alonso greets reporters at Sebring. [Joe Jennings Photo]

By Joe Jennings

SEBRING, Fla. – International driving star Fernando Alonso has his eyes focused on the upcoming Indianapolis 500 and is prepping for his second run in the prestigious event.  And he would like nothing better to add the Borg-Warner trophy to his list of high-profile accomplishments.

Fernando Alonso steers a Toyota Gazoo Racing Hybrid around the 3.74-mile course at Sebring. Not only did Alonso and his teammates win the 1000 mile race but he set a qualifying record when he lowered the standard by 3 seconds. [Joe Jennings Photo}

During a press conference at the Sebring International Raceway, he said, “Everything is going well and preparation-wise, we are on-time with everything.  I got fitted for my seat last week in Charlotte and I am quite pleased with the car.  We will test at Texas (Motor Speedway) at beginning of April and later in the month at Indianapolis, so that we will be the first touch with the car and its real improvements.

“I am in touch with the engineers, the simulators and all the people with McLaren involved with the program.  We are looking at the on-board cameras from previous races.  In other words, we have quite the plan for Indianapolis this year.  While here (at Sebring), my focus is on this race but when I am at home, my focus is on Indianapolis.

“We want to be as competitive as we can and hopefully a better result.  We respect all the teams that are there – Penske, Andretti, Carpenter and Ganassi.  They are on top of their game all the time, and they prepare for oval races like no one else does.  For us, it is a great challenge and we accept it.  If we can be at that level, that will be our target.”

The former Formula 1 driving champion has raced sports cars twice in the United States and each time he has been to victory circle with his co-drivers – first with Wayne Taylor Racing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and this weekend in the FIA’s World Endurance Championship 1000 miles of Sebring.  For the latter race, Alonso co-drove a powerful Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid and in qualifying, he bettered the track record by some three seconds.

Alonso draws crowds wherever he goes, and his presence along with the other competitors from the WEC and IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship led to a record attendance for the Super Weekend of racing at the historic Sebring track.

Featuredindianapolis 500Indianapolis Motor Speedway

After careful monitoring of likely weather conditions in the Indianapolis area this afternoon, INDYCAR officials have moved up the start time of today’s GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to 3:07 p.m. (ET), ensuring fans see the most NTT INDYCAR SERIES action.

The start time for the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Race 2 also is moving up, as the green flag for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ developmental series will fly at 1:05 p.m. (ET).

Fans are encouraged to follow INDYCAR social media (@INDYCAR on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) for further updates.

Live coverage of the GMR Grand Prix will begin at 3 p.m. (ET) on NBC, Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Coverage of the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis also will be available via Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

By Dan Margetta

Clermont, Ind., July 20—After turning in the fastest qualifying time, the night was set for Tanner Swanson to score his record breaking fifth USAC Silver Crown Series win at the Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis Thursday night, but Bobby Santos III had other ideas as he held off a hard charging Swanson to win the 100-lap Rich Vogler/USAC Hall of Fame Classic.

Santos took the green flag from the third starting position and immediately jumped to the outside lane at the start to challenge pole-sitter Tanner Swanson for the lead. Swanson and Santos traded the top spot for the opening laps before Santos powered by on the high side at the completion of lap three. Swanson dogged Santos the entire event but each time Swanson made a charge for the lead, Santos was up to the task and turned back each challenge. A final green-white-checkered charge by Swanson fell short and Santos drove to the victory. Aaron Pierce finished third while Kody Swanson and Chris Windom rounded out the top five finishers. Justin Grant took the checkered flag in sixth just ahead of Jerry Coons Jr. and David Byrne in seventh and eighth respectively.

Davey Hamilton Jr. and Annie Breidinger completed the top ten.

“I’m out of breath, “ and exhausted Santos told the crowd from victory lane, “Kody and Tanner (Swanson brothers), those two guys are awesome and I had to work my butt off just to run with them the last couple years and we finally said, ‘well we can race with them’ and tonight we just got a step better.”

“I’m happy I went to the gym this winter,” Santos continued, “because I am out of breath and without that I would not have won this race.”

“The team gave me a great car again this year, “Swanson said after his runner-up finish,” We got beat the last couple times and they did their homework. Last year we about put a lap on the field but everyone has their programs running like this so we’ll just have to dig a little harder.”

“It wasn’t too bad, the last few years we’ve been coming here and run fifth, qualified fifth and we just couldn’t get our car to race good, “ third place Aaron Pierce told the crowd afterwards, “I think we learned a little bit tonight and at least we were on the same straightaway with them and we’ll just learn a little bit more from what we learned and be here to get them again next year.”

NASCAR Monster Energy Cup driver Ryan Newman raced with the lead pack during the opening stages of the race before exiting with mechanical problems on lap 37.

JEGS TO BECOME TITLE SPONSOR OF NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES EVENT AT ROUTE 66 RACEWAY

JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals

GLENDORA, Calif. (May 2, 2018) – JEGS, one of the largest high performance automotive equipment retailers in the United States, has reached an agreement with NHRA as the title-rights sponsor for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event taking place at Route 66 Raceway outside of Chicago. The JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals will take place on May 31-June 3 and will feature competition in all four professional categories.

The entitlement builds upon the involvement by the organization as the JEGS Allstars specialty race will take place on Saturday, June 2. This race-within-a-race will pit the top points earners from NHRA’s seven geographic divisions of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and four Top Alcohol regions against each other in the culmination of a yearlong points battle. Competitors in Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Comp Eliminator, Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Stock, and Super Street will compete for team and individual honors as well as a share of the $124,000 purse.

“JEGS has been involved with the sport of NHRA drag racing for decades and we are excited to have them on board as this iconic event celebrates its 20th year,” said Brad Gerber, NHRA vice president and chief development officer. “JEGS supports NHRA in a number of ways including the long-standing sponsorship of several drivers in both professional and sportsman categories.”

“At JEGS, our history and tradition in motorsports, especially with the NHRA, goes back to our founding over 50 years ago,” said chief executive officer of JEGS Automotive, Inc., Jeffrey R. Hennion. “We are excited to announce this broader partnership with the NHRA both at the JEGS Rt. 66 NHRA Nationals and with a broader, enhanced media relationship supporting NHRA national events throughout the year. We look forward to helping to make the JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals a memorable experience for all race fans, including all those competing in the JEGS All-Stars.”

The JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals is the ninth of 24 events on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. It will be televised on FS1 and is the first of four consecutive events, which could prove critical for NHRA teams chasing title aspirations. Route 66 Raceway features the first true stadium of drag racing and has witnessed impressive performances by the top racers in the sport.

Honda’s Speedway Areo Kit is up next to be unveiled. [Chris Owens IMS Photo]

Indianapolis—Necessity is the mother of invention.

With Honda-powered INDYCAR teams trailing badly in the 2015 competition on the track Honda looks to pull a rabbit out of the hat today when the company reveals its super speedway oval aerodynamic package at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After four events, Honda-powered cars have won only once: James Hinchcliffe’s victory for Sam Schmidt Motorsports at New Orleans. And even though Honda is gaining on Chevrolet with a recent strong performance by Graham Rahal to lift spirits in the garage area, winning races is most important.

Honda executives make no bones about it: winning the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day is the over-arching goal.

“Winning the Indianapolis 500 saves your year for sure,” said Honda Performance Development’s Steve Eriksen. “That’s the part that people remember.”

“The number one goal of our company is winning the Indy 500. It is the most important thing for us to do. So that was the design ethos behind the aero kit, was start with the Indy 500 and then everything else cascades on after that.”

Honda will be the first of the two INDYCAR engine manufacturers (Chevrolet is the other one) to show off their super-speedway spec aero kit. Today’s static display will be followed on Sunday, May 3rd with a “Promoter Test” where the package will see its first application on the track.

Accordingly, Honda is reaping the media attention it deserves by being first to the line. After all, one of the stated goals of the aero initiative way back in 2013 was to permit fan differentiation between Chevy- and Honda-powered vehicles.

Honda definitely got the jump on the bowtie crew there, with its exotic, scalloped and curvy street/road course and short oval design. Moreover, Chevrolet earned a black eye for its front high-plane wings that were easily sheered off during competition and later banned.

Beyond today’s aero introduction, though, lie some issues that remain to be fully resolved, among them on-going negotiation between INDYCAR and Honda to renew their engine-supplier agreement.

Both Honda and INDYCAR officials insist the renewal has been pledged “in principle,” but there’s nothing in writing quite yet.

“It’s an agreement in principle,” INDYCAR president of competition Derrick Walker told FOX Sports’ Bruce Martin earlier this month, “but the devil is in the details so until we have a written contract, it’s not finalized.”

Honda didn’t comment other than to note the company has been involved in open-wheel competition for decades and wants to be there going forward.

“It’s always been Honda’s intent to remain in open wheel racing. We enjoy the competition and we want to be here and we are working out the details for that to happen,” they said.

It goes without saying that you can’t win the Indy 500 if you aren’t in open wheel racing, and from victory at the Brickyard flows market brand identity that is invaluable to both Honda and to INDYCAR.

Allan Brewer covers IndyCar and other racing series for RacingNation.com. Allan is a fixture at the race track, armed with keyboard and camera, eager to take you inside open-wheel sport where the news is being made. He comes to RacingNation.com with multiple professional awards from the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AWWRBA). He began his motorsports writing career at FastMachines.com; and solely published IndyProRacer.com and A1GP.com, two award-winning websites for open-wheel racing’s junior leagues, prior to becoming IndyCar correspondent at Motorsport.com. He has also covered Formula 1, NASCAR, Formula E, the Indy Lights Series and its predecessor Indy Pro Series, NHRA events and major auto shows. His major interest outside of competition is automotive technology and its application to the cars we drive every day on the public highways.

Winner Chandler Smith [Photo by Doug Hornickel – www.fastlapphoto.com]

by Paul Gohde

It’s not often that you see a driver win the pole, drop to the rear of the field after 37 laps, and come back to win by half a lap.

But the latest ARCA “wunderkind”, fifteen-year-old Chandler Smith, did just that Friday night, capturing his first ARCA Series win in the Herr’s Potato Chip 200 at Madison Int’l Speedway.

The Talking Rock, GA youngster drove his Venturini Craftsman Toyota to his fourth consecutive series’ pole and rocketed- off to an early race lead before falling back to the rear of the 19-car field with handling problems. “There was a lug nut loose on the right-front wheel. I had started to feel a vibration, but thought it was maybe nothing.” he noted. “I just started falling back and was just trying not to crash.” After stopping twice during a convenient lap 37 caution period, he restarted 13th on the lead lap and began his pursuit of leaders Zane Smith, Gus Dean and Riley Herbst.

He moved to third and was pressuring Smith and Herbst by the half-way flags. He took the point for good shortly after a lap 126 restart with Zane Smith and Herbst unable do anything more than watch as “the kid” stretched his lead to more than 11-seconds at the checkered-flag.

“I really didn’t really have anything for him after that restart. I got too free off the corners,” Zane Smith explained, as he kept his La Paz Margarita Mix Toyota in second-place behind the victor.

Current series’ points leader Sheldon Creed and Herbst pitted for fresh tires during a lap 130 caution while the leaders stayed out. Creed took advantage of the fresh rubber on his United Rentals Toyota and finished third behind the Smiths. “I think it was his turn to win, he’s had three poles (now four) and it’s obvious that we need to work on our short-track program. We need to be more consistent.”
Purdy and Dean rounded-out the top five.

Sixth-place finisher Natalie Decker perhaps summed up the dominant win by Chandler Smith; a win that had many scratching their collective heads. “He’s mad fast and impressive. I’ll have to get some advice from him,” she explained. “He’s really a great driver.” A lesson that the entire field learned well Friday night.

Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.

The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.

Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.

He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.

Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”

THE RACE: AAA 400 THE PLACE: Dover International Speedway

GREEN FLAG: Sunday, October 2, 2011 – 2:15pm/et, 1:15pm/ct

This Sunday, NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers make their second of two annual visits to “The Monster Mile” in Dover Delaware for round three of the ten-race 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup. Dover’s high-banked (24 degrees) one-mile concrete racing surface has been likened to racing in a giant cereal bowl. The King Richard Petty won the first Cup series race at Dover International Speedway in 1969, and this track has been thrilling fans with exciting action-packed racing ever since.

The following drivers have the best odds of pulling out a top finish this weekend. The rankings are based on drivers’ history at this track including practice & qualifying runs, key in-race stats and final results. Drivers’ history at tracks of similar size and layout are included. Then by factoring in results from the last month of racing, the ever-powerful momentum is captured. Finally, drivers get a mulligan. The occasional “off” race won’t unduly harm them in the rankings.

TOP TWENTYFIVE 1) 48 Jimmie Johnson 2) 99 Carl Edwards 3) 17 Matt Kenseth 4) 29 Kevin Harvick 5) 22 Kurt Busch 6) 24 Jeff Gordon 7) 14 Tony Stewart 8) 18 Kyle Busch 9) 2 Brad Keselowski 10) 5 Mark Martin 11) 16 Greg Biffle 12) 31 Jeff Burton 13) 39 Ryan Newman 14) 56 Martin Truex Jr. 15) 83 Brian Vickers 16) 43 A.J. Allmendinger 17) 33 Clint Bowyer 18) 42 Juan Pablo Montoya 19) 11 Denny Hamlin 20) 4 Kasey Kahne 21) 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 22) 20 Joey Logano 23) 9 Marcos Ambrose 24) 6 David Ragan 25) 1 Jamie McMurray 26) 27 Paul Menard 27) 00 David Reutimann 28) 78 Regan Smith 29) 47 Bobby Labonte

30) 13 Casey Mears

DOVER DRIVER STATS 1 – Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet) • Two wins, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s • Average finish of 12.5 in 25 races • Average Running Position of 21.7, 26th-best • Driver Rating of 71.4, 24th-best

• 508 Green Flag Passes, ninth-most

2 – Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Rheem Chasing The Cure Chevrolet) • Two top fives, eight top 10s • Average finish of 17.0 in 21 races • Average Running Position of 18.0, 14th-best • Driver Rating of 78.3, 15th-best • 513 Green Flag Passes, sixth-most • 2,607 Laps in the Top 15 (50.1%), 13th-most

• 219 Quality Passes, 13th-most

3 – Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) • Average finish of 17.7 in three races • Average Running Position of 18.3, 15th-best

• Driver Rating of 70.3, 25th-best

4 – Carl Edwards (No. 99 AFLAC Ford) • One win, six top fives, 10 top 10s • Average finish of 7.6 in 14 races • Average Running Position of 9.6, fourth-best • Driver Rating of 104.9, fourth-best • 404 Fastest Laps Run, third-most • 513 Green Flag Passes, sixth-most • Average Green Flag Speed of 142.769 mph, fourth-fastest • 3,897 Laps in the Top 15 (74.9%), fifth-most

• Series-high 384 Quality Passes

5 – Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet) • Four wins, 14 top fives, 21 top 10s; four poles • Average finish of 12.2 in 37 races • Average Running Position of 13.7, 10th-best • Driver Rating of 89.4, 11th-best • 481 Green Flag Passes, 13th-most • Average Green Flag Speed of 142.568 mph, seventh-fastest • 3,686 Laps in the Top 15 (70.8%), eighth-most

• 319 Quality Passes, sixth-most

6 – Kyle Busch (No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota) • Two wins, seven top fives, eight top 10s • Average finish of 13.8 in 13 races • Average Running Position of 12.6, eighth-best • Driver Rating of 102.0, fifth-best • 226 Fastest Laps Run, sixth-most • Average Green Flag Speed of 142.747 mph, fifth-fastest • 3,808 Laps in the Top 15 (73.2%), seventh-most

• 326 Quality Passes, fifth-most

7 – Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Crown Royal Ford) • Two wins, 11 top fives, 16 top 10s; one pole • Average finish of 12.4 in 25 races • Series-best Average Running Position of 8.0 • Driver Rating of 110.0, second-best • 348 Fastest Laps Run, fourth-most • 530 Green Flag Passes, fourth-most • Average Green Flag Speed of 142.944 mph, second-fastest • Series-high 4,402 Laps in the Top 15 (84.6%)

• 379 Quality Passes, second-most

8 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet) • One win, four top fives, seven top 10s • Average finish of 17.8 in 23 races • Average Running Position of 20.5, 23rd-best • Driver Rating of 76.1, 17th-best • 131 Fastest Laps Run, 11th-most

• 486 Green Flag Passes, 12th-most

9 – Kurt Busch (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge) • Five top fives, seven top 10s • Average finish of 18.7 in 22 races • Average Running Position of 11.8, seventh-best • Driver Rating of 95.0, seventh-best • 180 Fastest Laps Run, eighth-most • 503 Green Flag Passes, 10th-most • Average Green Flag Speed of 142.502 mph, eighth-fastest • 3,533 Laps in the Top 15 (67.9%), ninth-most

• 304 Quality Passes, eighth-most

10 – Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet) • Six wins, eight top fives, 13 top 10s; three poles • Average finish of 9.6 in 19 races • Average Running Position of 8.0, second-best • Series-best Driver Rating of 117.4 • Series-high 669 Fastest Laps Run • Series-best Average Green Flag Speed of 143.132 mph • 4,371 Laps in the Top 15 (84.0%), second-most

• 261 Quality Passes, ninth-most

11 – Ryan Newman (No. 39 U.S. Army ROTC Chevrolet) • Three wins, six top fives, 11 top 10s; four poles • Average finish of 10.9 in 19 races • Average Running Position of 10.7, fifth-best • Driver Rating of 93.5, eighth-best • Average Green Flag Speed of 142.360 mph, 10th-fastest

• 4,008 Laps in the Top 15 (77.0%), fourth-most

12 – Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota) • Two top fives, four top 10s • Average finish of 20.9 in 11 races • Average Running Position of 18.7, 17th-best

• Driver Rating of 79.3, 13th-best

“MONSTER MILE” HIGHLIGHTS • Richard Petty won the track’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup race in 1969. • Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman lead all active drivers, each with four poles. • Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers, with six victories. • Hendrick Motorsports has a series-high 12 wins. • 50 races at Dover have been won from a top-five starting position; 18 races have been won from a starting position outside the top 10.

• 13 drivers have won from the pole. The last to do so was Jimmie Johnson, in last season’s September race.

Cup CornerNASCARRon Engel

New Porsche Penske 963 in the garage. [Photo by Eddie LePine]

By Eddie LePine & Jack Webster

The recent December IMSA test session at Daytona International Speedway marked the official beginning of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. Most of the teams we expect to see at the Rolex 24 at Daytona at the end of January were present, testing new cars, new drivers and providing IMSA with data for the calculation of BOP in 2024.

Of note, the new Lamborghini SC63, which will be campaigned by Iron Lynx Racing in the 2024 season (beginning with the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring in March), was on hand for BOP testing and was quite impressive, topping the time charts. Pilots Andrea Caldarelli, Matteo Cairoli and Romain Grojean make up the driving team which will be competing in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Championship races in 2024. Unfortunately, the new GTP Lamborghini will not be at the Rolex 24, but will be on hand for Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans. It is a beautiful car and the US program is headed by our old friend and Audi veteran Brad Kettler (we see him as Lamborghini’s secret weapon and key to success). Look for a lot from this team and this car, right out of the box.

Of course, the other GTP teams were not resting on their laurels from last season. WTRAndretti (the new official name for the Wayne Taylor led 2 car Honda/Acura factory effort) was on hand and preparing for a full season with two all new Acura ARX-06 cars with drivers Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Jordan Taylor with Colton Herta and Brendon Hartley added for the endurance championship, while Jensen Button and Marcus Ericsson have been added for the Rolex 24. Taking over the Acura program from Michael Shank for 2024, WTRAndretti has big shoes to fill. After just missing out on the overall victory in 2023 at the Rolex, you can be sure that the WTRAndretti squad will be doing everything they can to get to the top step of the podium in 2024.

Other GTP news of note: The Whelen Engineering Cadillac team has added hot shoe Tom Blomqvist to their roster for the endurance races, partnering with the very rapid duo of Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken. That’s a championship winning combo if we have ever seen one.

Ganassi Cadillac features Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande for the season, with Scott Dixon added for the endurance races in the #01 Cadillac.

In Porsche 963 GTP news, JDC-Miller teams Tijmen van der Helm and Richard Westbrook for the season, adding Phil Hanson for the endurance races and our favorite, Ironman Ben Keating, for the Rolex 24 (where Ben will also be driving the #2 United Autosports ORECA LMP2 car). Wow!

Also, in Porsche 963 GTP news, Mustang Sampling has been signed as full season sponsor for the Proton Competition Porsche 963, with championship contending drivers Gianmaria “Gimmi” Bruni and Neel Jani announced (additional pilots TBA). The Porsche looks fantastic in its black and gold paint scheme.

At Porsche Penske, they are putting forward new and updated Porsche 963s, to be piloted by Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy, Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr all season long, to be joined by Kevin Estre and Josef Newgarden for the endurance races and Matt Campbell and Laurens Vanthoor for the Rolex 24. A very strong line up in a very strong team, indeed.

At BMW, the Bobby Rahal led Team RRL group features Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn, Dries Vanthoor, Connor De Phillippi, Nick Yelloly and Maxime Martin as drivers. Full season vs. endurance driver assignments have yet to be determined, with the announcement of 4th drivers for the Rolex 24 to be announced as well.

Other big news, looking forward to 2024, is the head-to-head Chevrolet vs. Ford battles we will see when Corvette Z06 GT3R takes on the Ford Mustang GT3. The Ford Multimatic Mustangs and the Pratt Miller Corvettes looked outstanding at the Daytona test and we can’t wait to see them fight it out at the Rolex 24. Not only will they be battling for the GTD-PRO title, at least 2 additional Corvette Z06 GT3.R entries and at least one additional Mustang GT3 are entered in the GTD class. I think we are going to see a lot of rubbing and bumping this year in GTD-PRO and GTD competition.

As Ford factory driver Joey Hand said about the Ford vs. Corvette battles to come: “The two iconic American sports cars, head-to-head. There’s nothing better than that. What I’m most excited for is the fans. There are going to be a lot more people coming to races. They’re going to come cheer for their car, whatever car that is.”

Also on hand at Daytona for the test was the Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra – fan favorites that will be cheered on at the Rolex 24 by legions of tifosi from around the world. Also on hand was FIA-WEC Ferrari 499P Hypercar driver Nicholas Nielsen, taking some laps in the GT3 Ferrari. He is not currently on the entry list for the Rolex 24 in either the GTD-PRO or GTD Risi Ferraris, but it didn’t look like he was at Daytona as a tourist!

Not present yet, but waiting for new or updated cars, were the entries of Heart of Racing, which will be campaigning Aston Martin Vantage GT3 cars in both GTD and GTD-PRO and Pfaff Motorsports, which have switched from Porsche to McLaren for 2024. Can’t wait to see if they keep the plaid livery on the McLaren!

The 2024 full season grid of cars in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is outstanding and historic. Here is the grid as of the middle of December, and includes the cars that will only contest the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races. There are 11 GTP entries – 2 from Cadillac, 2 from BMW, 2 from Acura, 4 from Porsche and 1 from Lamborghini.

In LMP2, there are 12 confirmed entries, while in GT Daytona Pro there are 12 cars and in GTD there are a staggering 26 cars. That’s a total of 61 cars! (including Endurance Cup). There is no doubt about it – we are living in the modern “golden” era of sports car racing, and have IMSA to thank for it.

World class drivers – including legends from Formula One and IndyCar, world class manufacturers and teams, world class circuits. What more could you ask for?

The 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is shaping up to be the best ever – and that includes the incredible 1980’s GTP era that we participated in and reported on. It would be safe to say that IMSA racing in 2024 will rank right up there with the best and most well-known racing series in the world – including Formula One. For sure it will feature a wider variety of winners!

It’s going to be one hell of a ride. Be sure and join us in 2024 and take in some of the best racing on the planet. Go see some of it in person – it will be well worth the trip.

See you at the races.

Jack Webster has been shooting motorsports since the early 1970’s, covering Formula One, CanAm, F5000, TransAm, GrandAm and American Le Mans races, among others. In addition to his photography, he has also worked on racing teams, both in IMSA and IndyCar, so has a complete knowledge of the inner workings of motorsport. Both his photography and writing can be seen here on racingnation.com. Eddie LePine has been involved in motorsports for over 30 years as photographer, columnist, and driver. Eddie also is now a retired racer (well, retired unless a good ride pops up). You can usually find Eddie in the paddock area, deep in conversation with a driver.

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by Pete Gorski

Let’s get the obvious part out of the way first. Living in the aeroscreen era that we are, at least the new version is an aesthetic improvement over the previous version. Yes there’s a hint of Darth Vader’s helmet at the back, but the view from head on no longer has that awkward wider-at-the-top look.

The Indy NXT car is a pretty good looking shape — long in the nose in a very sharky way. And while it sounds fairly common under power, off throttle the engine makes a wonderfully percussive snap-crackle-pop, and when more than one car is on the brakes, it sounds like multiple people playing the intro to Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher at the same time.

This was the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ second time competing on the “new” surface, and yet more than a few drivers had issues keeping the car under them entering Turn 14, with similar mid-corner corrections in the Carousel during practice Friday and Turn 3 as the track was drying during qualifying Saturday.

Speaking of drying…IndyCar and Firestone might want to consider going the Formula One route and develop a “full wet” tire to go along with the current rain tire. At peak wetness Canada Corner was a slippery nightmare for multiple drivers during Saturday’s morning practice. The recently expanded paved runoff kept most people out of the wall and gravel trap, but a few found out just how deep the gravel is.

It sure felt like the USF 2000 kids were behind the wheel for the opening segment of the race, what with all the cautions. I’m pretty sure the early lap leader was the Corvette pace car.

As a race fan who prefers track limits to be enforced aggressively, it was nice to see how little curb every series’ driver utilized. As a photographer…well…maybe a little curb bounding is ok if it produces a cool picture.

A large crowd turned out Sunday with conditions that were near perfect. Hopefully enough people enjoyed the show to the support the Labor Day Weekend races at the Milwaukee Mile.

I’ve been a race fan from the first time my Dad put a slot-car controller in my hand. That was back in the 1970s, and in the intervening years, I’ve spent hours watching racing, photographing racing, and for the past seven years, writing about racing. My work has appeared in Victory Lane magazine and SpeedTour Quarterly, along with the Visors Down Motorsports Photography Facebook page.

www.gorskiphotoservices.com