“Here we are at the birth of a new era, maybe the most significant era in the history of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship!” – Leigh Diffey
The Golden Age
This season, IMSA boasts the return to a “golden age of endurance sportscar racing” with the new highest category known as the GTP class, which stands for Grand Touring Prototype. This combines the newer LMDh and older DPi cars from 2017. The category has attracted new manufacturers, such as Lamborghini, who plan to enter in 2024. Many believe that it will create an ultra-competitive top-class in North American endurance racing. For now, it is all about the Acura teams.
The overall race and GTP class win were earned by the #60 Meyers Shank Racing team, who started from the pole position, ran a brilliant 24-hour race, and defended their 2022 victory. Their Acura ARX-06 endurance prototype was reliable as ever. The team executed a perfect strategy to ensure that they finished ahead of their sister car, the #10 Konica Minolta Acura team run by Wayne Taylor.
Star driver Tom Blomqvist qualified the #60 car on the pole position, so he lead the prototype field to the green flag. After a strong first stint, he passed the car over to the team’s new addition, Colin Braun. While Braun wasn’t with the team when they won the Rolex 24 in 2022. Despite that, “Colin just jumped in and he is all of a sudden dominating,” said teammate Hector Castroneves after the race.
Before the three-hour mark, Braun pulled off a dare-devil move to navigate traffic on the banking at “NASCAR 1”, when he got a powerful exit out of Turn 6 and closed the gap with the leading #01 Cadillac. Braun used all of his Nascar experience to squeeze between the barrier and the LMP3 car on the left. It’s possible that he made minimal contact with both.
Prudent Pit-Stop Strategy
The race was neutralized by several Full Course Yellow periods that allowed the team to gain an advantage with prudent pit-stop strategy adjustments. The Meyer Shank Racing team had 56 total minutes on pit road, while other teams in the class had fewer. Their clever pit strategy allowed the #60 to be at the front at the end of 24 hours.
Next in the car was veteran French IndyCar driver, Simon Pagenaud, and then Brazilian IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves, who both won the Rolex 24 in 2022. Castroneves had a major moment fighting for position in the sweeping left-hand braking zone at Turn 1. The car spun, but the veteran did well to keep it out of the wall. This incident did not drastically affect the #60 Acura’s race.
The #10 Konica Minolta Racing Acura was very racy as well, Ricky Taylor, Felipe Albuquerque, Louis Delétraz, and Brendan Hartley were in contention. They were not quick enough for the #60 that posted the fastest lap which was three-tenths of a second quicker.
Acura engines are proving to be mighty this season in the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship. Meyers Shank Racing successfully defended their Daytona title for another year, and the Konica Minolta car finished runner-up again. In GTD, the #66 and #93 Acura NSX GT3 cars finished P4 and P6 respectively in class. Also, there were no Acura retirements. As per the regulations, the winning drivers of the Rolex 24 are awarded a premium Rolex watch.
Rolex 24 Results
GTP – #60 Meyers Shank Racing Acura
LMP2 – #55 Proton Competition ORECA
LMP3 – #17 AWA Duqueine
GTD Pro – #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG
GTD – #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin
My name is Morgan Raynal, and I am a writer for Belly Up Racing and Belly Up Sports. You can find me on Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram.
