What direction should IMSA take with prototypes?

There are two questions around the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's top class. For 2019 the question is if IMSA should split the Prototype class into separate DPi and LMP2 classes. For the 2020s the question is if IMSA should align its top class with the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Should IMSA split the prototype class?

The idea of splitting DPi and LMP2 cars into separate classes gained traction after the early season was dominated by the DPi cars. However, the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen saw Oreca LMP2 cars achieving a 1-2 win despite the Pro-Am driver lineups JDC-Miller Motorsports and CORE autosport were running.

Watkins Glen may be the track best-suited to LMP2 cars after its repave some years ago. On such a smooth surface, the DPi cars won't benefit so much from the custom-made shock absorbers as opposed to the spec shocks of the LMP2 machines. Besides, on a flowing layout like Watkins Glen, the DPi machines won't benefit as much from any torque advantage they may have.

The DPis may be superior cars and the Balance of Performance is restricting them a lot. However, the idea of the joint DPi-LMP2 Prototype class was to use the best LMP2 car as the benchmark for the BoP and the DPi manufacturers should know it. If an LMP2 car occasionally beats a DPi car, it shows the BoP has allowed the inferior LMP2 cars to be competitive. That's the purpose of the BoP, to put cars of different performance on the same line. I'm sure IMSA is doing their best to make the BoP fair but it's not easy to balance different cars. Sometimes the LMP2 cars have the advantage, like they did at Watkins Glen, though most of the times the DPi cars have been the fastest.

A major reason for the better results of the DPi teams is that they are running all-Pro lineups as opposed to the LMP2 teams running mostly Pro-Am lineups. Last year's only win for an LMP2 car was achieved by the VisitFlorida-sponsored Sprit of Daytona Racing with an all-Pro lineup. Besides, Team Penske had a strong performance at last year's Motul Petit Le Mans with an Oreca LMP2 car while running an all-Pro lineup.

In a way, splitting the Prototype class could make the WeatherTech Championship more attractive also to LMP2 teams. Instead of being also-rans behind the DPi cars, the LMP2 teams would be racing for a class win behind the DPi cars.

Even if there was a separate podium for the Pro-Am LMP2 cars, I still don't see why the best LMP2 car couldn't be used as the benchmark for the BoP of the DPi cars as DPi needs a BoP anyway. If there's an LMP2 team that wants to go for overall wins with an all-Pro lineup, why shouldn't they be able to do it. If a WEC or ELMS team wants to race at Daytona or Sebring, it's very difficult to get a DPi car whereas currently they can use their own LMP2 car. As all the DPi cars are derived from the LMP2 cars, I don't see why the inclusion of the Gibson-powered LMP2 cars would make the BoP process that much more difficult.

The biggest problem in balancing the DPi and LMP2 cars may be the development of the DPis as opposed to the homologated LMP2s. However, a simple solution would be to limit the DPi cars development. They all are already faster than the benchmark LMP2 car so you could just freeze the DPis' development. That way the BoP process would be less of guessing game after the winter break.

In short, I'm all for a greater recognition of the top Pro-Am LMP2 cars. But I still hope LMP2 is used as the benchmark for the BoP of the DPi cars, allowing the LMP2 race for overall wins.

Should IMSA align the top class with the FIA WEC

The ACO has released details of the new top-class prototypes of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Like the DPi cars, the new top-class prototypes in the WEC will feature manufacturer-specific styling cues, though instead of the "LMP-look", the new cars will be reminiscent of the manufacturers' road-going hypercars and will be hybrid-powered.

The new prototypes are set to make their debut in the 2020-21 WEC season. IMSA will continue with the DPi cars until the 2021 season, however it may align its top class with the WEC for the 2022 season.

A global top class would have certain benefits. For the first time in decades, the same cars could go for the overall wins at Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans. Besides, a global top class could be more attractive to manufacturers; for example Ford chose to enter GTE instead of prototype racing because it allows racing in both the WEC and IMSA. On the other hand, some manufacturers might choose to compete only in one series, like Corvette does in IMSA, and Ferrari and Aston Martin in the WEC with their GTE cars, entering only the marquee races of the other series.

However, the cost of the WEC's new top class may keep IMSA from adopting the rules. While the budgets will go down significantly from the LMP1-hybrid budgets, the WEC's new class will still be more expensive than the DPi programs are.

I'd happily see a common top class for the WEC and IMSA. But it shouldn't come at the price of the product IMSA has now. Maybe IMSA could gain a new manufacturer or a few of them. Then again, some of the current DPi manufacturers might deem the new top class to be too expensive. If a global top class would mean less manufacturers than DPi currently has, then I hope IMSA will go its own way.

Privateers could be the biggest losers if IMSA adopts the global top class. Although the OEMs will have to sell the hybrid system at a given price to private constructors, a privateer program in the new top class will likely by more expensive than an LMP2 program or a customer DPi program like Tequila Patrón ESM's Nissan program currently is. Plus there is no guarantee the privateers will have an access to winning cars in the new top class like they currently have in IMSA's Prototype class.

I'm not convinced the WEC's new top class would further enhance the competition in IMSA. If anything, it could turn the Prototype class into a playground of factory teams, forcing privateers and some of the current DPi customer teams into other classes. If there is a less expensive way attract a good number of manufacturers and privateers, IMSA should choose it over a common top class with the WEC. Maybe LMP2 like currently, instead of LMP1 or whatever the WEC's top class will be called, is a better base for IMSA's Prototype class. Once the current LMP2 regulations expire in 2021, maybe IMSA should create a new DPi class around the new LMP2 rules.

ACO, IMSA need a shared vision of sportscar racing's future

The LMP1 class is set for an overhaul of its technical regulations for 2020 and beyond. A possible future direction is aligned LMP1 and DPi regulations, creating a common top class for the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

While a common top class would be desirable, the differences in the ideologies of the WEC and IMSA may be problematic. LMP1 is more of a technology-driven class whereas the DPi class is aimed to be cost-effective. Some compromises would be needed to create a single class.

In a way, the WEC and IMSA are like Formula One and INDYCAR. In both cases, there are a FIA World Championship and its American counterpart. While it's good to have alternatives in open-wheel racing that complement each other, sportscar racing is a smaller sport and would do better without unnecessary division.

If anything, the LMP1-DPi division is like the CART-IRL split. Both are examples two different visions of the same sport. Just like the American open-wheel sport's recovery after the unification has shown, it would be better also for sportscar racing if its sanctioning bodies shared the same vision of the future of the sport.

The ACO and IMSA may have different goals for the top classes of the World Endurance Championship and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, however they have the same needs. In the best interests of the sport, those two organizations should put their own goals aside and concentrate on the common needs and create a common class structure. Instead of having manufacturers divided between two series, it would be better to see them all in both series.

Even if the WEC and IMSA adopted a common class structure, both series could still have their own identities. The WEC would have Le Mans, IMSA would have Daytona and Sebring. While the WEC goes to modern F1 venues around the world, IMSA has old-school road courses and even some street courses in North America. Even with a common class structure, the WEC and IMSA would compliment each other like F1 and INDYCAR do.

Different goals, same needs for top sportscar classes

With Porsche leaving the LMP1 class after the current season, Toyota is set to remain as the only OEM brand in the top class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Meanwhile the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will get its fourth OEM in Acura in the top Prototype class for 2018.

Both the ACO and IMSA would surely welcome new manufacturers into their top prototype classes. Yet instead of making the manufacturers choose between the two series, the two sanctioning bodies should unify their regulations to allow manufacturers to participate in them both.

When deciding for the future of top-class prototype racing, the ACO and IMSA should look at what makes GT3 maybe the best class in sportscar racing at the moment. Although GT3 was originally intended to be a class for customer racing, there are some de facto works teams. But also customer teams can succeed in GT3, and selling GT3 cars is a business for the manufacturers.

In a way, IMSA's Prototype class is reminiscent of GT3. The DPi entries are more or less works teams, yet also the privateer LMP2 entries can succeed there. IMSA has probably the healthiest prototype class at the moment; there will be four OEMs represented in 2018, though it's also an affordable class for privateer teams.

While Toyota is set to be the only OEM left in LMP1 in 2018, there are several privateer projects to join LMP1. However, the budget cap between Toyota and those privateers may be too big to provide close racing on track. And even if the privateers could match Toyota in lap times, the hybrid technology allows a better fuel mileage Toyota, putting them at an advantage.

The main goals for the future of the WEC's top class should be affordability and parity. IMSA has achieved that with the DPis and LMP2s, although the parity comes from the Balance of Performance.

LMP1 has featured some of the most advanced technology in all of motorsports. But maybe it would be better for the class to have more cars and closer parity than feature the latest technology. If the WEC got rid of hybrid technology, it might lose Toyota, though it might gain Cadillac, Mazda, Nissan, and Acura from IMSA. Hybrid technology doesn't anymore draw manufacturers; Audi and Porsche left LMP1 for Formula E.

IMSA has a top class that attracts both manufacturers and privateers. That's what the WEC would need. Develop IMSA's prototype class into a global top class and it could be the prototype equivalent to the successful GT3 class. It would be an affordable class for manufacturers and they could even sell cars to privateers who could succeed with them. I'd like to get rid of the BoP, though the rules should remain simple to ensure a close parity of the field.

An aligned class structure would enable the inclusion of Daytona and Sebring in the WEC calendar as co-sanctioned races with IMSA, not as a doubleheader with separate races. A World Championship is supposed to have the biggest races, those two are the biggest races in the USA. Even if the FIA's bureaucracy prevented co-sanctioned races, the same cars could participate in both organizations' races and sportscar racing as a whole would be the winner.

Of course, change takes time. The new LMP1 privateer entrants have entered under the assumption no OEM can enter with a non-hybrid car. Allowing non-hybrid factory cars would not be fair for the new LMP1 privateers. The DPis are designed for a BoP class; getting rid of the BoP would not be fair for those manufacturers.

It may not be the right time to align the class structure in the next few years, though it should be the aim for the near future. The ACO and IMSA may have different goals for their top classes, though the needs are the same; an affordable class for both manufacturers and privateers with parity. GT3 would be a good example of that, apart from the need for the BoP.

GTE vs. GT3 divides manufacturers

Just like prototype racing, also GT racing is divided in two top classes. GTE is the top GT class in the ACO's and IMSA's class structures, though it's GT3 cars that are racing for overall wins in races like the Nürburgring 24h and the Spa 24h.

While both classes are pretty healthy at the moment, the division feels a bit unnecessary. There are some manufacturers (Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, BMW) represented in both classes, though GTE is more of a class for manufacturers with an emphasis on factory programs (Corvette, Ford) and GT3 for manufacturers with an emphasis on customer racing (Audi, Mercedes, etc.).

There are certain differences between GTE and GT3 machines. GTE cars don't have ABS and they are built to stricter rules than GT3 cars which rely more on the BoP to achieve parity. However, also GTE uses the BoP.

Because of the need for the BoP in both classes, I don't really see any reason to keep them separated. The BMW M6 is not built to GTE regulations, though IMSA allowed a modified GT3 car into the GT Le Mans class in the past two seasons. While I like the limited driving aids of the GTE cars, I don't really see the need for the stricter technical regulations given that it's a BoP class.

The ACO surely doesn't have much need for the GT convergence at the moment, given that GTE is a healthy class at the moment and has been gaining new manufacturers. But wouldn't it be great to see Bentleys or McLarens in the GT class at Le Mans, or Corvettes or Ford GTs racing for the Nürburgring or Spa 24-hour wins?

The SRO, the sanctioning body of the Blancpain GT Series, has been trying to preserve the pro-am nature of the GT3 class. That's understandable; as long as there's customer racing, the class is a more sustainable business for the manufacturers. If it gets predominantly factory racing, it's mostly spending for the manufacturers.

I'd like to see a top GT class where each manufacturer has a basic car intended for pro-am racing with an option to upgrade it for all-pro classes. That would be somewhat similar to what BMW has done with the M6 in IMSA. That would also make the factory programs more sustainable, given the customer racing business in GT3.

If all GTE cars were based on a GT3 car, we might see more manufacturers in the GT fields of the WEC and IMSA as well as in Blancpain. Instead of fighting for manufacturers against each other, the sanctioning bodies should try to create regulations that allow participation across different series. The sanctioning bodies may have different goals for their classes but their needs are the same. In a sport like sportscar racing, incompatible class structures do more harm than good.

Separate Sebring races highlight need for aligned WEC and IMSA rules

Among the changes the ACO has announced for the FIA World Endurance Championship was a return to Sebring, Florida for a 12-hour race for the first time since the series' inaugural season in 2012. However, unlike in 2012 when it was a combined race with the American Le Mans Series, the 2019 race will be run separately from 12-hour race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the same weekend.

The American Le Mans Series featured LMP1, LMP2, and GTE from ACO's classes with the addition of the PC and GTC classes. That made it easy to include Sebring in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup schedule, the predecessor for the FIA WEC. All ILMC classes apart from GTE-Am had their counterparts in the ALMS class structure.

The classes remained the same from the ILMC to the FIA WEC for 2012, yet the class structure for Sebring was more complicated. LMP1, LMP2, and GTE-Pro were split to separate classes for the WEC and the ALMS teams, despite sharing common regulations.

2012 was the last race for the WEC at Sebring, though LMP1 machines returned for one more time in the 2013 ALMS race. In 2014 the ALMS merged with the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and LMP1 was dropped from the united series' class structure. WEC teams have still returned to Sebring from the LMP2 and GTE classes that remain in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship.

2019 will see the WEC and the LMP1 machines returning to Sebring. But the WEC and the IMSA series have grown too much apart to run alongside each other. WEC's LMP2 would fall into IMSA's P class and WEC's GTE-Pro would fall into IMSA's GTLM class, though there are some significant differences in the race procedures, like pit stops and caution periods, in the two organizations' rule books. And most importantly, IMSA's prototype teams could hardly race for the overall victories against WEC's LMP1 teams, so the two series will race separately.

I have mixed feelings about the WEC's return to Sebring. Back in the ALMS days when the Rolex 24 was for Daytona Prototypes in the Grand-Am series, Sebring was the second-most important race for Le Mans Prototypes, only behind Le Mans itself. As great as the re-unification was for American sportscar racing, Sebring lost the global top class prototypes. Sebring will get them back in 2019, though the separate races are only a poor compromise. When there are two races, which one will crown the overall winner?

The need for separate IMSA and WEC races showcases what I think is a big problem in sportscar racing, the conflicting regulations in different organizations. The competition between different organizations' series is already a bit destructive for the sportscar racing overall. Sebring and Daytona will probably never be as big as Le Mans is but a top class with limited international relevancy doesn't help either. Yet those two are bigger races than any WEC race outside Le Mans but the WEC's top class wouldn't be sustainable in IMSA competition.

The WEC needs all the classics of prototype racing. It needs Sebring and it would also need Daytona. And not as separate races for the WEC and IMSA but as combined races. The ACO needs to acknowledge IMSA controls the two biggest races after Le Mans, and the two organizations need to create a compatible class structure. Something that is affordable for privateers, what ACO is trying to achieve for LMP1, but not controlled by the balance of performance like DPi is. I wrote earlier about what I think the LMP1 class should be like.

I even go as far as suggesting the ACO and the SRO should align the GT regulations. While both GTE and GT3 are looking healthy at the moment, nobody benefits from the separation of such similar classes. GTE was initially the class for factory teams and GT3 for the privateers, yet there are factory teams in GT3 racing and privateer teams in GTE-Am. Who wouldn't like to see a Ford GT or a Corvette racing for the Spa 24 Hours overall victory, or a Mercedes-AMG GT3 or a McLaren for the Le Mans GTE-Pro victory? At the same time, the class must remain affordable for privateer teams.

Of course, aligning the classes isn't so easy because of all the ongoing projects. Privateers enter LMP1 assuming manufacturers can't enter the class with non-hybrid machines like DPis. Manufacturers have built their DPis for a BoP class so running them unrestricted wouldn't be fair. And a GT convergence wouldn't be fair for those manufacturers that have just launched a new car in either of the current classes.

I have some hope the WEC's return to one of IMSA's major events signifies the start of aligning the regulations of the two organizations. Yet March 2019 may come too soon to abandon the idea of the dual race in favor of a combined race at Sebring.