Earlier this month the 42 cars from IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship completed four days of running at Daytona for the homologation test ahead of the 2024 season opener at the same venue next month.
The list of cars included the entire fleet of factory-supported GTP cars, including a Lamborghini SC63, plus cars from LMP2 and both GTD classes.
All 42 managed to complete plenty of mileage while the new Balance of Performance testing procedures took place, with several teams running to a pre-determined programme set out by IMSA. More on that can be found in Marshall Pruett’s excellent explainer piece over on RACER.com.
So what were the key headlines from this test?
Perhaps the most notable storyline came in GTP, where Lamborghini gave the SC63 its North American debut with Andrea Caldarelli, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyaat and Mirko Bortolotti behind the wheel.
The SC63, which will compete in four of the five Endurance Cup races in 2024 (starting with Sebring 12 Hours in March) proved both fast and reliable. It suffered no significant issues and completed 1,150 kilometres of running over two days of track action, with Caldarelli setting the fastest time on Day 1.
That test followed runs behind closed doors in Europe at Imola, Paul Ricard, Almería and Jerez for the Iron Lynx-run effort, which then headed to CoTA with the car for an additional two-day run this week.
“The Daytona test provided another opportunity to gather data and gain experience with the SC63 in preparation for the upcoming season, especially on a track of such significance in terms of development and Lamborghini Squadra Corse history,” said Giorgio Sanna, the head of Lamborghini Motorsport.
“There is still a lot of work to be done on the car ahead of its debut, but we are satisfied with the technical progress and the work of the Iron Lynx team and our factory drivers.”
Elsewhere in the class it was a significant run for WTRAndretti, which made its official debut as a two-car GTP team with its pair of Acura ARX-06s running alongside its GTD-class Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.
“It’s like a new team,” said Filipe Albuquerque, who returns for his fourth season with the team and will race alongside Ricky Taylor full time in the #10. “There are so many more people with two (GTP) cars. I don’t recognize most of them. It’s kind of crazy. Now we have like eight drivers on the team. It’s interesting because we have such a good bonding already on the first day.”
Jordan Taylor, who will race with Louis Deletraz for the full season in the sister car, also noted the change in atmosphere at the team on his return to WTR for the first time since 2019.
“Last time I was here, we had one car and maybe 20 people,” said Jordan Taylor, who drove for Corvette during his hiatus from the family team.
“Now it’s two cars in prototypes and one car in GTD. A million new faces, new people to work with and a lot of drivers on the team. A lot of people to get to know and learn from. It’s been a great transition back to prototypes.”
For Cadillac, which will be represented once again by two cars in GTP next season, it hopes it can get off to a fast start to the season at Daytona next year, a year on from the debut of both the V-Series.R and the current GTP class as a whole.
“We’ll be taking all the lessons from 24 hours of racing this year and apply to see what we can do to get ready for next year,” GM sports car racing programme manager Laura Wontrop Klauser said ahead of the 2024 season.
“One of the things that we’re excited about with our carryover programme for ’24 is we’re able to focus on the car and understanding it more as well as making sure we have all the support on the GM and Dallara side ready to help the teams be successful.
“One of the most challenging things this year has been the lack of time. We’ve been running race to race to race, and we’d occasionally slip in a test. Really, it was our race schedule in 2023 that kept us busy, which was phenomenal because you can’t have a better test than a race to see what you can do with the car.”
Elsewhere BMW and Porsche also took part and ran through their individual programmes with the Road before the Rolex 24 just weeks away.
In LMP2, it was a chance to get a glimpse of the expanded category, with seven cars taking part, including Sean Creech Motorsport’s new Ligier JS P217.
The team, which is adding welcome variety to the field next year as the only team not racing with ORECA, completed 290 laps over two days with Lance Willsey and João Barbosa taking turns behind the wheel. It was the team’s first run at Daytona, and followed private testing at Sebring.
“We knew it was going to be an uphill climb,” said four-time Rolex 24 winner Barbosa. “But we gained a lot of good information this week, the team did a great job, and the car ran a lot of laps – which is good, we were able to find some of the weak points in the car coming for the 24 hours, which was one of the main goals.
“We’re generating all our own data, unlike the ORECA teams that have years and years of data and experience on this track. We made some steps forward, and some steps back, but it’s part of learning what the car wants and what we’re trying to achieve.
“Lance was on pace right away and I was getting more comfortable with the car, so now we just keep working and trying to find a little more speed and get a balance where everybody is more comfortable for running a 24-hour race.”
The test was also an opportunity for the team to get a look at Filip Ugran and Jonny Edgar, who are new to Daytona and looking to compete in the race in the future.
Of the other teams that will compete in LMP2 next season, Riley, Richard Mille AF Corse, Inter Europol by PR1, Crowdstrike Racing by APR, TDS Racing and Tower Motorsports also made appearances.
The remaining teams were from the GTD ranks, which ran during the combined all-class runs on Day 2, then on the GTD-exclusive third and fourth days.
The GTD pace was set throughout by the #1 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 (according to RACER.com), but headlined by appearances of Ford, Corvette and Aston Martin’s new cars.
The Multimatic-run Mustang GT3s proved fast throughout and Corvette’s Pratt Miller Z06 GT3.Rs completed plenty of mileage though the #4 did have its plans disrupted by a fire.
RACER.com’s Richard James reported that it was caused by a refuelling rig issue. “Damage to the car was minimal, but did require a substantial amount of cleanup of fire bottle residue,” James wrote.
Nevertheless, it provided a taste of the Ford vs Corvette battle that fans around the world will undoubtedly be excited to follow all season long in 2024.
“The two iconic American sports cars, head-to-head,” said Ford’s Joey Hand to IMSA.com’s Jeff Olson, who will co-drive the #65 Mustang with Dirk Mueller.
“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.”
Of note, AWA’s new Corvettes were not present, though DSC understands that the Candian team will still run at Daytona this month at a separate test.
The single Heart of Racing Aston Martin EVO Vantage meanwhile, was driven by Roman De Angelis, Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas and Mario Farnbacher, the car appearing for the first time with no factory camouflage.
The focus for the majority of the field now shifts to the Roar and Rolex 24 proper in January, after the Christmas and New Year break.
Images courtesy of IMSA, Lamborghini & Pratt Miller
