,
The Nissans looked like they were about to oversteer as they entered 10, then they would settle at the apex and zip towards 11.
Right from the get go, the TUSC race began with excitement and offerings to the racing gods. And one of the best places to watch these offerings is the berm on the north side of turns 7-10. All of the classes are very well matched, and they all leave turn 6 with a good amount of speed before racing down the back straight to 7. And then turn 7 becomes the spot to see who can out brake who, yet still make the turn and get the power down for 8. This single turn had different consequences for the different classes. In the prototype class, the P2 cars suffered because of their lack of horsepower compared the heavier but substantially more powerful DPs. The P2s were easy pickin’s for the DPs as they raced to 8 and 9. While the P2s are strong on an open track and top the charts in qualifying, the lack of horsepower hurts in traffic and tight turns. That translates into the top 3 qualifiers finishing at the bottom of the points, unless the track is quick and they can keep their momentum going. One surprise this season is Gustavo Yacaman in the 42 OAK Racing Morgan Nissan. I occasionally watched Yacaman last year in Grand AM while he raced in the MSR DP. He seemed to be involved in quite a lot of incidents on the track. Fast forward a year later to a more nimble and faster P2 and his is dynamite! While the P2s do not have the power to challenge the DPs in traffic or exiting a slow turn, he has really had some fantastic driving including a win at Mosport earlier in the month.
After the start the prototype race boiled down to the faster DPs, with the Action Express Corvette taking the win, followed by the Ganassi Ford Eco Boost with Pruett and Rojas, followed by the Florida Fresh Corvette DP. Word is that there will be up to three Honda coupes in the series next year, with ESM upgrading their equipment, and a rumored Andretti racing entry, along with a beautiful Ligier JS Coupe entered by 8STAR by the end of the year. IMSA is really close to balancing these 2 vastly different types of cars. Hopefully they can get a few more tweaks in to make up for the low end power deficiency the P2s have.
Action Express had a pretty smooth run other than a bunch up at the start.
Scott Pruett always runs a smooth line.
Unfortunately, this is the only view the P2 machines have for a majority of the races.
