2024 Sportscar Thread (WEC, IMSA, NLS, GT World Challenge)

[FredericRobinson]

The 6 Hours of Watkins Glen starts at 4 BST this afternoon, now on YouTube as well as IMSA.tv

[df76]

FredericRobinson said:

The 6 Hours of Watkins Glen starts at 4 BST this afternoon, now on YouTube as well as IMSA.tv

Proper quick turn around for some teams and drivers this week. Really great track, and must be hard work with a mix of classes.

[MG CHRIS]

The lemans weather looks to have travelled over to america along with the safety car. Wouldnt want to be out there watching this atm.

[FredericRobinson]

Hopefully Spa 24 next weekend gets decent weather, the last 3 big endurance races haven’t had it good

[CLK-GTR]

Crazy all 4 classes were nose to tail at the chequered flag, even crazier the Corvette pitted from the lead on the final lap.

[freedman]

Iron Dames withdraw from Spa 24 after Sarah Bovys accident at Watkins Glen

[Geneve]

Do they not have a ‘reserve’ driver ?

[Discendo Discimus]

My brother-in-law is driving one of the new Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3s at Spa this weekend.
We can't make it unfortunately due to having a newborn but will be watching from home. Fingers crossed for good weather!

[freedman]

Geneve said:

Do they not have a ‘reserve’ driver ?

They restored Rahel Frey to the driving seat after Dorianne Pins accident earlier in the year, but she was still part of the team, just not driving

I'm not aware of how the team is funded, but Bovy is their (very quick) Bronze, so possibly brings the budget?

[freedman]

On another note

In the Watkins Glen Race, Richard Westbrook got a 5 minutes stop go penalty for hitting the RFID equipment at pit exit after his stop

Now, I know its a mistake and he shouldn't have hit it, but why on earth do you completely destroy someones race because they clipped a piece of equipment? (that did not endanger anyone)

I've see drivers overshoot their pit and clip mechanics in pit lane get less severe penalties

[CLK-GTR]

freedman said:

They restored Rahel Frey to the driving seat after Dorianne Pins accident earlier in the year, but she was still part of the team, just not driving

I'm not aware of how the team is funded, but Bovy is their (very quick) Bronze, so possibly brings the budget?

I think Bovy is the only Bronze on their roster. The rest are unrated. Though her status is under review so might be getting bumped up to Silver.

[VladD]

CLK-GTR said:

freedman said:

They restored Rahel Frey to the driving seat after Dorianne Pins accident earlier in the year, but she was still part of the team, just not driving

I'm not aware of how the team is funded, but Bovy is their (very quick) Bronze, so possibly brings the budget?

I think Bovy is the only Bronze on their roster. The rest are unrated. Though her status is under review so might be getting bumped up to Silver.

Frey and Gatting are gold rated and Pin is silver.

[CLK-GTR]

VladD said:

Frey and Gatting are gold rated and Pin is silver.

Aye but they need a Bronze in the 3rd seat.

They also need a Silver but they have two of those in Frey and Pin.

Edited by CLK-GTR on Tuesday 25th June 18:20

[732NM]

freedman said:

On another note

In the Watkins Glen Race, Richard Westbrook got a 5 minutes stop go penalty for hitting the RFID equipment at pit exit after his stop

Now, I know its a mistake and he shouldn't have hit it, but why on earth do you completely destroy someones race because they clipped a piece of equipment? (that did not endanger anyone)

I've see drivers overshoot their pit and clip mechanics in pit lane get less severe penalties

Because organisers don't like spending their own money replacing damaged equipment.

[FredericRobinson]

CLK-GTR said:

Aye but they need a Bronze in the 3rd seat.

They also need a Silver but they have two of those in Frey and Pin.

Edited by CLK-GTR on Tuesday 25th June 18:20

Presumably they could have changed class still at this point in time

[egomeister]

732NM said:

freedman said:

On another note

In the Watkins Glen Race, Richard Westbrook got a 5 minutes stop go penalty for hitting the RFID equipment at pit exit after his stop

Now, I know its a mistake and he shouldn't have hit it, but why on earth do you completely destroy someones race because they clipped a piece of equipment? (that did not endanger anyone)

I've see drivers overshoot their pit and clip mechanics in pit lane get less severe penalties

Because organisers don't like spending their own money replacing damaged equipment.

Plus its their main tool for enforcing tyre allocation regs

[CLK-GTR]

FredericRobinson said:

Presumably they could have changed class still at this point in time

Takes two weeks for an application to be approved so I guess they couldn't make the entry list cutoff.

Edited by CLK-GTR on Tuesday 25th June 22:08

[freedman]

732NM said:

Because organisers don't like spending their own money replacing damaged equipment.

So fine them then

A 5 minute penalty is bonkers

You only get a drive through for running people of track

[VladD]

freedman said:

732NM said:

Because organisers don't like spending their own money replacing damaged equipment.

So fine them then

A 5 minute penalty is bonkers

You only get a drive through for running people of track

Exactly. He's unlikely to make the same mistake again.

[freedman]

VladD said:

Exactly. He's unlikely to make the same mistake again.

Whilst that's probably true, hes unlikely to ever do it again even without the penalty, after all hes been racing for decades and I'm not aware hes done it before

The main gist of my point was the severity of the penalty

Only 10 days ago we had Robert Kubica deemed at fault (correctly) for putting Dries Vanthoor in the wall at LM

A crash at close to 180MPH which ended Vanthoor's race, fortunately with only minor injuries

Kubicas penalty. a 30 second stop go