Rate the race: Rolex 24 at Daytona (TUSC)

[Beetle]

Lot's of controversy surrounding the first race of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. What would you rate it?

1 (Bad) - 10 (Good).

[Rodger Davies]

I think you're going to need categories, like Coverage, Entry, Racing, Stewardship etc.

[Articus]

Hahaha we all know where this thread is going...

[PabloTeK]

Too many adverts, not enough time spent on P2 and PC.

Oh, and that finish.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Quality of Field-9/10

Quality of Racing First 23.5 hours-8/10

Quality of "Racing" last 0.5 hour-5/10

Race Control/Safety Cars/Stewardship-2/10

FOX TV Coverage: 0/10

I'll give it a 4 overall the stewardship and BOP is just unacceptably bad.

[Adam43]

On all aspects that was a joke of a "motor race". Better both series had failed than that.

[rwintle]

I gave it a 5.

Pluses: field size, lots of manufacturers, some good drama and battles

Minuses: manufactured yellow, insanely long safety car periods throughout, dumb-ass penalty to the 555, brain-numbing barrage of mindless commercials

[Salamus]

Coverage was horrible. It was either watching a third of the race go to commercials or listen to MRN cock up everything.

The actual race was good. Pretty cool seeing LMP2s and GTEs at Daytona. But the P2s had no chance today. And the race was ruined because it was so hard to follow.

I was expecting a final yellow and wasn't surprised when it happened. I gave the race a 3. Not a race I will remember, except for the Malucelli/Gidley accident sadly. I hope both of them get healthy soon!

[MJ_N_09]

Simply put, Would have been an 8, but I decided to cut the score in half, to 4, because really, how could the late race decisions not affect the overall quality of the race experience?


EDIT: I decided not to count the race coverage (TV/streaming etc.) because that was not going to effect the overall racing and finish order.

[J Jay]

Voted 5. There was a good race in that mess of BoP and cautions, too bad Elkins only wanted to see it for 23 and a bit hours

[FordCosworthPanoz]

One other thing except for the early morning hours and some crazy driving by Max the overall "P" class was mind-numbingly boring but then again that's par the course for prototype racing of all kind: LMP1, LMP2, DP ect ect for the past few years.

[Breitling24]

MRN: I've never heard Oz Negri's name pronounced so many different ways by one person. Guess Gold figured one of those many ways had to be correct.

[Disraeli Eers]

I enjoyed the time I spent watching it (including taking a day off work).

This is my first race as part of this forum. The chat was fun, but Jesus Christ the ALMS and GA are dead and gone. Give it a rest. Also, we all know there were a lot of commercials. Pointing it out every time doesn't make you an expert analyst.

For a first race in a new series produced by some new people, I can't complain much. That final caution was a bit maddening as the end of the race was starting to really offer some good battles, but it is what it is. I don't think it changed the results any. Maybe for GTD but #45 was coming at a decent pace and it would've been a battle without the caution I bet.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by Breitling24

MRN: I've never heard Oz Negri's name pronounced so many different ways by one person. Guess Gold figured one of those many ways had to be correct.

MRN Bubbas get 10/10 for effort.

[FstrthnU]

I gave it a 7, the finish and last yellow and the HORRIBLE Tv Coverage brought the race down, but I give IMSA credit for making the event happen and getting a quality field here. The race was very unpredictable, lots of front-runners dropped out! That's endurance racing!

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

MRN Bubbas get 10/10 for effort.

From Marshall Pruett's Facebook:

"I've made the decision that, just as one should not reward bad behavior, the letters M, R, and N will not be spoken or written in reference to sports car coverage. The new code name is "Radio Tallahassee" ..."

[Simmi]

I've got very conflicted feelings about the race. I enjoyed large portions of it. I'm a fan of endurance racing. I love an event you can get get your teeth into and watch develop. The racing wasn't bad and the rules kept it close.

On the other hand there were parts of it that were really trying. To the point where there's stuff in there that IMSA will need to address. One easy fix would be to bring in RLM alongside MRN for Sebring and let the fans choose.

The WEC is my thing. So I think to get the most out of this new series I just need to re-set my expectations a bit around what to expect. It's a shame in a way that the series had to start out with such a banner and high-stakes event.

I could go on all day. It was on course for a 7/10 but the bitter aftertaste dropped it to a 6/10.

[LagunaSnaka]

gave it 5 as an overall package/experience...that includes the ad-laden coverage and poor streaming. I can't seen new fans putting up with low quality streams. No real excuse considering the time to prepare.

Great variety in the field. Spec PC cars now look especially old and out of place. Having the P2's and the DP's really racing each other would have been exciting. Maybe Sebring will be different?

[Dyson Mazda]

I agree on the comment about the PC cars. They looked like they did not belong all day. I would have preferred for the series to have cut the class and consolidated all of the Pro/Am efforts into GTD, which has turned into a heck of a entity.

[isynge]

7/10 for me.

Not a classic race I'll remember but I'm conscious that I was much more excited by it than in previous years and certainly watched a lot more of it.

There was a good buzz about it through last night, and the run in to the flag kept my attention.

Inherently I'm massively encouraged that the P2/DP balance doesn't seem to be completely out of whack and that we've got something in North America that's better than what we've had for the past few years. Having a proper big race in January is also a lovely way to start the year and whet appetite for what's to come.

Is TUSC perfect right now? I suspect the answer is no. Is that a reason to be carp about some of the detail issues? From my perspective the answer to that is also no.

[Breitling24]

Overall, I'd say a 5. Really good racing until the yellows. All were too long (except for the Memo/Matteo crash). The fcy for what was basically an off, with 12 minutes to go, utterly stupid, as was the 555 "time penalty." Realiy took away from what was developing into an organically grown good finish, turned instead to the chemically fertilized one.

[GTRMagic]

The race itself was good, plenty of action in different classes (although we didnt always get to see it) with the DPs at the front of the field, as their packages suggested that should be.

Action Express v's RTR was a classic match up...

Another year of development and those Ford Ecoboost guys will do better too.

Plus an Aussie on the podium...

[Fogelhund]

I gave it a 3.

- BoP for Prototypes was off, 15 months after the merger announcement of the series.
- Caution flags were too long.
- Caution flag for #22 driving off the course, then back on was "Racing Management" to bunch up the field and have an artificially "exciting" finish at his worst(best)
- Waive By (More artificial excitement)
- Disagree with the call on the #555, and I dislike Level 5 and Ferrari, always been a Lizards fan.

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Big field was a positive, just don't like the artificial "NASCAR" "WWE" style of race management. We'll see if this continues.
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[Intimidator]

I gave it a 6, only because it's the first race of a new championship.
As always GTLM was great, shame that so many cars had troubles. Great battles in GTD aswell.
Things that need to be fixed :
-BoP in the P class. This race was a joke, worst thing I've ever seen. If they want to attract more people from Europe this way won't work. Personally I think LMP2 should be the only prototypes in the P class. DPs are really bad to watch in a race
-too many useless cautions, the last one in particular. This is not Nascar, even if TUSCC is owned by Nascar. I'd prefer to watch a race where we have 1 lap between each car than a race where every couple of hours they bring half of the field behind the leader. This is endurance racing, don't forget
-waive by. No sense. It kills racing in the purest meaning
-bad calls. Of course on the Level 5 / Flying Lizard one but overall I don't like the avoidable contact rule, especially when there's a contact between cars of different classes
-ridiculous TV coverage. I watched a great streaming someone posted here and I was able to watch the race during the commercials. It was HD so, better an HD streaming without commercials than pay to watch FOX with 12 hours of commercials. I'd pay to watch endurance racing but where I live there's neither FOX nor Motors TV so the only way to watch was streaming. That's just really bad for the TV to have so many breaks.

Overall I was hoping for something better. North America has the best tracks in the world, ALMS was great, I didn't like Grand Am so when the merger was announced I was really sad. I hope they will fix something before Sebring. I don't want to watch another fake race.
Daytona wasn't real racing. It was all decided and modified by IMSA, or I should say Nascar, before and during the race

[kyoung]

I gave it a 10, it was free to watch and entertaining. Some of you guys are like the fat guy that criticizes how the cake tasted; but still managed to eat the whole damn thing. I guess this means most of you will not be watching Sebring then?