24 Hours of Daytona – Ferrari and BMW sanctioned in GT for too high performances

One year after the controversy surrounding the “irregular” victory of Meyer Shank Racing in GTP, the 24 Hours of Daytona and theIMSA are affected by new controversy. This Friday, the American championship published two official documents to sanction and penalize two manufacturers in the GT categories: Ferrari and BMW.

The reason ? According to IMSA, the actual performance of the two cars concerned, namely the BMW M4 GT3 and the Ferrari 296 GT3, were significantly higher than expected. Remember that it was a Ferrari which won in GTD Pro with Risi Competizione while the BMW M4 GT3 from the Paul Miller Racing team took third place.

BMW and Ferrari would therefore have hidden their game too much before the race, in order not to be penalized too much by the BoP. The 24 Hours of Daytona was the first race where the new “Balance of Performance” system implemented by IMSA was applied, in which manufacturers had to declare and define their own expected performance parameters.

Points withdrawn and fine for BMW and Ferrari

“The IMSA Technical Committee and IMSA oversight officials have unanimously determined that the performance demonstrated by BMW during the 24 Hours of Daytona race exceeded IMSA's shared expectations. in the technical working groups of GT manufacturers, communicated the championship authorities. The aim was to ensure that the demonstrated performance of the best example of each manufacturer's car model would fall within a targeted performance window – allowing for competitive equivalence. »

IMSA has therefore decided to remove the points scored by Ferrari and BMW during the 24 Hours of Daytona, namely 350 points in GTD Pro and 320 in GTD for the Italian brand, and 300 points in GTD Pro and 250 in GTD for the firm. German. The points scored for theEndurance Cup were also canceled. Ferrari and BMW were also fined $25. This decision by IMSA is not subject to protest or appeal from the two manufacturers. Let us point out, however, that the ranking does not change, and that Risi Competizione retains its victory in GTD Pro.

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