Doonan: IMSA Committed to Long-Term Convergence

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

IMSA President John Doonan has reaffirmed the sanctioning body’s long-term commitment to top-class prototype convergence with the ACO and FIA, although expects “evolutionary updates” to the regulations during the recently confirmed extension period.

The ACO and FIA announced earlier this month at Le Mans that the Hypercar class regulations in the FIA World Endurance Championship would be extended through the end of the 2032 season.

While Doonan indicated at the time there could be future tweaks to the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP regulations, he has since clarified to Sportscar365 that any changes would come in lock-step with the FIA and ACO.

The ACO and IMSA recently announced an extension of its ‘strategic alliance’ through 2032.

“The intent, as Pierre [Fillon, ACO President] announced [at Le Mans]… His words were to extending the Hypercar regulations to 2032,” Doonan said in an exclusive interview.

“What does that mean? I don’t know yet.

“None of us know exactly what the parameters are. But I think the crystal clear intention is that we continue to have convergence.

“We need to sit down with the OEMs, with the technical leads from all three entities, ACO, IMSA and FIA, and also with the suppliers, with Michelin, Bosch, Fortescue Zero, Xtrac, to talk about what that means.

“The bottom line is that we want convergence, they want convergence. There just needs to be a lot of discussions about what that means.

“You’ve got a total of 13 [manufacturers] announced, or competing. Ford, McLaren and Genesis are yet to come but are announced. You don’t want to do anything to dismantle what is here today.

“You don’t want to make some major change in the regulations such that any of those existing cars, whether they’re built to the LMDh technical regulations or LMH regulations, to have them have to do some major, revolutionary update.

“Evolutionary updates? I think so. It could be styling on the bodywork that’s allowed to be changed because a brand has a new design theme.

“You could also decide to change from a V8 to V6 [engine] or a V6 to a V8, or even a four-cylinder.

“I think what we need to do, and what we will do, is get everyone in a room, talk about what the definitions of that extension are to make sure we protect the investments that are here today, evolve as a sport and make that decision and announcement before the end of the calendar year, or at the very latest before the Rolex 24 in January.”

When asked if any such evolutionary changes would start from 2030, Doonan indicated that it could come sooner, depending on how discussions go.

“There could be opportunities prior to 2029, if someone, based on how they’ve used their Evo [jokers],” he said.

“Just as an example, name any of the brands, if you wanted to do an Evo or have a set of Evos available to you and you end up wanting to do something new, the hope would be to get enough of this defined by the end of this calendar year that you can do that before 2029.

“Conceivably, someone could come with a new car before 2029. But my fear is that I don’t want to get too detailed because nothing’s been decided.

“The intent… between Pierre Fillon, Richard Mille, myself and all of our board members and technical folks is to find a way forward and continue to bring things as close together as we can in convergence and in performance.

“For the OEMs, for the race fans, for all the partners, the goal is to extend what we have today until 2032.”

Several current top-class manufacturers, including Porsche and BMW, have been pushing for a single, LMDh-based platform in the future, which Doonan admitted as a “possibility.”

He added: “With respect to anybody that’s invested to be here today, whatever decisions you make, I don’t think you want to cut anybody’s program off.

“We need to get in a room, have a proper adult discussion about everything and decide and define what that means going forward.”

Doonan “Super Proud” of LMDh’s Global Success

With nine of the 13 Hypercar/GTP manufacturers either currently competing or soon to be launching cars built to the LMDh technical regulations, Doonan said he’s particularly proud of that platform’s success, in what was initially conceived by IMSA.

“Credit to Simon Hodgson, Matt Kurdock and Bill Pearson,” he said. “They wrote the regs.

“I had the special opportunity to be on the other side of the table in the beginning of that (as Mazda Motorsports director), came here (to IMSA), and in the end it was what was going to be DPi 2.0.

“It ended up being something that I think globally we felt like had the opportunity to attract OEMs because it was based around a cost effective model.

“It allowed the freedoms of styling and engine choice. It allowed a platform to compete in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and in the WEC and Le Mans and all those things.

“I’m super proud of the fact that out of those 13 [manufacturers], nine of them are from that camp.

“I think we as a group need to continue to focus on keeping the costs in check for everybody because we don’t want to see this moment in history end.

“We’re going to take very good care of it and making sure that it continues to flourish.”

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