ACO-IMSA agreement in 2022?

The future of the premier category ofEndurance looks exactly like a talent show. A new episode every week and above all… a never-ending story. In the role of the main actors, the ACO and theIMSA with, as a spoilsport, the FIA, all these entities having eyes only for Le Mans, old lady always as desired as desirable. The next twist is most likely coming.

President of the Nascar (which owns IMSA), Jim France and his friends Scott Atherton and John Doonan, former and new presidents of IMSA, have a meeting under the Miami sun with Gérard Neveu, general director of the WEC, and Pierre Fillon, president of the ACO. Everyone wants to leave with a more tanned complexion than when they arrived, a sign of good health.

Could this be the last chance meeting? IMSA and ACO meet on a very regular basis, but the meeting on Friday, November 15 could come out with some juicy announcements.

No, there will not be more than two manufacturers worthy of the name at the start of the 2020-2021 campaign, on the condition that the project Aston Martin Valkyrie is indeed seeing the light of day. Glickenhaus and ByKolles should be added to this, while the current Rebellion R13 and Ginetta G60-LT-P1 should see their lifespan extended in exchange for a degradation in their performance. In 2020 and 2021, or even 2022, the premier category of the 24 Hours of Le Mans – and therefore the WEC – should give pride of place to “Hypercars”. Too late to turn back. The project Toyota, in particular, is too advanced.

However, as manufacturers like Ford insist on the need to have a common platform, ACO and IMSA have understood that it is now imperative for them to work hand in hand. And this from 2022 (so WEC 2022-2023?), the year of the entry into force of the new DPi 2.0 regulations, these prototypes with a common hybrid system and more advanced visual identification than the current DPi.

The ACO and IMSA – which does not want to hear about the four-wheel drive so dear to Toyota – would both have inclinations to go in the same direction and this could lead to a promising concept which would open the door to the 24 Hours from Le Mans to the Americans… and vice versa.

It remains to be seen, if IMSA and the ACO join forces, what will happen to the relationship with the FIA. Will IMSA attempt an unprecedented adventure with international federal authorities? Not sure. Would Endurance be worse off? Not sure, especially since it is the FIA ​​which would have imposed these Hypercar regulations having so much difficulty attracting new protagonists.

A merger with IMSA would ensure the presence of a handful of manufacturers in Sarthe, and not the least. Without wanting to pretend to play fortune tellers, if this confirms, we promise the American-Sarthois couple an unprecedented romance. Even if this story with twists and turns has already caused us some disappointments by dragging on, we want to believe that this time will be the right one.