Road Atlanta Thursday Notebook

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

***Drivers in contention for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP title posed for a group photo with the championship trophy on Thursday. Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun, who are the sixth pairing in with a mathematical chance of the championship, were not present, having opted to perform pit stop practice instead.

***AF Corse changed the rear third of Cetilar Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3 chassis after Antonio Fuoco’s accident in Practice 1. Ferrari designed the 296 GT3 to a modular layout that can be taken apart in three sections. A replacement rear section is due to arrive at Road Atlanta this evening.

***Cetilar team owner Roberto Lacorte told Sportscar365 that there was no mechanical reason for the accident, with Fuoco losing control after touching a damp patch. AF Corse, which runs the Cetilar Ferrari, changed the gearbox as a precaution but the engine was not damaged.

***Lacorte also confirmed that he, Fuoco and Giorgio Sernagiotto will return as Cetilar’s Michelin Endurance Cup crew in GTD next season. A fourth driver for Daytona will be announced soon.

***A total of 57 drivers will be required to take part in night practice in order to be qualified to drive during periods of darkness in the race. Click Here to view the list.

***IMSA President John Doonan held the sanctioning body’s annual ‘State of the Sport’ on Thursday afternoon, confirming key sponsorship extensions from WeatherTech, Michelin and VP Racing Fuels, naming Ken Fukuda as the third recipient of IMSA’s Diverse Driver Development Scholarship, as well as releasing the 2024 WeatherTech Championship entry list.

***Speaking with Sportscar365 after the event, Doonan confirmed they have “north of ten” cars on a reserve list for next year, which will be called upon if entry spaces open up. It’s understood most of those teams have limited or no previous history in IMSA-sanctioned series.

***Doonan said: “There’s a lot of new teams that just came in at the end of that, that are on the reserve list. You never know what could happen but we continue to communicate with all of them directly, let them know their status and we’ll see what happens in the coming weeks and months.”

***It’s understood that additional cars could be added for the Endurance Cup season, which currently stands at 53 entries for each of the five rounds with a maximum of 57 for the races at Watkins Glen International and Motul Petit Le Mans next year, with the Rolex 24 set to feature a 60-car grid.

***Doonan said that Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta will be expanded from a 54-car maximum capacity to 57 cars for next year. “In recent weeks, staff came up here to look at how we could expand pit lane to accept 57, which would match Watkins Glen,” he said. “We’re committed to doing that.”

***A Nov. 7 deadline has been established for teams to finalize their driver lineups for the Rolex 24, with the full entry list, featuring driver names and car models, to be published one week later on Nov. 14.

***The sanctioning body also confirmed Thursday the rollout of a new marshaling system from SBG for this weekend, which will run in parallel to IMSA’s existing system in race control prior to a planned full transition in 2024.

***IMSA has yet to decide if next year’s expanded six-hour race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will run into the darkness, which was originally suggested as a possibility. “A lot of it depends on television windows,” Doonan said. “We don’t know the final status there but we’re excited to go there for six hours. It could potentially be a Saturday race but we just don’t know yet.”

***The future of IMSA Radio remains unclear amid rumors of a shakeup in its streaming broadcast package for next year. Doonan told Sportscar365: “We’re committed to Radio Show Limited through the end of this year. More information to come.” When asked when an announcement could be made, he said: “We don’t know yet.”

***When asked for comment, RSL managing director Eve Hewitt confirmed that RSL’s co-production agreement for IMSA Radio is due to expire at the end of the year. “We’re continuing discussions with IMSA and NASCAR Productions about the future direction of the audio and streamed video elements in this changing broadcast landscape,” she said. “We have offered our continued services in the areas where we have been working with IMSA for the past nine years. We’ll share further news in due course.”

***Doonan said during the ‘State of the Sport’ address that IMSA is currently in discussions with NBC Sports for a possible TV contract extension beyond its current deal that is up at the end of next season. This year’s numbers have marked significant gains, particularly with Peacock, which is up 45 percent in viewership compared to 2022.

***IMSA’s introduction to renewable fuels for the GTP class with VP Racing Fuels’ R80 blend has resulted in a 26 percent reduction in carbon footprint, in a study performed by WM. The same study found an 18.8 percent decrease in carbon footprint on tires due to IMSA and Michelin’s introduction of reduced tire allocations.

***Both of Meyer Shank Racing’s season-long drivers are set to have full-time drives next year, with Tom Blomqvist off to the team’s NTT IndyCar Series program and Braun understood to have already signed with a WeatherTech Championship team for 2024.

***Parker Thompson, who has been Vasser Sullivan’s third driver in the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 this year, has been rumored to a possible full-time drive with the Lexus squad next year, which could possibly see the Silver-rated Canadian swap seats with Aaron Telitz. The team has yet to announce its 2024 driver lineup but it will continue with a Lexus in both GTD Pro and GTD.

***Ford doesn’t have any further customer team announcements to come “in the near term” according to Ford Performance Motorsports global director Mark Rushbrook.

***It remains unclear if the Ford Mustang GT3 will run with a customer team in the WeatherTech Championship next year. None appeared on IMSA’s full-season entry list. “There could be some customers that get their cars mid-season that may choose to race in GTD,” Rushbrook told Sportscar365. “But they wouldn’t be full-season entries.”

***Ford won’t integrate any of its NASCAR drivers into its GTD Pro lineups for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, according to Rushbrook who indicated that it would be too early in the program to do that. However, he confirmed that Ford will “for sure” look to its NASCAR and Australian Supercars rosters for added star power in the 2025 edition.

***Proton Competition ran the Ford Mustang GT3 during a recent test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya where Dinamic GT learned about the car. It was one of two test cars that are currently active. “We wanted them to start getting familiar with it,” said Rushbrook. “But their car is being built right now.”

***The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R is featured on the cover of the new Forza Motorsport video game from Microsoft, which was released on Tuesday. The car is also on the packaging of Doritos in selected areas of the U.S.

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report

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