LMP2s Get Weight Increase for Laguna Seca

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

LMP2 cars have been given an increase in minimum weight ahead of next weekend’s Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, in the first-ever Balance of Performance adjustment for the ACO global-spec prototypes.

It comes on the heels of three consecutive overall wins by LMP2 machinery in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and returning to the site of the platform’s maiden win last year.

Released on Thursday, the latest BoP table confirms that the Oreca 07 Gibson  will run with 10 kg of additional weight and a three-liter reduction in fuel capacity.

All other LMP2 cars will have the same adjustments, but none are entered for the penultimate race of the season.

It brings the weight of the LMP2s up to 940 kg, with the cars having been crash-test certified at 950 kg.

The FIA and ACO’s licensing agreement with IMSA states that BoP changes can be made to the cars, but only if made to all LMP2 machinery, which had been established as the Prototype category’s performance baseline.

DPis, meanwhile, have been handed 2 liters of additional fuel capacity, while the Mazda RT24-P has been given a further 10 kg weight break for the Laguna round.

“Based on what we saw coming out of Road America and the previous two races, we thought it was time to make an adjustment to that platform, as well as a small adjustment to the DPi platform,” said IMSA technical chief Geoff Carter.

“We’ve always said we’ve balanced to the best example of P2. Now we’re changing that reference.”

Carter said there are no contractual obligations that had prevented IMSA from making a LMP2-wide BoP adjustment in the past.

“The only stipulation is that we don’t BoP between cars,” Carter said. “We’ve had this latitude the whole time.

“There’s always been an understanding with the ACO, specifically Thierry [Bouvet, ACO technical delegate], that LMP2 was the reference performance level. But we feel we’ve gotten to the point where this is a more common sense approach in balancing two platforms.”

Carter said the changes are unrelated to anything that could be in the pipeline for 2019, amid the previously announced class separation of DPi and LMP2 cars. 

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