IMSA Race TUSC Round 5: Detroit

[jasonjessica09]

The one thing to say about this race so far is that P/GTLM is clearly a better format race. Seems like having LMPC and/or GTD in the race just invites full course yellows in bunches.

[Rodger Davies]

it dose, but I'm not sure how many of these were actually needed. The first two didn't require any removal of stranded cars.

[BullMan]

TUSC officiating rears its stupid head again. We've lost 15 minutes because of officiating errors.

[tux]

This series.......

[BudLightJaguar]

Time for green again.

[Maelochs]

Poor Mazda getting swamped by GTDs ... Lost that Laguna magic Hmmm .... Mazda Laguna Seca? Chevrolet Sport Car Challenge... where's my tinfoil?

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Poor Mazda getting swamped by GTDs ... Lost that Laguna magic Hmmm .... Mazda Laguna Seca? Chevrolet Sport Car Challenge... where's my tinfoil?

Yeah, it looks a bit sad behind the GTD's.

[Maelochs]

BTW thanks for the video assistance.

[Rodger Davies]

You're kidding me, another break there? Hmm. Great racing when it's been racing, but some frustrations still.

[BudLightJaguar]

Lots of drama during the final lap.

[J Jay]

Well that was an eventful end! I think Taylor got a little lucky there, but he's shown it pays to keep pushing to the flag.

[Creep89]

What happened to the #45?

[blankfile]

What a final lap, barbosa really had that puncture coming the way he pushed taylor against the wall... and virtually the same move from yacaman last year gets heavily criticised by commentators and they let this go???

[Rodger Davies]

OK, will update that last opinion to give credit to the stewards for not calling some yellows they could have done, even though the first two they did seemed unnecessary. Great race in GTD and really interesting finish overall. Kudos TUSC, could do better but very credible nonetheless.

[BullMan]

P2s never even came close to being competitive in this one. A P2 finished 3rd after the DPs broke or crashed each other.

[nobster]

Originally Posted by blankfile

What a final lap, barbosa really had that puncture coming the way he pushed taylor against the wall... and virtually the same move from yacaman last year gets heavily criticised by commentators and they let this go???

Yeah what goes around comes around for Barbosa, his move was a bit over the edge, it could have worked but for that puncture it all ended bad for him.

[Louie Loper]

Keep those tires warm boys, got some action comin on the restart

[Maelochs]

Pretty physical racign throughout---Jorrdan Taylor and Michael Valiante bashed when Taylor took the lead, The brother Ricky about stuffed Barbosa into the wall; Barbosa retaliated but not much more forcefully than the earlier moves. All in all quite a bit of bashing---Rolex-style racing, if you will.

[Danathar]

Two observations:

• Nissan and Honda didn't have a snowballs chance in summer of winning unless DP cars had mechanical or driver brain issues.
  
• What in the heck is Mazda even racing for (in prototype)? If they wanted to experiment they could save a whole bunch of money and get more development time on a private track without actually racing. Minimum rule should be that if you are a prototype you should be FASTER than the next lower types of cars. They aren't even that, they are slower then just about ALL of the cars in any class.

[Danathar]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Pretty physical racign throughout---Jorrdan Taylor and Michael Valiante bashed when Taylor took the lead, The brother Ricky about stuffed Barbosa into the wall; Barbosa retaliated but not much more forcefully than the earlier moves. All in all quite a bit of bashing---Rolex-style racing, if you will.

Yea, this felt like a typical Grand Am race, the ACO cars were basically just token cars. They really didn't have any chance of winning due to the BoP.

If you were a P2 owner this race in terms of winning was a big waste of money.

P2 might do better at Watkins Glen with big sweeping high speed turns...or not. Hard to tell. Ground effects downforce with DP diffusers are much closer to P2 then I would of thought. Then again, DP owners did pay almost what? $250K to upgrade their cars?

[RWill2073]

Worst thing that could happen for p2s is sneaking in the podium there. Series can now justify no changes to bop based on that. They are so close to having it right, yet it has to be adjusted still to be legitimate. P2s stand no chance on some tracks, and that's absurd considering they were the superior car. Another 10-15 HP off dps as they did before Laguna sec a might be just enough to allow p2s a chance to actually pass dps on all tracks. Until they make some adjustment to make it a fair fight, the series is still a joke. If they fix it, (even though just a little testing last year could have already had them equal by this point), it could be a decent series.

[chernaudi]

DP upgrades took them from being $450,000 cars to nearly $700,000 cars. Both figures are above the ACO's price cap for LMP2 cars, which they have to stay at or below to avoid BOP penalties in the WEC and LMS.

[Maelochs]

That's the P2 owners' revenge---they may be a second slower but they are a third cheaper.

[chernaudi]

I can remember when NASCAR stock cars cost $100,000 a piece about a decade in a half ago. Now, they cost about $500,000 a piece at least.

Then again, in that same time, we went from the Audi R8 costing about $1.3 million for a turn key car and spares/support, to god knows that either generation of the Audi R18 costs...

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

That's the P2 owners' revenge---they may be a second slower but they are a third cheaper.

No real value if they play second fiddle. Operational costs overall are probably nearly the same.

If nobody remembers who finished in second (to coin the old phrase), I doubt anyone ultimately will remember who the economical performance victor is.

EDIT addition: are the DP's now all to the same spec? Diffusers, same brakes, etc.? Were the diffusers ultimately established as a standard configuration, based on the design one team created before the D24?