Writers, Photographers Give Their Thoughts on Upcoming Season
By John Oreovicz
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Thursday was Media Day for IMSA, where competitors from the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Michelin Pilot Challenge and VP Racing SportsCar Challenge gathered at Daytona International Speedway to meet the press. Dozens of journalists conducted hundreds of interviews and captured thousands of images and video that will be used to create content over the forthcoming days, weeks and months.
You’ll no doubt be seeing and hearing plenty from those participating teams and drivers across various media platforms. But we also used Media Day to canvass a selection of media members to ask what they are most looking forward to in the upcoming season of North American sports car racing. Here are their responses:
Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal – “IMSA has been exciting the last few years, but last year especially with the new prototypes. They came out of the box probably better than people thought they would, and they will have advanced even more this year. I love the GTD cars – I’ve always said they’re the closest thing we have to ‘stock cars’ on this track, and I love walking the midway seeing the various international makes hawking their wares. I just always look forward to the Rolex 24 because it’s different than the bread and butter of Daytona, and I enjoy that atmosphere.”
Calvin Fish, NBC Sports – “The quality of the entry list. Every year we think it’s outstanding, but it just keeps getting better and better. It seems like every team goes to work in the offseason trying to tweak their lineups a little bit more and gain more assets, whether it’s driver or crew. I think there will be more balance to the classes this year with LMP3 no longer with us. I wouldn’t say we ignored LMP2 in the past, but we probably didn’t give it a lot of love. This year we will, and I think it’s going to be sensational.”
Graham Goodwin, dailysportscar.com – “It’s a field of extremely high quality in every class. It’s one big race, but there are four races within that one big race, with four fantastic fields. GTP is again the big draw, but it’s a big step forward for GTD PRO this year, and Corvette vs. Mustang will boost the numbers. And whilst LMP3 has gone away, the great news is the vast majority of that field is still here somewhere, in GTD or LMP2, in some really quality entries.”
Jenna Fryer, Associated Press – “Much like NASCAR, IMSA opens with their biggest event of the year. The Rolex 24 is such a special, exciting race; it brings in a lot of the top talent in the world from multiple series. It’s very exciting to see how much manufacturer participation there is, how competitive it is and how much it means to everyone, whether it be the OEMs, the drivers or the teams. GTD and GTD PRO are absolutely stacked classes. A lot of the time, people focus their attention on the top class, but sometimes the best racing and fiercest battles are in the other classes. Everything in the series feels like it’s on the upswing, with a lot of growth.”
John Dagys, SportsCar365.com – “The most exciting thing about IMSA this year is the launch of some new GT3 machinery with the Ford Mustang GT3 and the Chevy Corvette Z06 GT3.R. It’s going to be really interesting to see how they stack up against the existing GT3 cars as well as the updated Aston Martin. The strength of the GTD PRO class in particular is really enticing. GTP is really strong as well, and it’s great to see further full-season growth. But while GTP was the focus last year, I think the GTD classes will be one of the focal points to look for in 2024.”
Shea Adam, IMSA Radio – “Sebring 2023 is what excites me about IMSA 2024. That race fills my soul with so much happiness every year, but the way the race concluded last year filled me with so much hope and excitement, so getting to go back for Sebring 2024 is just the icing on the cake.”
Richard S. James, Racer – “There’s a lot to be excited about. Certainly, Year 2 of GTP and everybody having their act together a little bit more, and I look forward to seeing what kind of close competition that brings. But I think the thing I’m most excited about would be GTD PRO. The growing field, the new cars; it’s always produced some good racing, but I think this year could be absolutely mega with all the new competition as well as the teams that have been there before who know how to perform.”
Rick Dole, Richard Dole Photography – “The most exciting thing in IMSA are all the manufacturers coming into GTP, and the financial commitment they are making to the series. They recognize the value that IMSA delivers compared to other opportunities they could pursue.”
R.J. O’Connell, dailysportscar.com – “Last year, you felt the buzz of a whole new era with the GTP class, and now we’re getting into the follow-up act. What can GTP offer this year? Will a revitalized GTD PRO with much more manufacturer involvement get back the peak days of GTLM? It’s so nice that there is growing interest, and fans want to get engaged and take in the entire experience.”