Corvette Racing suffered reliability issues with their two GTD Pro class Corvette C8.R entries during this past weekend’s running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, while Cadillac Racing also came up short in the DPi class as Acura secured a dominant 1-2 result.
The No. 4 Corvette C8.R of Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and Marco Sorensen was the first of the two Vettes to experience trouble in the race. The No. 4 car, which appeared to be the strongest of the two Corvette Racing entries in the opening hours of the event, was hit from the rear as Sorensen attempted to avoid a wayward LMP3 car. The team lost nearly two and a half hours replacing the car’s lower diffuser, exhaust pipes and starter, among other components, and was forced to settle for tenth place in GTD Pro.
The No. 3 Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg, meanwhile, came home in sixth place in GTD Pro after the team lost 13 laps in the garage overnight dealing with an electrical issue that was believed to be related to the alternator. The team was also forced to serve a drive-through penalty after IMSA observed the team refuelling the car while a crew member was working underneath it.
Garcia said the team lacked pace throughout the event as it familiarized itself with the new GT3-spec Michelin control tire, but hopes to parlay its Daytona lessons into Sebring success come March.
“This was one of those races where you wanted it to be shorter,” Garcia bemused. “We learned a lot and there is still more for us to learn. We had 25 or 26 stints to learn this tire. So it was a proper first real test in race conditions. We were lacking pace both days.”
“There still was a lot to be gained,” he added. “If you add some extra testing and something else, then maybe we can be in the hunt. In the last stint, I could tell we were missing a tiny bit. If we were on the lead lap, it would have taken a tiny bit for us to be competitive. We’ll carry on to Sebring.”
GTD Pro was won by the No. 9 Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3, which made contact with the No. 2 KCMG Porsche 911 GT3 on the last lap as the two battled for the lead. The No.62 Risi Competitzione Ferrari 488 GT3 finished second, while the KCMG Porsche was third after losing track position due to the contact with the Pfaff car.
Acura secured a dominant 1-2 result in the DPi class, with the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing ARX-01 of Helio Castroneves, Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Simon Pagenaud finishing first overall and the No. 10 ARX-01 of Ricky Taylor, Alex Rossi, Felipe Albuquerque and Will Stevens taking second. Loic Duval brought the No. 5 JDC Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R home in third place with teammates Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook and Ben Keating.
The next race of the 2022 IMSA season will be the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring in March. Click here for complete results from the 60th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
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Comments
This is going to be a tough year for Corvette. The car was tuned and built for totally different rules and the new rules are all difficult implement.
The weight of 138 pounds had to be added. In GTLM they could put it any place. In GT3 they have to put it on the floor of the passenger side. Spec tires that the car was never designed to use and the Anti lock brakes are all playing games with the set up.
GM is only using this car this year to one learn and to buy time till Pratt and Miller has their dedicated GT3 car not only for the factory team but also customers. It should be ready by next Daytona Rolex.
Till then I expect that IMSA will use the BOP to keep the Corvette competitive in future races I know some complain about the BOP but Chevy has also taken advantage of it in the past and will need it this year. What goes around comes around.
Cadillac was hurt by the mileage. They were easily 3 lap short on each stint. This adds up and makes for a marked advantage. This will change at the shorter races but the long races this will come into play.
With Corvettes dominance over the years IMSA wanted to be sure Corvette didn’t run away from the GTD pro class and face backlash from GTD pro fans over Corvette using a modified GTLM spec car. The BOP adjustments effectively made the car uncompetitive.
IMSA racing in general has become somewhat tedious with five different classes and 61 competitors all trying not to crash into each other. Next year they should introduce school busses and impose penalties whenever someone passes a stopped bus with flashing red lights. The overall pace of the race would be about the same as this years 24 hours of Daytona.
All the cars need bigger screens!
The defective alternator will certainly have been caused by a defect in the vehicle’s electrical system.
The 2nd Corvette was badly damaged by a Crasg’h and that was the end of the 24 hour race.
But you should keep in mind that the Cadillac weren’t really capable of winning either.
You can clearly see that IMSA adjusted the BoP so that Acura and the old Porsche 911GT3-R could win.
If you consider that the Mercedes didn’t have a change either, the BoP classification says it all. The new BMW M4 were also fully slowed down with the BoP.
IMSA wanted an Acura in the DPi and Porsche should win in the GTD. Free sport is not that dear IMSA!
Therefore, everyone should read the BoP classification carefully and remember that wins are only possible with friendly BoP classification.
The two Porsches were so superior that this race has become worthless from a sporting point of view!
During the broadcast one of the commentators said that IMSA purposely overly compensated against the Corvettes. They did not want the Corvettes to be as dominate as they have been in the past. God forbid they should beat the Porches (😁).
Of course they did
Well the GTLM spec car would have cleaned house in the GTD Pro class. To be honest IMSA could have just said no and not let Chevy even run the car. But they want to keep Chevy in the game so they will let them run the car that was not designed for these rules.
There is no exact science to BOP so they may get it right at times and miss on others. There was no real in on the race here. This is going to be a year of learning and testing for the Corvette and other GTP Pro teams.
Keep in mind that BMW and Porsche already have experience in this class Chevy not so much.
Next year GM will have a car that is designed specific to the class and will be able to take advantage of this. The weigh issues on the passenger side is a killer when you use to be able to place it where it benefited the car in GTLM.
The biggest issue the Cadillac faced was the Acura got better MPG and to be honest they may have also been down on power too. I expect that Cadillac may hold an advantage at shorter races as their car handled better and MPG is not as important in sprint race. The Cadillac also handled better. This is why they would take the lead but the early pits cost them the advantage. We may see them dial back the Cadillac on power then they will have the same MPG.
The one thing the BOP is to all teams. They all think they are hurt by it. Even if they win.
One other thing to note. GTD class cars have a Pro and armature Driver. Well that is not always all that honest. Many of the Armature racers are as good as any pro. I was in a GTD hauler in the lounge area and the team just joked about how Armature they were.
I heard most Armature drivers are mostly used in EV racing. 😉
BoP was the decider here…talk about GTLM difference vs GTD Pro is a huge difference, but BoP does decide the outcome no matter how much you justify it here in this thread. The weight added was huge, the reduced fuel restrictor kept in the pitts longer, and the reduced air inlet restriction affects the straight aways. Given a rear wing + for better down force on long runs didn’t help. I watched a side by side race as the c8 coming on Nascar straight with a GTD Porsche, even coming out of the turn into the straight but eventually had to watch the GTD drive past the C8…and continued to gap the C8.
If you think that BoP was properly applied, well, that’s your opinion…
Yes, the Cadillac DPI was certainly a contender but BoP also played the outcome here… Restricted fuel flow for refueling played a huge roll. Yes, using more fuel and having to add more gas, but at a slower speed to refill was a huge factor as seen several times in the pits where the Cadillac left several seconds behind the Acura. As seen on straight aways, the Acura pulled ahead due to air inlet restriction and more weight added than the Acura weight that was added to it….
You know 1mph makes a huge difference in a 24 hr race.
Anyway, BoP does decide the outcome.
Two things: I hope that Cadillac doesn’t quit racing there is some real potential if they keep doing their homework. Second, I used to own Corvettes but as I learned, “Porsche, there is no substitute “.
There is no substitute for a porsche except whining to add weight to the Corvettes because they had their ass beat last year ! I would buy a Corvette over a Volkswagen porsche any day even if the Corvette wasn’t faster due to the fact that the porsche is so damn ugly and unreliable.
So you have owned a Porsche to know it’s unreliable?
Wow! I forgot how sensitive that Corvette owners are. The answer is yes the Porsche’s are totally unreliable except when they race: for some reason the Porsche’s alway win. Take my 2014 Porsche, besides the annual oil changes I had to replace the battery. The nerve of my Porsche costing me a new AGM battery in only seven years of ownership. My last Corvette needed a new transmission, naturallly just out of warranty. I have noted that while I change my Summer tires in the winter to all-season tires my car is on the road. I certainly don’t see any garage queen Corvettes running around in North East Ohio during winter. Finally, if it wasn’t for Porsche gm would never had given the world the C8. Competition brings out the best and gm needed to up their game.
There are so many awesome sports cars and race versions of those cars today … it’s great to have the option of all these cars to purchase or watch race.