Joint IMSA-SRO Daytona BoP Test Canceled

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

IMSA and SRO have canceled its planned joint Balance of Performance test for GT3 machinery at Daytona International Speedway, citing “substantial unplanned costs” after “considerable dialogue” with manufacturers.

Originally scheduled for Dec. 12-13, on the back of a two-day IMSA-sanctioned test for all WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams, the BoP test was set to run to the same protocol as SRO Motorsports Group’s annual BoP test at Paul Ricard, with dedicated test drivers sampling each GT3 car.

However, a number of GT3 manufacturers were understood to have been against the mandatory test for each model, as it would have added unplanned end-of-year costs to provide cars, team operations, logistics and other added resources.

The joint test was announced by SRO founder and CEO Stephane Ratel during the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa in June and IMSA President John Doonan told Sportscar365 that it was set to run to IMSA GTD Pro/GTD car specifications.

“IMSA and SRO remain committed to our technical collaboration through shared data and expertise to support Balance of Performance for the GT3 category,” the joint statement read.

“Both organizations will continue working together on viable opportunities to refine and improve our respective BoP processes with the goal of providing a fair and equitable platform for all manufacturers and competitors and close competition for race fans all over the world to enjoy.”

The front-end of the test, set to run on Dec. 10-11, will remain unchanged, which will be open to all WeatherTech Championship teams, but not being mandatory.

Speaking with Sportscar365 during last weekend’s Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ratel said that SRO was simply a “provider” that was “contracted” for a service.

“I personally think, knowing BoP, when you have your most important race of the year, which is the first race of the season with new cars and new evolution, common sense is that you should have a BoP test,” Ratel told Sportscar365.

“My understanding of Balance of Performance is that it’s very, very difficult to have cars you don”t know in your first race of the year.

“We’ve been doing this BoP test [at Paul Ricard] for many, many years. We have a process, we have drivers that knows the cars very well and engineers that know the cars.

“We have Claude [Surmont, SRO technical director] that understands the whole thing and we believe in the process.

“IMSA believed this process could help them for Daytona.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John