IMSA’s GTD Battle – Tight, Tight Tight – Luckily There’s A Corkscrew Available!

Of the four classes in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship, GT Daytona has presented the most enticing championship battle of the year. With three teams firmly in the hunt for the title with just two races left to run in the season, it’s all still up for grabs in the class as the y arrive at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca for the penultimate round.

For much of the year, the GTD battle tilted between the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F GT3 and the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3. The second half of the season, though, saw the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 emerge into the battle and turn the fight into a three-horse race.

“The objectives for this week are pretty cut and dry. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Wright Motorsports’ Patrick Long said. Long, a native of California, brings decades of experience to the race this weekend. He mentioned the memories he had of his family camping at the track in the 1980s.

“It’s a place that has an atmosphere and an energy that is like nowhere else in California. My first days in race cars and in the Skippy were all there,” Long described.

That atmosphere will be dampened this weekend as no fans will be permitted to attend the race as part of California’s COVID-19 restrictions. Some fans, however, are allowed to camp at the recreational areas that surround the track, they will not be permitted in the paddock, though.

Laguna Seca is also the home track for Townsend Bell in the #12 AIM Vasser Sulivan Lexus RC-F GT3.

“This is homecoming week. I grew up on the Central Coast and Laguna Seca is always my favorite stop on the calendar. No better location for a racetrack that I know of than the Monterey Peninsula,” Bell said.

While the #12 Lexus sits in fourth in the standings, their sister-car, the #14 Lexus leads the fight by two points over the #16 Porsche. The #86 Acura is five-points behind the #14 Lexus. The teams this weekend will spend much of the early portion of the weekend figuring out the tyres. The GTD cars will be running a softer compound of tyres than was previously used.

Combine the softer tyre with the low grip nature of Laguna Seca and it makes for a fascinating challenge for teams.

“Laguna is going to be a super important race for us in the championship. It’s going to be challenging with the soft tyres on such a high degradation track,” Meyer Shank Racing’s Matt McMurry said.

How the Porsche, Acura, and Lexus treat those tyres will be an important part of the weekend. Patrick Long described how their Porsche has a tendency to be kinder on its tyres than other cars like the Lexus.

“Certain manufactures have a better outcome with one versus the other,” Long said of the different compounds. “The Porsche, being a bit lighter on horsepower and general weight versus the Lexus with a big front engine and massive horsepower,” Long added.

While the team’s and driver’s championship largely reflect each other, there is one notable difference. Aaron Telitz currently has the potential to win the driver’s championship on his own after his regular teammate, Jack Hawksworth, drove in the sister-car for the Rolex 24 and the first race at Road Atlanta.

That has left Telitz with a two-point gap on Hawksworth. Long and Ryan Hardwick in the #16 Porsche and McMurry and Mario Farnbacher in the #86 Acura all have points equal to their teammates.

“It’s anybody’s championship and we aren’t taking this for granted, we know that it’s one little split second that can change the title race, but we also want to try and get a victory under our belts in these last two [races],” Long said. He added that he considers the Sebring 12 Hours, the final race of the season, to be the toughest race of the year.

While Laguna Seca is certainly on the team’s mind right now, Sebring lurks in the distance. The rough and tough nature of Sebring could serve as a defining factor in the GTD championship. It’s a battle that will likely be decided under the cover of darkness in Central Florida, but for now, teams will need to get through Laguna Seca cleanly before thinking about the season finale.

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