It has been confirmed recently by IMSA that they are to drop the LMP3 class from the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. For fans of the category, they must be wondering. Oh no! Why is this happening? Well, the Nissan V8 powered prototypes were initially introduced to the WeatherTech Championship to boost the grid sizes. As IMSA President John Doonan rightly points out, the LMP3 class is being eliminated because of the large amount of growth within the other classes that we are seeing in the IMSA paddock especially in the way of GTP, and the two GT Daytona classes for the GT3 cars. Never fear. Current LMP3 cars are eligible to compete in the sprint format of the IMSA VP Sports Car Challenge until the end of 2026.
Now, there are drawbacks and benefits to this. The drawbacks we shall look at, first. The Nissan V8 motors these cars use, they sound great. The competition in LMP3 is very close. But that being said, sometimes, the LMP3 cars have a propensity to get in the way of other contending competitors. As an example, at the 12 Hours of Sebring, before we won the race at Action Express, we had a run in with an LMP3. Pipo Derani in the Cadillac V Series R, could not avoid clouting a stopped LMP3 car on course that I don't even think knew he was there. I don't think the driver had any idea at all. Granted, our team came back and won that race which was a definite feather in our hat. In the same race, one of our chief rivals in GTP, one of the Porsche Penske Porsche 963's suffered the same fate of being damaged and needing repair after clobbering a slow moving LMP3 racer.
The driver was off in his own race, when suddenly... ker-runch! The GTP cars end up with bent carbon fiber and bodywork is all over the place. An extra class of identical cars driven by mostly gentleman and amateur drivers is bound to get in the way of the big name prototypes from the factory teams who are going for the overall victory and therefore, I believe the blokes in the LMP3 cars need their own championship. So, it stands to reason that they should be included either in VP Sports Car Challenge, or, perhaps, as a part of the grid for Michelin Pilot Challenge, where their performance levels with the V8 Nissan engines are going to be more comparable say to a GT4 car which obviously is relatively production based and does not have as much aerodynamic dependency as a GT3 or a GTP or LMP2 car.
Some may also question the feasibility of LMP2. To that I say, hold the phone. Let's not get carried away. When I attended the Rolex 24 in person in 2020 there was no LMP3 class in the WeatherTech Championship at the time and even thought the grid that year was very small at 38 cars, within what would be the final vestiges, the halfway mark of the Daytona Prototype International era, without the LMP3 cars, the racing was just fine, and the track was far less congested.
I am not advocating the elimination of the LMP3 class. Not at all. It works for the European Le Mans Series and the Asian Le Mans Series. However, I believe that it should be it's own class in a lower tier championship. Expand VP Challenge or include LMP3 in Michelin Pilot Challenge and see what happens. You might see some fine racing. It is just that for the endurance races in the WeatherTech Championship, the LMP3s become extra traffic that the driver's of the GTP cars will be very glad to do without because it makes their battling at the top of the shop much easier for them and more exciting for the fans.
A smart move, IMSA. Let the LMP3 boys race, but in their own races in VP Challenge or Michelin Pilot Challenge, and don't let them interfere with the competition in the big league. Sincerely, me.
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