Hi IMSA fans!

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IMSA has released the final entry list for this year's Rolex 24. Although a late withdrawal has prevented the field from reaching max capacity, there are still many incredible teams that will be battling it out for the win this year!

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Back to Back Rolex 24 Champs Absent from the Rolex Grid

✍️ Marshall Pruett/RACER

🔗 Full Article 👉 https://racer.com/2024/01/17/shank-smarting-but-working-on-rolex-24-return/​

🏎️ Why it matters: A notable entry that won't be on the Rolex grid this year is Meyer Shank Racing. The team has a long history in the sport dating back to the Grand-Am days. Of course, some are quick to point at the tire pressure controversy from last year and them not being on the grid as a sort of karma for that. I see comments all the time from people calling them cheaters or just referring to Acura as a whole as cheaters and I think it's time to put it all to rest and look forward to a (hopeful) future return of Meyer Shank Racing. As I said, the team has been a fixture on the IMSA grid for years, through the ups and downs. This year it will be strange not seeing them on the grid in some sort of capacity but as the article points out, they seem very optimistic about a return to the grid in the near future (even going as far as keeping their IMSA staff employed for the upcoming year). I was as disappointed as anyone to hear about what MSR did at last year's Rolex but as fans, it's time to bury the hatchet (the cheater remarks) and look forward to an MSR return. Besides, their return could very well correspond with a new manufacturer entering the championship (I'm looking at you, Alpine) and I think we can all say that would be a very good thing!

A Beginners Guide to the Rolex 24 Off in the Esses ​ 🏎️ Why it matters: We're finally through with all the "What is" series of videos with today's release! I hope everyone enjoyed them and perhaps they even helped a friend or family member discover the sport! If you have ANY recommendations for how I could improve this next year, please let me know!

How Will IMSA’s New BoP Process Turn Out?

✍️ John Dagys/Sportscar365

🔗 Full Article 👉 https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/imsa-sets-roar-bop-2/​

🏎️ Why it matters: Wow, I’m going to talk about Meyer Shank Racing’s controversial 2023 Rolex win AND BoP in the same newsletter. I woke up this morning and chose violence! To be honest though, I am very excited to see how this BoP plays out! IMSA recently rolled out a new process to set the initial BoP in an attempt to avoid what happened at last year’s Rolex with multiple GT cars being off pace. Well, it’s time to see how that worked out! There are numerous changes which you can read about in more detail in the article, but the big ones I want to point out are the Acura ARX-06 and the Porsche 911 GT3R. The Acura gained 41kg for this year’s race compared to where they were last year. Certainly a huge increase, but the Acura still has the most available power, so we’ll see how this affects them over the course of the race. The other big change is with the Type 992 Porsche 911 GT3 R who loses 35 kg of weight and sees a 3mm larger air intake (equating to more power). Porsche was in a class of its own during the Rolex last year (albeit Ferrari and Lamborghini were also quite slow) but these changes should make them more competitive with the other GTD cars! IMSA changed their BoP process to become a bit more hands-on, time to see if that’s going to work out, especially with a few new cars for this year’s race!

The MX-5 Cup Welcomes Two Key Partners!

🔗 Full Article 👉 https://racer.com/2024/01/16/whelen-engineering-becomes-title-sponsor-for-mazda-mx-5-cup/​

🏎️ Why it matters: As much as I loved saying “Mazda Idemitsu MX-5 Cup,” those days are behind us. In what was a poorly kept secret (drivers and teams have been using the new name since Petit Le Mans), the series has a new title sponsor in Whelen Engineering! The Whelen MX-5 Cup will also feature a new supplier of wheels (Whelen/wheels see what I did there?) as Michelin will become the tire supplier! I’m a big fan of Michelin and all that they have done with IMSA in recent years, so I think this is a great decision for the series! Seeing Whelen come on board as well is great to see, as this series looks to be in a very good place for the coming seasons!

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Final Lap

I want to hear about what you want in this newsletter! Are there any big pieces of news you'd like to hear more about? Or maybe you have questions about something that happened in a recent race!

Hit reply and let me know!

Thanks,

Stu

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