The Technical Committee of the IMSA SportsCar Championship penalized Ferrari and BMW following checks carried out at the end of the 24h of Daytona, the first race of the 2024 season which took place at the end of January.
Once all the technical checks carried out by the experts had been completed, it emerged that the 296 GT3 and the M4 GT3 went beyond the performance expected from what was established by the Balance of Performance based on the performance data declared and defined by the Manufacturers themselves.
“The IMSA Technical Committee and Supervisors have unanimously established that the performances demonstrated by Ferrari and BMW in the 24 Hours of Daytona exceeded the IMSA expectations shared by the GT Manufacturers' Technical Working Groups”we read in the bulletin published on Friday.
“The objective was to ensure that the demonstrated performance of the best example of each manufacturer's car model fell within a targeted performance window, enabling competitive equivalence.”
#1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3: Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen, Sheldon van der Linde
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Simply put, according to the IMSA authorities, the values they found on the models of the Maranello and Bavarian manufacturers do not seem to comply with what was declared to draw up the BoP, although the tender itself did not show sensational imbalances in favor of these two , as instead happened in 2023, when some brands were clearly penalized by the choices of the BoP itself (Ferrari itself, together with Lamborghini and Porsche, for example).
The decision taken confirmed the result obtained on the track, which for Ferrari means victory in the GTD PRO Class thanks to Risi Competizione and double podium in the GTD category with the 296 GT3s of AF Corse and Conquest Racing, and for BMW the podium in GTD PRO, but the cancellation of the points taken for the Constructors' rankings, as well as a fine of $25,000.
Specifically, the Prancing Horse loses 350 points in the GTD PRO ranking of the championship and 15 in the Endurance Cup, while in GTD it sees 320 points canceled in the championship and 14 in the Endurance Cup.
The deduction for BMW is equal to 300 points in the GTD PRO championship and 15 in the Endurance Cup, with 250 and 9 points lost respectively for the GTD rankings.
The punishment does not concern the drivers and teams, who therefore remain in the positions obtained at the end of the race.
The equally bad thing, however, is that – as specified at the bottom of the documents – “decisions made by IMSA regarding the BoP are final and not subject to protest or appeal”. This gives no way to carry out further checks and, above all, it puts the Manufacturer himself in a bad light without him being able to try to demonstrate his innocence.
Ferrari and BMW received the same published document without further exhaustive explanations, so it is clear that before issuing statements or replies there is a desire to investigate the reasons for these decisions, also to defend – rightly – their position.
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