As a huge Mazda fan this prototype program is just too much to watch. So much for team Joest turning things around. I feel for them. Wheel falling off at Daytona last year, cars expiring this year..catch fire today..a 4 cylinder turbo in the top class is asking a lot..ughh
bring back the 3 rotor
Last time I looked at a LeMans race it seemed like half the field were running Nissan engines. It'd get them closer to the finish. 
Had the 55 car not crashed mid race they would have been near the front today, but I do think they are pushing the envelope a little too hard with the 2.0 turbo against the Cadillacs. The battery fire on car 77 was a strange one.
No! We need competition lest the series turn into a spec Cadillac series. As it is, the combination of ACO idiots and ISC idiots seems destined to screw it up.
At least GTLM still rules.
Dave M said:No! We need competition lest the series turn into a spec Cadillac series. As it is, the combination of ACO idiots and ISC idiots seems destined to screw it up.
At least GTLM still rules.
Absolutely agree with you here. I was relieved by Scott Atherton's interview on RadioLeMans. He gets it, if only he could convince the other parties of interest.
They must continue. If everybody gave up when things were difficult we would never advance in anything. ( I agree with you though, it is painful to watch sometimes).
Dave M said:No! We need competition lest the series turn into a spec Cadillac series. As it is, the combination of ACO idiots and ISC idiots seems destined to screw it up.
At least GTLM still rules.
I think the whole prototype racing concept needs rethinking. The diesel rules from the ACO ruined it for many years. And while hybrids should get something, the fact that the rules have favored them has been doing the same thing.
And IMSA also does not seem to have the right formula, too- not many cars, and essentially dominated by one car.
Seeing so many GT cars that are eligible for Le Mans in June over two days makes one look forward to that race! And the racing was close for both the FIA and the IMSA race. That's working pretty darned well.
And it's cool to see the GTD class actually be bigger than the GTLM class for the iMSA race. THAT is a great class for IMSA.
It seems like as long as the rules will allow it idling a giant V8 through an endurance event is definitely the way to do it.
I was yelling at my TV with 15 minutes to go when that Turner car blew its suspension apart AGAIN and pulled off to the side (stupid BMW, stupid Ohlins), that ruined an exciting finish in GTLM with the GT hunting down the 911. To give them credit they did get them racing again quickly but with the top GTLM cars having to lap the top GTD cars (which are pretty quick) it denied us of some really great racing. I'm not bitter or anything lol
Adam
In reply to alfadriver :
Agree, which is why the idea of "supercar" prototype racing is exciting. LMP1 is dead, LMP2 show, DPI dominated by one class. The classes based on real cars are exciting, so why not do that for the top class as well?
Dave M said:The classes based on real cars are exciting, so why not do that for the top class as well?
The last time they tried that we got the GT1 cars, which quickly turned into stretching the intent of the rules. . I do agree that the current prototype regs are not the right ones.
The problem is that the first 2 races are a 24 and 12 hour length.
The Mazda prototype has the pace for a win in the coming sprint races. Towards the last half of the last season they had a couple of near wins, but there were pit and driver errors.
In reply to T.J. :
Rules are made to be broken! There is no good solution... it's just the way racing is.
In reply to Dave M :
I agree, and love the GT1 era cars.
Mazda needs to get away from the current engine supplier. They've been running a similar AER engine since the Dyson Mazda years and it's never proven to be a reliable mill. Joest has made the cars fast and there is no denying that. Spontaneous combustion of the AER and bad luck have curbed this teams ability to pull out a win. I'm not a Mazda guy by any stretch but they've been my favorite DPi team for a while so I'm really hoping they find a solution to their engine woes in the form of magical spinning doritos.
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