We saw a lot happen in 2019 in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, and in the Prototype class, saw three manufacturers, three brands, share wins between them, with Acura, Mazda, and Cadillac. We saw intense battles, too in the GT classes between the likes of Porsche, Corvette, Ford, and BMW in GT Le Mans, and Audi, Porsche, Lexus, and Ferrari in GT Daytona. It can easily be said that some manufacturers probably showed more pace and there will be many arguments and lots of bench racing as far as the dreaded, but constant, Balance of Performance (BoP) that affects the world of sports car racing. In reality, though, there was a tie, in the Prototype class, between all of the major brands. Going into the Petit Le Mans, Cadillac, Acura, and Mazda, were tied with three victories apiece, not counting the two rounds of the championship at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut and Virginia International Raceway in Virginia, that were both exclusively rounds for the GT classes.
All three of these brands, being represented by championship winning teams that would go on to find success.
For Cadillac, Wayne Taylor/Konica Minolta Racing, and Action Express Racing. For Acura, Acura Team Penske. For Mazda, Mazda Team Joest, all three teams having the top level drivers, and major CV's in the world of sports car racing, having scored wins at some of the biggest events, and Penske having success in other forms of motorsport, still looking to break through in the big North American sports car races.
It just so happened, that Action Express Racing were the ones to break this tie, with a car that will now be the sole representative of their team, for the 2020 season, the #31 Whelen car, as they also won with the car at Sebring at the 12 Hours, and with the #5 car on the streets of Long Beach, California, at the opening event of the year. All season, in GT Le Mans, the battle was really down to two teams and two cars. It was a battle royal between the Porsche factory team with their flat six powered 911 RSR and the twin turbo V6 powered Ford GT from Chip Ganassi Racing, with BMW, as well as Corvette and Ferrari only getting an occasional look in, and the Corvette team, going without a win all season.
The battles really came down to the #67 Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe vs. the two factory Porsche 911 RSR's of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy, and Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor. Corvette probably wished they'd had more of a look in, and now, they will have their all new car, the mid-engine C8.R, debuting for 2020 which will bring them into the modern lexicon of GT racing with a mid engine sports car just like the Ferrari, the Ford, and the Porsche. Porsche has already debuted their next generation RSR in the FIA World Endurance Championship and it will make it's IMSA debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 58th renewal of that great event, this coming January.
GT Daytona saw a blend of winners, and an intense championship fight that ultimately went the way of the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 which earned the title merely by starting the Petit Le Mans yesterday, even though they did not finish the event. GRT Grasser Lamborghini came in and won the opening two endurance events, before their commitments to a different sports car racing championship, loomed. GTD wins were split among more brands. Porsche scoring two wins with Pfaff Motorsports, BMW scoring two wins with Turner Motorsports.
Lamborghini would go on to score another win with Paul Miller Racing, late in the season, at Laguna Seca, as Acura had one win in the third of the four enduros at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, and finally, Lexus and Mercedes also got on the top of the podium in GTD. Lexus, twice in succession at Mid Ohio on the natural terrain road course, and at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan on a street course, (one of the two street circuits IMSA races on along with Long Beach, in California, where GTLM cars and DPi cars were the participants), and Mercedes, would score GT Daytona glory, at the all GT event at Virginia International Raceway.
This shows the amazing amount of mechanical diversity and close competition that highlights what is arguably some of the best sports car racing on the planet, and there's a brief wrap up, a brief look at the season that was in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in 2019. What will IMSA's 51st season, and the start of their second half century look like? Join us to find out, right here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, when teams reconvene at Daytona International Speedway in January, first for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 at the beginning of the month, and then, at the end of the month, for the 58th renewal of the Rolex 24 itself.
If you haven't had enough IMSA racing, do not worry. There is the IMSA Michelin Sports Car Encore coming up at Sebring International Raceway, next month, which you will be able to see video highlights of, and, there should also be a December test at Daytona in preparation for season 51. For now, we bid you farewell. Looking ahead, more recaps and post-race news from Petit Le Mans, and there will be plenty more news, and race highlights from throughout the world of sports car racing right here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog.
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