It is an almost completely revolutionized Balance Of Performance that the leaders of the IMSA SportsCar Championship have published for the GT3s that will face the 24h of Daytona on January 27-28.
What should have been an obvious change last year never came, resulting in controversy over cars that were 'neutered' a priori. But if 2023 taught something in one sense or another, a very large shuffling of the cards instead took place for the 2024 edition of the Florida race.
And so, after the Roar Before the 24 tests and last Sunday's Qualifying, apparently the technicians of the American championship took into consideration all the parameters and data of the Manufacturers, applying substantial changes in the new table.
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
#17 AWA Corvette C8.R GTD: Anthony Mantella, Nico Varrone, Thomas Merrill, Charlie Eastwood
The only car that maintains the same values as last week is the Lexus with its 1370 kg, double 40mm restrictor and 7200rpm engine, plus wing at +5.3 and 107 liter tank.
All the other 10 manufacturers represented in the GTD PRO and GTD Classes undergo changes for better or worse, depending on your point of view and situations.
Certainly the 10 kg more that the Ferrari 296 GT3 will have to load, rising to 1365 kg, will not be appreciated in Maranello, as will the increase in incidence of the rear wing to +3.8 (+1.0) and the less liter in the tank, down to 104 l. The engine rpm remain the same, set at 8000rpm (with less thrust depending on the rpm, however, and average power of -4.0 kW) and the height from the ground at 50mm, i.e. equal to all the other cars in the group.
Those who gain the most weight are the Porsche 911-992, which after starting out as lighter on the track, lose 20 kg, rising to 1325 kg, maintaining a double 36mm diameter restrictor for a 9400rpm engine, with a rear wing that has a of +5.5 (-1.0) and tank enlarged to 95 l (+2 l).
The Lamborghini also takes 5 kg more, reaching 1355 kg, but keeping the rest the same, i.e. 109 l tank, wing at +3.8, single 50mm restrictor for 8500 rpm of the engine.
Finally, a +15 kg blow is given to the brand new Ford Mustangs, which have risen to 1330 kg, still fitting a 109 l tank, double 35mm restrictor (8250rpm) and a +6.8 wing.
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
#78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Misha Goikhberg, Loris Spinelli, Devlin Defrancesco, Sandy Mitchell
Moving on instead to those who are aware of the ballast, let's start first with the Mercedes, still the heaviest of the lot even though they have dropped by 15 kg, reaching 1375 kg. The AMG GT3 will then have a double 34.5mm restrictor (+1.0) and a 7700rpm engine, for an average power of 8.5kW more. The wing has less incidence with +1.5 (-1.0) and the tank is increased to 103 l (+3 l).
The Asto EVO will be around 1330 kg, 8000rpm, wing at +2.8 and tank now 113 liters (+2 l), still the largest in the category.
The debuting Corvette Z06 GT3.R maintains the 1335 kg weight, 50mm restrictor for 8000rpm of the engine; the tank is increased to 105 l (+2 l) and the wing incidence to +4.3 (+1.0).
The BMWs see no changes to the weight and with their 1310 kg they become the lightest on the track, even if the tank increases by 3 liters reaching 101. The wing at +2.4 and the 7250rpm are the same, but positive changes for the power at +9.1 kW on average.
To conclude, the Acura NSX still has 1320 kg despite a tank larger than a couple of liters (111 l), continuing with wing at +4.8 and 7500rpm, but increasing the average power by +7.1 kW, with increases depending on the rpm .
Photo by: Bob Meyer
Group photo on the grid at Daytona
However, there are no changes regarding the LMDh prototypes of the GTP Class, which will certainly not please the Acura, still the heaviest prototype in the category with a minimum weight set at 1072 kg, compared to the 1051 kg of the Porsche, the 1031 kg of the BMW and 1030 kg of the Cadillac, which remains the lightest of all despite the excellent times achieved in the Roar and the Pole with a double in Qualifying.
In the other parameters indicated, the ARX-06 has a maximum power of 520kW and 920MJ of energy available for each stint, while the internal combustion engine (ICE) unit will be able to go at 9512 rpm.
The 963 will have 519kW and 917MJ, with 8158rpm as the limit, while the M Hybrid V8s are at 514kW and 908MJ of energy, and ICE at 8000rpm. Finally, the 510kW of maximum power and 902MJ of energy have been assigned to the V-Series.R, whose ICE engine will reach a maximum of 8800rpm.
There are also parameters to observe for the LMP2 Class this year, as Sean Creech Motorsports lines up with the Ligier, while everyone else has the Oreca as their model.
Here too, no change compared to the Roar in the differences in aerodynamic configurations (with choices between high or low load) front and rear, indicated with the incidences allowed for the wings and the measurements of the profiles according to what is allowed among the available options.
IMSA – 24h of Daytona: BoP GTP
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