DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Every IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event is a race that incorporates multiple individual class races. But the teams that battle for each of those overall annual class championships are also fighting for another prize.
The IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup consists of five events totaling 58 hours of on-track action – this week’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, the six-hour TireRack.com Battle On the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the season-ending 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The transition of the Indianapolis race from “sprint” to “endurance” format is new for 2024, meaning that Michelin Endurance Cup events now comprise 50 percent of the WeatherTech Championship schedule.
Talking to WeatherTech Championship participants, a common theme emerges for 2024. While the overall championship remains the priority, the Michelin Endurance Cup is also a significant prize that warrants their attention.
“I think we always tend to focus mostly on the full-season championship, and along the way, if we’re in the hunt for the endurance championship, we kind of start to think about it,” commented Ricky Taylor, a two-time champion in Daytona Prototype international (DPi), the class that preceded GTP. “Now that’s such a big contributor to the full season that we have to consider it a little bit more.
“We are sports car racers, so endurance is sort of in our heritage and DNA,” he continued. “So, to win the Endurance Cup means a lot. The addition of Indy is cool as well. The history of Indy, and it’s a home race for us (Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti is based in Brownsburg, Indiana). There are a lot of factors that make it meaningful for our team in particular.”
Taylor, who shares the No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 with full-season co-driver Filipe Albuquerque and endurance additions Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson this week, believes the sports car team founded by his father, Wayne, has an edge over the competition when it comes to endurance races.
“It’s what we do; it’s what the team was built around and has the most experience with,” Ricky Taylor explained. “They’ve won all the big races by now, and it does seem to be a strong suit of the team – getting to the finish, first of all, and building a car with an endurance finishing mindset. All IMSA racing has evolved to be just a sprint race to the finish in general, and the team seems to cater to that a little bit. It seems to work out well most of the time. I think we need to work on our overall championship-winning car a little bit more, but the endurance side has been pretty strong.”
Robby Foley, who has stepped into the role of lead driver and mentor for Turner Motorsport, believes the additional endurance round will create a subtle shift as teams assess their priorities heading into the 2024 season. Foley’s co-drivers in the No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 in the GT Daytona (GTD) class for the Rolex 24 are Patrick Gallagher, Jake Walker and Jens Klingmann.
“The endurance races always kind of felt like their own championship, but now with another one, it’s equal five (endurance races) and five (sprint races),” Foley said. “I think in the past you could still have a good championship run if you dominated the sprint races, and now you have to put both together. We’re fortunate that our group has been able to have good results in both. It’s going to change the dynamic a little bit between teams that have a strong sprint race package versus a strong endurance package. You need both more than ever.”
Every competitor in the WeatherTech Championship field will say that the best part of being a racing driver is time actually spent in the car. And the extension of the Indianapolis race into an endurance event and the expansion of the Michelin Endurance Cup to fully half of the schedule creates more seat time in racing conditions.
“I personally enjoy more the endurance races,” said Felipe Nasr, co-driver of the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 GTP with Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden. “I really like the dynamic of the races, how you face the conditions and plan your strategy, and I think the fans like it too. It’s just more entertainment overall. Endurance races are unique in how you operate them.
“I’m a fan of it and only see the benefits.”
A separate system of points from the overall season championship is awarded at specific intervals of Michelin Endurance Cup events for drivers, teams and manufacturers. At Daytona, for example, those point allocations will come at the six-, 12- and 18-hour marks, and at the race finish. Five points are given to each class leader at those junctures, four to second place, three to third place and two points to all others in the class.
The 2023 Michelin Endurance Cup champion teams were the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing (Grand Touring Prototype), No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR (Le Mans Prototype 2), No. 74 Riley (Le Mans Prototype 3), No. 79 WeatherTech Racing (Grand Touring Daytona Pro) and No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports (Grand Touring Daytona) teams. Only two, the No. 31 and No. 74, also captured season titles.