We don’t know how much a petition will help solve the inequities of IMSA’s balance of performance adjustments that seem to have knocked Chevrolet and Corvette Racing out of the top spot in the Manufacturers and Driver’s championships for the second year in a row, but at this point we are willing to try anything to get the attention of IMSA’s top brass.
I don’t really like crying about the BoP standards but for the last two years, they always seem to hit Corvette Racing the hardest. And with only two races left in the series for the year, it looks like a repeat of last year where adjustments not only take away Corvette Racing’s performance, but other adjustments are given to certain competitors to bring them up.
The combination of the two usually means that the C7.Rs will qualify in the mid to bottom of the GTLM class and they won’t have the speed to catch the leaders once the race starts. Not only that, but technological enhancements available on the C7.R like Direct Injection are balanced out of the race equation by saddling the Corvettes will smaller fuel tanks. So we can’t make up track position by being able to race longer on the same amount of fuel.
As Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan mentioned last weekend during a segment in the race at VIR, Corvettes are carrying the most weight and have the smallest fuel tanks of all the competitors in the GTLM class.
As the rules are written, there are no more BoP adjustments for the last three races of the season. The Corvette team will refuse to stop competing until the end, and they should be commended for that. But Doug Fehan and Chevrolet’s Jim Campbell should seriously look at foregoing the United Sports Car Championship in the USA and put the two C7.Rs into the FIA’s World Endurance Challenge series. The team would still get to compete in the USA at Daytona, Sebring and COTA, plus they get to race on the the really cool European tracks like SPA, Nurburgring and the UK’s Silverstone.
So if you want to complain to IMSA, a petition has been set up on Change.org that asks for IMSA to redress the AoP issue for the GTML class:
Mr. Scott Atherton
Mr. Jim France
Mr. Ed Bennett
Mr. David Pettit
Mr. Simon Hodgson
Stop unfair IMSA BOP/AOP
Race fans spend plenty of money going to the Tudor Races all season. Tickets hotels food etc. Thousands of dollars. We expect to see racing! We do not approve and will no longer support a race series where the outcome is fixed. On a regular basis a team that is doing well is punished for no reason other than they are doing well. Over the last two seasons one team has been consistently punished with Balance of Power adjustments, at the same time teams that are all ready faster are given further assistance. This gentlemen is not racing. We the fans respectfully request that this biased processes is stopped. Yes the cars need to be competitive however you do not penalize the better teams. There are many ways to ensure that the cars are equal. What is currently being done is not the way for the series to continue.
So far, 200+ fans have signed the petition and many are letting their feelings be known in the comments. Make your voice heard by signing the petition at Change.org.
Source:
Change.org
Related:
Corvette Racing’s 2016 C7.R Getting Ready for FIA Performance Tests in France
Corvette Racing at VIR: Still in the Running for GTLM Titles
[PICS] Corvette Racing Celebrates 8th Le Mans Win with Detroit’s Corvette Team
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Personally I would love to see the Corvettes at SPA 24H. It is a GT car only race. This year more than 50 of them cpmpeted for the win.
AMEN!!! It’s about time that “We The Racing Fans” gave these people a large dose of our collective minds to stop tweaking this class of race cars based on what many of us perceive as European bias or anyone-other-than-Corvette-should-win-these-races. It’s a bunch of BS that’s been going on since the old ALMS series and this family as huge racing fans wants it to end!!!
For more on the BOP/AOP issue click this link http://www.stingrayforums.com/forum/stingray-corvette-racing/13630-what-s-wrong-corvette-racing-team.html
I understand wanting the racing to be competitive and thus the need for a BOP, but this is the second year that the Corvettes have been neutered to the point where battling for even a top 5 finish is a stretch. Last year the Viper was handed the championship because it was leaving. This year IMSA has taken favor with Porsche and Ferrari, who are several seconds ahead of the Corvettes on race pace.
I’d love to see a full-season GTE-Pro effort in FIA WEC but not at the expense of the racing program in America. I’m as frustrated with IMSA as everybody else, but what other option is there for a GTE/GTLM car? PWC is GT3 based.
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