By Marshall Pruett
IMSA’s Scot Elkins has a lot of work to do in order to create an equal opportunity for Prototype teams to win on the weekend of Jan. 24-25 during the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Thanks to the skewed outcome of the 2014 race – one where Corvette DPs locked out the podium and dominated the event – mentioning the upcoming Prototype BoP testing at the Roar Before the 24 delivered sharp responses from those I spoke with in the paddock.
Based on the volleys fired from both sides of the DP vs. P2 divide last year, and the BoP changes that will be finalized in a few weeks, it’s safe to say a Mason-Dixon Line of sorts continues to split the Prototype class.
“It’s called ‘Balance of Performance,’ and I think some people mistake it for ‘Balance of Results,'” said Gary Nelson, who led the Action Express Racing Corvette DP team to the overall win at the Rolex 24, and every title up for grabs in the Prototype category last season. “[IMSA] sent us an invitation to come race and when we sign that invitation it says we will follow their rules. We start there and we say, ‘OK, whatever the rules are we will try to get the most out of it.'”
Nelson’s simplified view of the situation fits a team like AXR that was on the advantaged side of the equation. Frankly, after DPs won nine out of 11 races, I’d be surprised if he, or any DP team owner, came out and said they deserved to be slowed down to give P2s a better shot at winning. If AXR spent 2014 with a P2, I’m guessing his outlook on getting the most out of the rules would be slightly revised.
One owner who switched camps is Michael Shank after trading in his Ford EcoBoost DP for Oak Racing’s Ligier-Honda. He’s gained a new appreciation for the plusses and minuses associated with each type of chassis, and will find out in the coming weeks whether his carbon fiber coupe can go 24 rounds with the DPs he loyally ran and promoted for a decade.
“I’m in an interesting position now because I’m on the P2 side of it,” he said with a chuckle. “If you go back to the Roar last year, we really felt – and you look at the segments and you look at the times – that the DPs were equal to each other, but then they obviously had a problem with the P2s. And when they adjusted the DPs down, they didn’t do it equally. They really penalized the Fords more compared to Chevy.
“Now having the option of looking in the rearview mirror, and seeing the P2 car up close in my own shop, I’m telling you, man, this is an unbelievable challenge that Elkins’ been charged with. Looking at all the BoP changes on the different cars, I get why their performances have been all over the map. The P2 is a thing of beauty, but the DP is a brute. Getting the balance right wasn’t easy before, and it isn’t necessarily easier now.”
Looking beyond BoP, Corvette DP team owner Wayne Taylor raises a point by asking whether the P2 teams that raced in 2014 (and are headed for the Rolex 24) maximized one crucial aspect of the performance matrix.
“The LMP2 guys can complain about being beaten, but the fact of the matter is if you look at the driver combinations and the way teams really ran the races, they could have won the championship as easily as we could,” said the South African, whose team placed second in the Prototype standings.
“I think in terms of BoP, [IMSA] did a fairly good job overall with what tools they had in their hands at the time. If you’ve got two good drivers against a team that’s got one and a half drivers, or whatever, that’s not going to favor the team without with the fastest or best drivers. That isn’t something IMSA can fix with BoP.”
Tequila Patron ESM co-owner Scott Sharp’s open-top P2s played the role of Rolex 24 punching bags last year, and while his team is one that Taylor is clearly referencing, it should be said that ESM’s Ryan Dalziel – regarded as one of the fastest prototype drivers in any series – looked like he was stuck in third gear at Daytona.
An ESM car filled with four Dalziels would not have won the Rolex 24, much less vied for a podium, but with promising new HPD ARX-04b coupes at his disposal, Sharp has put his faith in IMSA to ensure the team’s month-old P2s are on equal footing with the rest of the prototypes at Daytona.
“It’s going to be tough, for sure, because Daytona is such a different track from just about all the others we run on,” he said. “Obviously, it rewards high horsepower as you saw in last year’s race, and I know IMSA is trying to get all the new P2 cars to the wind tunnel prior to the race, but even then that info doesn’t necessarily equate to lap time. Certainly, you’re not getting a feel for the difference in horsepower between all the different engineering, manufacturers, and cars.”
Sharp likes the idea of a true “do whatever it takes” one-round BoP to make sure the Tudor Championship’s great endurance race is settled fairly at Daytona’s unique Roval.
“If you really want to make it a fair fight, they almost need to come out with a one-race type BoP, and make whatever changes are necessary at Daytona to actually balance the different prototypes, even though it’s probably not what everyone wants to do,” he admitted.|
“It’s the only real way you’re going to get a fair fight at that race. Even then, with all the new cars, it’s a tall order to get to the end of 24 hours with a brand-new car. Most of the P2 cars I think are pretty much up against the wall a little bit on the reliability side anyway, but make it a fair fight with the stuff you can control. If cars don’t last, that on the teams and manufacturers.”
Shank isn’t sure if a dedicated Rolex 24 BoP is needed, but says he’ll hold judgment until after the Roar.
“I am going to hold back my comments until after the test…after that I’ll open up a little bit,” he noted. “The reason being that looking at the numbers on where the Honda-Ligier was at the Petit Le Mans, it may be pretty close. There will still be some small tweaking to do just to get the cars to race better at certain tracks. I am cautiously optimistic that they can race together better now.”
Based on his comments about Pro-Am drivers being at a disadvantage, and looking beyond the Rolex 24, Taylor took the Prototype BoP conversation in a more philosophical direction.
“Nobody is ever going to be happy at the end of the day with the BoP,” he remarked. “Why not just have the best cars with the best drivers with the best team winning the race and give the other guys that want to be in the series with Pro-Am drivers their own Pro-Am points?
“Give them something to race for as well and let the Pros get on with it – no questions about why some teams are winning and some teams are not. It’s tough for a Pro-Am team against the Pros. There’s a lot of good drivers that just bring money and have to be in that Pro-Am position and they will always be at a disadvantage.”
Nelson closed our discussion by taking us back to where we started. If IMSA has success with its Prototype BoP for Daytona, we’ll be talking about the great racing that took place. If it’s a repeat of 2014, buckle in for six uneasy weeks of lobbying until the 12 Hours of Sebring.
“If you think about it, we’re racing for the same trophy as the DeltaWing,” Nelson surmised. “Again, somebody is going to stand on the top step of that podium, and the Balance of Performance rules should give everybody a shot at being able to get there.
“If you don’t get there, then you should look within and ask if there were any areas you could have improved to run better than you did. That’s the first place to look. Hopefully, when we’re at the end of the event, we’re discussing what a great Balance of Performance they had. I know one thing that won’t change: there’s only going to be one winner.”
