IMSA State of the Sport 2022: 5 Things to Watch For

It’s almost time for the annual IMSA State of the Sport given by IMSA President John Doonan. Typically this update will provide next year’s schedule, changes to classes, rules, etc. along with an update on the health of IMSA and the series it sanctions. Ahead of this year’s update, scheduled for the weekend of the IMSA Fastlane SportsCar weekend at Road America, let’s take a look into some of the things that John Doonan might discuss in that update.

1: GTP

The GTP (also known as LMDh, LMH, Hypercar, DPi 2.0) field for 2023 is looking strong with entries from Porsche, Cadillac, Acura and BMW starting to turn shakedown laps around tracks. Porsche seems to be the furthest along with their 963 development and should have four entires on the IMSA grid: two factory entries run by Team Penske, and up to two customer cars, one being confirmed as JDC Miller Motorsports. Cadillac has also tested their yet to be named LMDh with entires confirmed from Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express. Acura’s Oreca-based ARX-06 entry, the successor to the current ARX-05, has also turned testing laps and is expected to be run in the 2023 IMSA season by Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing, each with one car per team. Finally the Dallara-based BMW entry, the creatively named BMW M Hybrid V8, has stuck its nose out of the garage for some testing and will be run in IMSA for 2023 by BMW Team RLL and is expected to also run in WEC in 2024 by a yet to be named team. All in all, GTP is looking like it should be a success for the 2023 IMSA season with multiple cars from four different manufacturers making up the top class.

2: GTD Grid Sizes

Less positive and slightly concerning are the GTD field sizes we’re seeing recently. GTD (and I’m including Pro here) grid sizes are down to 15 or 16 cars, down from almost 20 earlier in the season. While this is less noticeable when you have a healthy field of prototypes and the small field at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park can be excused by teams opting out due to Canada’s COVID restrictions, GTD only events like Lime Rock a few weeks ago and VIR next month are very obvious. With 15 cars taking the green, and immediately dropping to 14 due to mechanical failures, Lime Rock was shaping up to be an uneventful race, until a full course yellow packed the field back up with a handful of minutes remaining. I’m curious to see what happens to the GTD only events if these grid sizes remain small. Also part of the fun and beauty of top-level IMSA racing is the multi-class aspect which is lost in a field of only GT3 cars, red and green class stickers not withstanding.

3: New LMP3/GT4 Series in 2023

Right around Watkins Glen this year, IMSA announced a new series would be replacing the existing LMP3-only Prototype Challenge series in 2023: the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. This series will be campaigned by single driver LMP3 and GT4 cars in 45 minute sprint races. I’m certainly a fan of the idea, especially if LMP3 continues on as a class in the top-level series. More experience racing in multi-class settings is a good thing for the drivers of the LMP3 machines, as we’ve seen what that inexperience can lead to at times. The biggest concern here is the impact this will have on the grid sizes for the GS class in Michelin Pilot Cup. The MPC races have been fantastic this year and for some weekends been better than even the WeatherTech Series races. I’d hate for this new series to cannibalize teams from an already solid championship.

4: Schedule Changes

The rumors of major changes to the IMSA schedule for 2023 are hot and heavy at the time of this writing. The buzz around the paddock is that Mid-Ohio is going away and being replaced with at September date at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The rumor mill has this being a traditional 2 hour and 40 minute affair in 2023 and expanding to an enduro in 2024. Possibly more to come tomorrow as there’s an announcement scheduled for 11AM ET at IMS that’s believed to be the formal announcement of this.

5: Chicago Street Race

A few weeks ago it was announced that NASCAR would be leaving Road America on the 4th of July weekend and heading down to Chicago for a street race in 2023, on a track designed by and available in iRacing. This wasn’t a surprise as this track has been available in iRacing for at least a year and while controversial to many, has generated a lot of buzz. What IS surprising about this announcement is that joining the NASCAR Cup Series in the Windy City is an IMSA-sanctioned race. Speculation from many seems to suggest that means Porsche Carrera Cup, but nothing official has been announced. Personally, I’m holding out hope that it will be Idemitsu MazdaMX-5 Cup: the thought of a giant field of MX-5s beating and banging their way through a tight screen circuit makes me giddy, but we’ll see what happens.