IMSA knew it was going to have a car count problem, the good kind — more cars than tracks, pit lanes and paddocks could accommodate in 2024. That was one of the factors that led to the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship jettisoning the LMP3 class. However, the series could have more cars in 2024, not less.
“It’s early days right now, but our forecasts are indicating that there would not be a decrease; quite the opposite,” IMSA President and CEO John Doonan said. “So we may end up in a similar manner as we were at Daytona with waiting lists, in a similar manner that we’re actually in right now for Petit Le Mans. Or in a situation like we were at Watkins Glen where we used every single pit stall possible. Given the forecast, given the conversations we’re having with all of our race team stakeholders, I think the fans are going to be in for a real treat in ’24 with strong car counts.”
Most of the LMP3 teams are looking for ways to stay in the WeatherTech Championship. Riley Motorsports is going to switch to LMP2 for Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga. Sean Creech Motorsports and JR III Racing are working to stay in the series for 2024, and Andretti Autosport raced an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca that, in addition to a few GTD races this season, will take Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves to the category full time next season.
“We started off as a GT4 team in SRO, and I think that that’s kind of where where the future for us will be,” Andretti told RACER of the decision to go to GTD instead of LMP2. “You see the growth over in Europe and the convergence — GT3 cars being able to go to Le Mans and race, you can race in WEC and ELMS and stuff like that. I think that that it’s really a golden era for GT cars — really sports car racing in general, but GT cars specifically with the convergence. I think that makes a lot of sense for us to go in that direction. We were able to broker a great partnership with Aston Martin, and we have a car owner that that had an Aston Martin and has participated in our program and is allowing us to use his car, so that helps a lot as well. So there’s a couple of different pieces that kind of fell into line for us to really make it beneficial.”
AWA Racing currently runs a pair of Duqueine LMP3s in the WeatherTech Championship, Orey Fidani and Matthew Bell teamed up in the No. 13 and Anthony Mantella with Wayne Boyd in the No. 17. Team owner Andrew Wojteczko plans to bring two new cars to GTD next season.
“I think there’s a better long-term path in GTD,” Wojteczko explained. “We’re starting with a newly homologated car, that’s going to have a good lifespan, with a very well respected manufacturer. And when the opportunity came up to work with them, that was something that I didn’t want to pass up. Those are the the big factors behind that. And I think the car counts that are there is going to be make for some very exciting racing. And an opportunity for the [Trueman-Akin Award winner] to go to Le Mans in ’25 is also very exciting. So all things that we are interested in and working towards and on the list.”
Six teams are competing most of the season in LMP3 this year; already four are committed to programs in different classes for 2024, and the other two are working on it. Not only does that equal the same number of cars at most races, it means more cars where LMP3 hasn’t been present, such as at Laguna Seca and the GT-only races at Lime Rock Park and Virginia International Raceway. But that’s only the beginning.
Consider that the number of Corvettes in GTD PRO will increase by one next year and there will be two new Ford Mustang GT3s in GTD PRO. Several existing teams have expressed a desire to expand, such as Kellymoss with Riley talking about adding a GTD PRO program. Inception Racing’s Bas Leinders would like to have a second McLaren 720S Evo on the grid next season alongside Brendan Iribe’s effort that won the Michelin Endurance Cup in 2022 and finished second at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park last weekend.
“We very much would like to be on the grid [in WEC]. But in IMSA, we definitely will be, hopefully with Brendan, but also run a second car,” Leinders told RACER. “I think we’ve shown and proven that we have a car that can win the championship, and we could get one or two wins under the belt by the end of the season that will just reaffirm that. So we would like to have a second car.”
The LMP2 grid in the WeatherTech Championship is also poised for growth, thanks in large part to the FIA World Endurance Championship eliminating the category for 2024. Several teams are going to be looking to North America with their ORECA LMP2 07s, just as United Autosports has already committed to bringing their two cars to the WeatherTech Championship.
“This change provides an exciting new challenge for our team; we have raced in IMSA before but never for a full season and we have always had ambitions to take on and win in the IMSA series,” said United Autosports CEO Richard Dean, who says the team he co-owns with Zak Brown will set up a new base in the U.S. “The racing in IMSA is as pure as it gets — the drivers love it, the fans love it and we will do everything we can to rise to the challenge.”
And on top of new GTDs and LMP2s, a couple more GTP cars is quite likely next season should Proton commit its Porsche 963 for the season and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport expanding to two Acura ARX-06s for 2024. Plus Lamborghini – and perhaps other manufacturers currently competing in WEC Hypercar – will be campaigning the Michelin Endurance Cup next season. More cars is ultimately good for the series and its fans, but it brings its own set of problems.
The Rolex 24 At Daytona hit its entry cap this year, and Petit Le Mans is oversold as well. For most tracks, the issue is the length of pit lane; Mid-Ohio had the shortest pit lane on the schedule, but with that track no longer part of the series, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca now holds that distinction, with room for 42 cars. There were 38 entries this year without LMP3, and six more cars for next year’s race is easy to compute unless a class is dropped for that track.
Then there’s Long Beach, where the current paddock space simply doesn’t allow for more than about 28 cars. Should that race remain on the schedule, it may return to being a two-class race with GTP and GTD PRO, just as in years past it was GTP and GTLM. There’s going to have to be some creativity to make everything work next season if all the new entries come to fruition.
“Daytona at 61 the last few years has been very tight in pit lane and put a lot of challenge on the infrastructure for everybody,” said Doonan. “We don’t want in any way to diminish the experience that people have with us based on having too many. But I’m happy for our sport, because I think we’re at a really sweet momentum swing right now.”