Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA
***IMSA held its annual ‘State of the Sport’ address on Thursday afternoon, hosted by NBC Sports’ Leigh Diffey and featuring series president John Doonan, who outlined the 2025 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship entry list, the latest recipient of the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship, the continuation of the IMSA Esports Global Series and more.
***Also announced was a new IMSA-led STEM initiative sponsored by Gainbridge, which will bring STEM curriculum to high school students in selected IMSA race markets next year, as well as a new long-term partnership with Rolex, which has become the official timepiece of IMSA.
***AMR and GMR, the nation’s largest private provider of medical transportation service, meanwhile, will continue as the official safety team for IMSA.
***A 49th full season WeatherTech Championship entry, Doonan said, is expected to be announced shortly. “It’s being confirmed internally right now. We’re very excited,” he said.
***Doonan also confirmed key numbers in fan attendance, TV, streaming and social media metrics, reporting that ten of the 11 WeatherTech Championship events have seen record fan attendance this year.
***Its partnership with NBC Sports has seen a 37 percent growth in IMSA viewership since its first year in 2019, while there’s been a 60 percent increase in total hours streamed of IMSA coverage on Peacock.
***As previously announced, there will be an increase of coverage on network NBC next year, totaling 17 hours and five network windows, including dedicated pre-season and championship preview shows.
***IMSA’s recent YouTube initiative, meanwhile, has also produced impressive numbers, with a reach of 138 million users across 185 countries, with viewership up 74 percent for viewers under the age of 44.
***The ‘Win the Weekend’ docuseries, sponsored by Michelin, has totaled 10 million total episode views, averaging 1.5 million views per episode. Doonan said they’re “hoping to continue” the series into next year, pending discussions with Michelin.
***Doonan indicated that moving the recently expanded six-hour Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway into a night-time finish largely hinges on TV windows. He said: “It depends on television a lot and what our broadcast window is. I’m a fan of that Sebring and Petit Le Mans daylight-into-darkness. We’ll have to play it by ear and see what happens.”
***Hyundai Motorsport team principal Cyril Abiteboul is on-site this weekend, amid the Korean automaker’s recent commitment to top-level prototype racing with the Genesis brand that’s set to include a dual WeatherTech Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship effort beginning in 2026.
***Further details on the Genesis LMDh program have yet to be confirmed, including its choice of team for the GTP class. Sportscar365 believes that a championship-winning GT organization has emerged as a possible candidate alongside Chip Ganassi Racing and Bryan Herta Autosport.
***BMW M Team RLL driver Jesse Krohn revealed to Sportscar365 that he has been training for the high temperatures expected during Saturday’s race by utilizing a sauna in his home. The Finnish driver comes off the back of BMW’s maiden GTP victory, leading a 1-2 at the Battle of the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
***The BMW factory driver expects that the true running order for the race will not be revealed until Friday’s qualifying session, as the typically intense traffic at Road Atlanta makes a qualifying simulation during practice effectively impossible.
***Krohn said: “It’s almost useless because the way the tires peak, to nail the lap on that peak lap is going to be very difficult with the traffic. And there’s sections of the track where you can’t pass. You just have to accept that this is where you have to go in line and lose a couple seconds.”
***The No. 25 BMW, meanwhile, missed a portion of second practice due to a problem with the seat, according to a BMW spokesperson. The car eventually completed 38 laps with a best time of 1:11.837 set by Connor De Phillippi.
***The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 features a graphic paying tribute to the wife of team mechanic Chris Brook, who passed away in the weeks building up to the WeatherTech Championship finale. “Chris has been with me from the very beginning of my sports car career,” said Bryan Sellers, who said the weekend “carries a little bit of extra weight” for both the team and him personally. “[Chris] has been on almost all my programs from the very beginning, so you know it hits home for us a little bit.”
***Sellers added that the Georgia-based team “will do everything we can” to secure a strong result in GTD Pro, which will be Sellers’ last as he departs the team after a successful, nine-year tenure that included two GTD titles in 2018 and 2023.
***Several other cars, including the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, feature stickers paying tribute to Don McConnell. The longtime IMSA race official passed away recently.
***Ford Multimatic Motorsports has added glow-in-the-dark decals to the livery of its pair of Ford Mustang GT3s for the WeatherTech Championship finale, which will mark the end of the car’s first season in the series.
***The No. 01 Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R is running in its ‘Pink Cadillac’ livery this weekend that was first showcased during the WEC event at Circuit of The Americas as a show car to celebrate Pink Cadillac Day on Sept. 1. This weekend, Cadillac is leveraging the livery to promote GM’s partnership with the American Cancer Society, with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
***Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon will be introduced pre-race to the song “Pink Cadillac” by Bruce Springsteen. Each Petit Le Mans entrant has selected a pre-race song intro.
***Cadillac, meanwhile, will post an image on the Cadillac V-Series Instagram account and has asked fans to share the post to their story in October with the hashtag #WeDriveFor. GM will donate $5 for every share (up to $170,000) to the mission.
***Dixon, who spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon following the second practice session, indicated that Ganassi’s entire driver lineup are “sorted” for rides next year, stating that “some in IMSA and some in WEC.” Sportscar365 understands that Bourdais is set to join Hertz Team JOTA in the world championship, with van der Zande tipped to be with Meyer Shank Racing in GTP.
***Thursday’s action will wrap up with a 90-minute night practice session, running from 7:30 to 9 p.m. EDT.
Davey Euwema contributed to this report
