The 24-hour race to open the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season will see the green flag at 1:40 p.m. ET Saturday. NBC Sports has partial coverage, beginning on NBC network at 1:30 p.m. Among the pre-race storylines:
Freezing Florida:
A wind chill advisory, something Floridians rarely experience, has been issued for the early morning hours Sunday, when strong north winds will make it feel like 25 degrees. A freeze watch also will be in effect, but the latest forecasts indicate little chance of rain through the race.
Cool temperatures usually are desirable for proper grip. Cold temperatures are not. Bourdais had the fastest lap during the final practice session Friday 1 minute 34.732 seconds (135.487 mph) but that was when the ambient temperature was in the upper 50s.
“You have to accept what it gives you,” said Mike Hull, Chip Ganassi Racing’s managing director. “It will take a while to get your tires up to temperature, but that’s a relative thing for anyone
I think we saw it in the conditions we had (Friday). Conditions rapidly changed, and people adapted to it quite quickly.
I think they all learned a lot about how tires would react, particularly in cold weather.”
Chasing history:
Wayne Taylor Racing will attempt to win the race for a record fourth consecutive time, breaking the record set by Ganassi in 2008. The No. 10 WTR Acura ARX-05 – co-driven by Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens won the Motul Pole Award by winning a 100-minute qualifying race Sunday.
“We’ve done all the right things so far,” team owner Wayne Taylor said.
“We have excellent drivers and a really good team, and the weather conditions are certainly going to play a significant role in this race. Driving in 31- to 35-degree temperatures is going to make it extremely hard for guys to get out of the pits and keep it on the track when the surface is so cold. I see lots of yellows coming.”
Changing champions:
Two months ago, Action Express Racing celebrated the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) title with the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac.
The team returns for the final season of DPi with one new full-time driver.
Felipe Nasr left Action Express to join Porsche’s foray into LMDh and the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, which will replace DPi as the top WeatherTech Championship class in 2023.
He’ll compete this weekend in the GTD PRO class, but former teammate Pipo Derani will carry on in the No. 31 with new full time co-driver Tristan Nunez and endurance specialist Mike Conway.
“It is important you have camaraderie between yourself, the team and the other driver because you have to give up so much for the greater benefit of the team,” Derani said. “When you have a good relationship with your teammate, that only helps.”
Bulging Field:
The numbers are in: A field of 61 cars and 235 drivers in five classes is set to race for 1,440 minutes in temperatures expected to drop to freezing overnight.
The rookie Palou has received his advice.
