derBayerische May/June 2023 - 24

T H E
2 0 2 3 R O L E X 2 4 A T D A Y T O N A
end of the 2022 season at Road
Atlanta. Road Atlanta is a much
different track from Daytona, so
this is somewhat puzzling. We all
assumed changes would be made
prior to the 24-hour race, but in
the end, none were made. IMSA
claims to have lots of data so they
can see through the assumed
" sandbagging " , but it's hard to
figure out what the message
might be.
The assumption is that IMSA
believes that the teams are not
showing their full capabilities.
Arriving at the race weekend and
the practices, the hoped for
adjustment never came about.
This left the M4s well off the pace
with the new Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) even further behind. In the case of the
Porsche, IMSA has said it's a new car and there's no data, so it will be kept at
the back for a while. With respect to the BMW, this isn't the case since the
M4 was a new car last year and competed in the 24 Hours. Practices for the
race saw the M4 over 1.5 sec off the pace. As we
approached the start it was clear that IMSA was not going
to make any further adjustments. I spoke with Will Turner,
and he said, " we aren't fast enough so we'll just have to
outlast them " . The teams don't like to complain about the
Balance of Performance; it's part of the game.
In 24-hour races almost anything can happen.
test the reliability of the package.
In GT, the three M4 GT3s were
effectively together, their lap times
just 0.25 seconds apart, but just
over two seconds behind the
leading trio of Mercedes AMG
GT3s. All three more or less held
their position running together,
even after the first hour.
In GTP, just before the end of
the first hour, the #25 M Hybrid
V8 had to be pushed to the garage
with a failure of the MGU. The
press release from BMW said,
■ Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of the BMW Group green
flags the start of a new era in sportscar racing.
" A number of components had to
be replaced after failure of the
hybrid powertrain - a common
component used by all manufacturers. "
We were able to witness
The 2023 Rolex 24
at Daytona was truly an
the team diagnose and fix the problem and get the car back into the race.
It took two and a half hours to complete the work, but it was clear they
weren't about to retire the car. The MGU is a spec part provided by Bosch and
used by all the teams. It is not something built by BMW. Once the issue
was diagnosed, the part was replaced, but it wasn't
a simple task.
Getting both cars to the end of the race was the realinternational
event with the
new GTP cars making their
first run in competition.
You can say qualifying doesn't mean too much, but some
speed differentials are hard to overcome. To start the 2023 Rolex, we had an
Acura on pole with the #24 and #25 M Hybrid V8s in 7th & 8th place.
The #24 was just over 0.5 sec off the pole and the #25 just over 0.1 sec
behind. For most of the teams the race will be a competitive test session,
a first time at race pace with the other GTP cars, to measure performance and
istic goal for the team. They'd certainly like to be as far up
the finishing order as possible, but reaching the end was
the realistic hope. The #24 car, which turned out to be the
slower of the two cars, was able to hold the seventh
position, occasionally up as high as fourth. They finished
in 6th place 15 laps down on the winning Acura with only Acuras and
Cadillacs ahead and both Porsches behind. A hybrid system problem caused
brake problems for the #24 car and cost time at the end. The #25 car, despite
its major failure, continued to the end of the race at the back of the field.
During those laps, Connor De Phillippi was able to do a 1:36.000 lap time
■ (Below from Left) The Turner Motorsports #95 M4 GT3. The Turner Motorsports #96 M4 GT3 during night running.
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