WEC and IMSA Schedule Gripes.

[chernaudi]

Now I'm gonna complain/critique about WEC and IMSA season schedules and I'd like for others to join in.

For the WEC, Silverstone is my first gripe. To me, it makes no sense to have a race at a high downforce track ahead of Le Mans, where most of the focus will be until June. IMO, perfect solution is to ditch Monza for the WEC Prologue, and make it a race weekend. Then either hold the Prologue at Paul Ricard and have it be optional, or not have a WEC Prologue at all.

Of course, since the WEC is loathe to add another date (adding Monza would push the calendar to 10 race weekends), I'd say sacrifice an existing round, though the WEC is between a rock and a hard place there. I'd say axe COTA or Bahrain, but the Bahrain royal family pays millions of dollars (and hence millions of dollars to the ACO and the FIA), even if the race is poorly attended and the Bahrain Government has attracted criticism for its questionable human rights record (though the same can be said of China for that one). Meanwhile, COTA is the only Grade 1 track in current use in NA, and Toyota and Porsche want a NA round, as well as other teams and manufacturers.

But ideally, the WEC would start at Monza, then Spa, then LM, and have Silverstone be a July or August date and be one of the first rounds for the high downforce sprint races. Also, weather would doubtlessly be better in summer in the southern UK.

And if a NA track was to be on the schedule, I'd suggest the ACO/FIA/WEC Ivy League blue jackets give up their Grade 1 fetish and race at a place like Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta, Road America, or even Sebring. If need be, race at a revised Indy GP layout, or hope that COTA gets bought up and better management brought in.

Now for IMSA, it's a similar deal since the ALMS and GA combined schedules and had to axe some races, but I have suggestions there, too. One, get rid of the street courses. I know that Long Beach has tradition and Detroit is Detroit, but Long Beach did show this year that sportscars probably aren't that well suited to ultra-tight street courses, due to speed differences between classes and different skill levels of competitors. LB was a bit of a crash fest with two prototype teams damn near writing off cars and several accidents, many involving pro-am drivers. And I can see more of the same for Detroit.

Also, Detroit clashing with the LM test weekend means no GTLM teams, which GTLM (IMSA's take on GTE-Pro) is one of IMSA's most popular classes. Which means no Corvettes and Ford GTs in Detroit that weekend, ironically in GM's and Ford's backyard. But since IMSA piggy-backs on the Indy Car series weekend there, there's no reason nor even incentive to run on a different weekend, along with convincing the local government to help out with the race, or get someone to fund it.

Also, I think that IMSA can do with a race at Mid-Ohio, which has been abandoned as far as top flight sportscar racing since the ALMS/GA merger. With rumors of a Honda or Acura DPI program, and with Acura running the NSX (now built in Ohio at Honda's Marysville plant) in GTD, now is a good time to add Mid-Ohio back on the schedule's roster. I'd also throw Barber Motorsports Park back on there, and a Prototype race at VIR.