The latest technological advances, with the rapidly emerging use of generative AI and DIL (Driver in the Loop Simulation), are helping blur the lines between the natural and virtual worlds and helping IMSA and our race teams get smarter at predicting how things might play out. In business, simulation tools have long been used to accelerate strategic change by exploring and modeling how scenarios might happen before they do.
Endurance sports car racing today is no different; modern-day computers, aka simulators, are helping manufacturers and their teams foresee the future in detail – teaching how to familiarize themselves with new environments, anticipate the events ahead, and where to look for adjustments that might create a competitive advantage—many parallels with corporate decision making.
This week, 22 entries across GTP, LMP2, LMP3, GTD-Pro, GTD, GS, and TCR classes convene at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) to participate in IMSA-sanctioned testing ahead of the WeatherTech Championships’ and Michelin Pilot Challenge’s return in Mid-September for the IMSA TireRack.com Battle of the Bricks.
Not since the championship’s inaugural season in 2014 has IMSA raced at IMS when Action Express Racing won with drivers João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi in their #5 Coyote Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP).
And this is why it’s the perfect time to invest time & effort in role-play or simulation; IMS is a new experience for most drivers expected to take to the grid on September 17th. Their preparation has begun well ahead of this on-track testing.
Philipp Eng, BMW M works driver representing BMW M Team RLL in IMSA; for example, he has been working hard on his simulator at home and at the factory in Munich. “Simulators and simulation are very important parts of race preparation”, he shared. “Initially to find braking points, turn-in points, and even bumps on track and how curbs behave, moving into how to correlate with different car set-ups.”
I’m excited to see IMSA and our brand of endurance sports car racing back at the Brickyard. A fitting time and place to continue the momentum with our new top category of prototypes alongside our always exciting GT and Touring Car racing.
Equally special, we welcome our IMSA fans to camp on the in-field at Indy; access which is unavailable during any other race weekend there.
See you at the track-
John