Michelin IMSA Insider: A Long Road Back to Daytona

There is great energy and excitement as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field gathers for this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. Missing is the stress found 12 months ago, when the IMSA GTP hybrid era began.

Last year, many sleepless nights in testing produced a clear underlying pre-race tension. Some teams were short on testing time. All faced significant development in fine-tuning as their new hybrid entries headed to the grid for the unknowns of a first race.

All Hybrid Hands-on Deck

Porsche Penske Motorsport had been the first GTP class car on track, becoming the trail blazer for discovering and addressing many of the hybrid system integration issues.

Cadillac reported hiring ten additional data engineers to help with adjusting the programming for the hybrid system as the calendar counted down to race week.

Acura drivers Tom Blomqvist and Simon Pagenaud spent endless hours working with the Honda-Acura team engineers and programmers to painstakingly review data.

Their goal was to precisely pinpoint the exact track position and related throttle, gearing, steering, and braking elements that prompted every momentary hybrid anomaly while addressing how to take on each change.

One manufacturer arrived at Daytona for the 2023 Rolex 24 never having completed a 24-hour test. Some media even speculated that an LMP2 entrant could be the overall Rolex 24 race winner.

Tires and Fuel, too

The new hybrids were not the only innovation.

In addition to the traditional race and set up preparations, teams were also dealing with a pair of new challenges. Michelin had introduced a new double-stint tire, which prompted a 30 percent reduction in race weekend tire allocations.

Meanwhile, IMSA supplier VP Fuels had introduced VP R80, an 80 percent renewable fuel.

While teams struggled to gain miles through 2022 testing, Michelin was anxious to gain sufficient data to finalize tire constructions and compounds in time to provide thousands of tires for Daytona and the mid-March Super Sebring double-header with IMSA and WEC.

Getting data was not always easy. “We had a three-day test with a GTP manufacturer where we ran a grand total of 30 laps,” said Hans Emmel, technical director, motorsports, Michelin North America.

The new VP R80 fuel also required testing and some adjustments by teams.

The combination of new hybrid-powered cars, tires and fuel presented significant challenges for the Acura, BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche GTP teams as IMSA claimed high ground in sustainability.

Equal to the Tasks

The quality and commitment of GTP teams and manufacturers proved equal to every new challenge, delivering an exciting 24-hour race, and making continuing strides throughout the season to deliver consistent performance and reliability.

A pair of customer Porsche 963 GTPs from JDC-Miller Motorsports and Proton Competition appeared mid-season, adding to the excitement and growing fan interest.

By all measures of performance, competition, race attendance, audience, and fan engagement, the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech season proved to be a resounding success.

Each GTP manufacturer claimed at least one win and the championship came down to the final race of the season, Motil Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

What’s New for 2024

Now, with tens of thousands of testing and race miles in the past 12 months, the GTP field returns to Daytona in a far better position to fully attack the 24 Hours of Daytona.

GTP entries will also have two Michelin tire compound options available at selected events, including Daytona, where the softer compound will be restricted to the cooler overnight hours.

Building on the success of its innovative Michelin GTP tires, which produced a more than 30 percent reduction in tire allocations in 2023, Michelin and IMSA have introduced the Michelin double-stint tire technology to the IMSA GT classes.

The GTD Pro and GTD classes will see an estimated 20 percent reduction in tire allocations over the 2024 season. The new Ford Mustang GT3 and Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R will see factory linked entries in the GTD Pro class and privateers, a first for Corvette, in GTD.

With a massive 36-car GT field featuring ten manufacturers in GTD Pro and an 11th in GTD, the stage is set for a sensational kick-off to the season.

IMSA’s approach to prototypes, GT manufacturers, and both pro and independent teams continues to capture the attention of motorsports fans and manufacturers worldwide. With an incredible field of cars, teams, drivers, and manufacturers, the 2024 Rolex 24 race week is here.

And that is the best pre-race tension of all.