Past-the-Mid-Season-Mid-Season GTP Recap: Best team, biggest storyline, biggest disappointment
What up! Motorsport Media Hub is back on their blogging game with a past-mid-season-mid-season review, starting first with the WeatherTech Series and the GTP class that has just three races remaining on the schedule. I know, sucks right.
In reviewing how things have gone for the GTP gang we're going to do our absolute best to not chalk the entire thing up to Balance of Performance and what those clowns are doing race-to-race in their adjustments and ratings procedures. In the grand scheme of the thing, I'm much more willing to put the teams, strengths of the car and talents of the drivers ahead of a few kilowatts of power when it comes to assessing who is performing the best or is most deserving of wins and podiums. Even then, IMSAs technical board and the FIA/ACO make it super difficult to do so, but again, we're going to do our best to separate the bologna from a black and white review for the categories below.
The GTP season has been of course largely dominated by Porsche Penske Motorsport with a recent sprinkling of the Meyer Shank Acura's rebounding to tighten the championship gap just a bit. Although things have been mainly a run-away for Porsche, there was a swap at the top of the championship standings between the No. 6 and the No. 7 following Watkins Glen. Let's get into it below:
Best Team - Porsche Penske Motorsport
Again - we're going to give this analysis without the lingering cloud that is the BOP process. Regardless of favorable power and weight numbers or not, the dual Porsche Penske Motorsport effort have dominated through the first six races this season, continuing their run of form from last year. It's not just great overall pace - the 963 simply performs real damn well at every track and in every condition. The team also gets the tire strategy right, they don't fumble their pit stops and they capitalize on other team's mistakes when they stumble about on track. The team went 1/2 in the Drivers' last season and are primed to do so again in 2025 unless they really start to run into trouble, such trouble like what the No. 7 saw when Nick Tandy crashed out of Watkins Glen coming out of Turn 1.
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| Porsche Penske Power |
Best Car/Drivers - No. 7 PPM, Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy
We can copy and paste a lot of what was written above, but a particular shoutout goes to Felipe Nasr who runs on straight Demon Time during every stint behind the wheel, highlighted by his amazing final run at the Rolex 24 against the sister car and ahead of the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura. Porsche and Penske took a gamble by shuffling their IMSA and WEC lineups, and in particular choosing to move on from the services of Dane Cameron after a championship-winning season. The changes haven't just paid off, they've been a runaway success. The two-handed punch of Nasr and Tandy is as formidable a duo as you'll see in sportscar racing, and although the crash out at the Glen was the first blemish in a long time, you have to figure the car is still the favorite to win the Drivers' title.
Biggest Surprise - BMWs Qualifying Pace
It's been a make-or-break season for the M Hybrid V8 - more on that in just a second. BMW and Team RLL (perhaps WAY more at the suggestion of BMW...) ran a mirrored approach as Porsche when they shuffled their prototype lineups in IMSA and the WEC. The result was the overloading of the No. 24 car by way of Dries Vanthoor and Marco Wittman as full-season drivers. Vanthoor came out the gates on fire with four-straight pole runs to begin the campaign, showing that the car has what it takes to compete with overall pace against the rest of the field. However none of those runs could be converted into wins, and overall the team has managed just two P3 finishes. Subsequent BOP adjustments have neutered the car slightly, leaving Team RLL and BMW to turn back to the data and development board to rediscover the pace that can challenge for P1 overall.
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| Great pace, no wins |
Biggest Disappointment - Wayne Taylor Racing and Cadillac
Again - keeping BOP out of the conversation - has it ever felt *right* in this first season back with the Cadillac's and Wayne Taylor? A recent turn of form with P2 and P3 finishes for the No. 10 and a P2 finish at the Glen for the No. 40 has turned some of the mojo around, but the early stages of the season were such a setback that the championship fight is essentially wrapped for the No. 40, while the #10 has an outside shot if things really break their way. (OK let's bring BOP into the conversation) The Cadillac has the ability to run at the front of the field and win races, is it simply all about a ballast break and a slight power increase to make the car a consistent force, or is it more about avoiding drive-throughs and tire deg in the final stages of things? Either way, the growing pains have been more present than I think most anyone would have anticipated, so naturally more time with the car should lead to better performances.
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| WTR and Cadillac are having a way better second half thus far |
Biggest Story - Team RLL Splitting From BMW
That inability to convert their qualifying pace into multiple victories is what forced BMWs hand to part ways with Team RLL at the end of this season. The possible split was first rumored a month or so ago, with paddock whispers detailing that the German marquee felt that a change was necessary to achieve the kind of results they believe are possible with the M Hybrid V8. Is it harsh? Possibly, but it's an illustration of just how much pressure are on the teams, drivers and manufacturers' to deliver in this new age of endurance/prototype racing. This isn't just taking the car to the track for a Sunday stroll; there are millions of dollars on the line and years and years of future R&D that will dictate how long these cars last as competitive machines in multiple series across the world. Of all the evidence BMW needed to convince themselves a new direction was needed, look no further than Long Beach when BMW locked out the front row yet totally boned the pit stop strategy, leaving Porsche to jump them in line and hold off for a 1/2 finish. There are two huge questions about the car leading into next season - who if anyone will overtake the project, and will they run a full-season slate or just the Endurance Cup rounds?
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| It's (nearly) the end of the line for RLL and BMW |
Best Newcomer - Heart of Racing Valkyrie
For those of us that have been lucky enough to see the Valkyrie run on track, hearing and seeing that thing speed around the pavement is nothing short of miraculous. All the real Ball Knowers out there knew that this season was always going to be about A) avoiding crippling retirements/issues and B) making slow, steady and measurable progress with each passing lap and race. The Valkyrie has passed both tests with flying colors thus far in it's maiden season, as the car has yet to suffer from a race retirement of any kind through five races. It's simply an amazing accomplishment, and we could care less if their best finish to date has been a pair of P8 finishes. As much as we all may have hoped against hope for it, competing for podiums or wins was going to be a real steep mountain to climb, although now that the car has logged enough data it's starting to get some BOP breaks. I think in the back of everyone's mind we had that fear of seeing the Valkyrie bite the dust right out the gate due to an engine failure here or a cooling issue there or any of the numerous issues that can submarine a highly-complicated endurance prototype, never mind one that is truly a one-of-one, non-hybrid NA V-12. Instead, the car has remained on track and is improving with each race. We'll take that all day long.
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| God's Prototype Machine |
Best Privateer Team - JDC-Miller Motorsports
This is more of a commentary on how we still have just the two GTP privateer teams with JDC and Proton Competition, and even then Proton only take part in the Endurance Cup rounds. Here's to hoping that the GTP grid can expand by even just a single privateer entry for 2026, but as the way things seem to be going the best hope would be another Porsche 963. BMW, Acura, and Cadillac haven't given any indication whatsoever that they'd be interested in handing the keys to their equipment to another privateer entry; then again another privateer team with enough cash and the infrastructure to handle it has to be present to step into that potential seat. The No. 85 has struggled to fight at the front of the pack and the car is currently bringing up the rear in the full-season GTP points standings. Either way, we absolutely need to support our privateer GTP entries and we're waiting for that first win and the next podium finish for the No. 85 or the No. 5.
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| Give some love to the Banana Boat |
Best Moment - RVDZ Divebomb Overtake On Ricky Taylor Late In Detroit
Renger van der Zande is a bad man, and the move he pulled out on Ricky Taylor LATE in the Detroit Grand Prix is the kind of stuff that makes IMSA racing so badass. The Honorable Mention for Best Moment is the last hour-plus of the Rolex 24 and the battle between the Porsche/Acura/BMW that took place, which if we're being honest was super gnarly in its own right; however we don't have an hour-long highlight clip to play so we're going with van der Zande's overtake.
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