MP 1709: The Week In Sports Cars July 7 2026The Marshall Pruett Podcast · Jul 7, 2026
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Topic
Salem Six Hours of the Glen
This is a long-distance race at Watkins Glen that lasts about six hours. Because it’s so long, teams have to manage tires, fuel, and driver changes—not just drive fast.
Topic
Crown Strike 24 Hours of Spa
This is a famous endurance race at Spa that lasts 24 hours. Teams have to keep the car running and make smart pit stops for a whole day.
GTP is the name of a top racing class for prototype sports cars. It’s basically the “highest level” of race cars in that series, built specifically for endurance racing.
BOP is a set of rules that tries to make different race cars compete more fairly. Race organizers may add weight or limit power so one car doesn’t automatically have an advantage.
Point standings are the cumulative leaderboard in a racing series, where teams/drivers earn points based on finishing positions (and sometimes other race results). The hosts are saying the leading trio’s points advantage would be difficult for others to catch.
Person
Simon Man's
Simon Mann is a race driver. The hosts are talking about a moment where his Ferrari got tangled with another car, and it could have ended the race for both.
A penalty is an official punishment for an on-track incident. Here, the hosts are saying the cars involved didn’t get punished, so the damage to their race was less severe.
Watkins Glen is a well-known race track in the U.S. The hosts are saying it’s tough because there isn’t much extra space around the track if you go off-line, so crashes can be severe.
Runoff is the extra space beside the track that helps you slow down if you miss a corner. If there isn’t much runoff, going off the track is more likely to lead to a crash.
In a multi-class race, different types of race cars compete on the same track at the same time. That means you’re often dealing with slower or faster cars around you, so it’s harder to drive cleanly.
Race tracks are split into sections for timing. Sector one is just the first part of the lap, and the hosts are saying that’s where you need to be extra careful.
Choke points are tight spots on the track where there’s not much room to maneuver. When cars have to squeeze through, it’s easier for them to get too close and cause problems.
In endurance racing, a full course caution means the whole race slows down because something happened on the track. Cars follow the safety car instead of racing normally until the track is clear.
A safety car is a car that leads the pack when the track is unsafe. When it comes out, drivers slow down and follow it until officials say it’s okay to race again.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car made by Chevrolet. It’s built to be fast and handle well, and it’s also used in racing. If it’s mentioned in an incident discussion, it’s probably because it was involved in the on-track situation being talked about.
Nikki Katzberg is a professional race car driver. The hosts are discussing a moment where she was involved in a collision and then apologized afterward.
Debris is anything left on the track after a crash—like broken parts or pieces of a car. It’s dangerous for other drivers, so officials usually slow the race and clean it up.
“S’s” means a set of corners that curve back and forth like the letter S. These parts of a track can be hard to drive, especially when cars are close together.
LMP2 is a category of race cars used in endurance racing. These cars are built specifically for long races, and the rules are designed to keep competition tight between teams.
Sebring is a famous endurance race track in Florida. The surface is tough and the race is long, so it’s a good test of whether a team can manage tires and setup over time.
Term
Hammer and Tongues
This is the name of a particular corner/section at the track. It’s the kind of place where drivers can run into trouble, especially when the race gets tight and tires start to fade.
This is a race version of the Lexus RC F built to GT3 rules. Even though it’s not the newest car on the grid, it can still win races if the team and driver do a good job.
GTD Pro is a racing category for near-production sports cars driven by professional teams. It’s meant to be a step up from the more amateur-focused GTD class.
“Victory Lane” is the ceremonial area at a race track where the winning team and drivers celebrate after crossing the finish line. In motorsports broadcasts, it’s shorthand for a win and the post-race podium/celebration moment.
A championship is the overall season competition. Instead of just one race, teams add up results across many events to see who wins the season.
Topic
European Le Mans series in 2028
They’re talking about when the updated LMP2 race cars will start racing in the European Le Mans Series. The discussion is focused on the schedule and what it means for who gets to compete.
Orica is mentioned as the company that currently has a strong grip on the LMP2 racing category. The hosts are discussing how that dominance could change so more teams and suppliers can compete.
Grid spaces are the limited spots on the starting grid for a race. If there are more teams wanting to enter than there are spots, getting a grid slot becomes a big deal.
Term
P3
“P3” refers to another prototype racing category below the one being discussed. The idea is that some teams/customers in that lower tier might move into the LMP2 world.
Term
P2
“P2” is shorthand for “position 2,” meaning second place. In a race, it tells you where a car is in the overall order at that moment.
“Daytona” is a big race event teams plan for. Saying they’ll be ready for Daytona in 2028 means they want their cars and plans to be fully prepared for that specific race.
A “sanctioned test” is an official practice test that’s approved by the racing organizers. Teams use it to check that the car works and that their plans are ready for the real races.
A 24-hour race is endurance racing where the cars run for a full day. Because it’s so long, teams have to plan for reliability, driver changes, and strategy over many hours.
IMSA is the organization that runs big sports-car racing series in North America. Here, it’s basically the championship calendar teams have to get ready for.
“LMS” here is shorthand for the Le Mans-related racing scene. The point is that what teams do for IMSA will also show up in the Le Mans side of endurance racing.
They’re saying these race programs cost around a million euros per car. That kind of money is why teams are careful about timing and want more preparation time.
Topic
Rolex 24 Hours of Data owner
This is talking about a huge endurance race (the Rolex 24 at Daytona). The point is that teams want their cars to be ready before the big race, not still figuring out major development issues.
In endurance racing, “development time” is the window teams use to refine a new car before it’s tested in real competition. The segment argues that adding a few months helps teams validate the car without risking early discovery of problems at the premier event.
Topic
WC
“WC” here means the World Endurance Championship, a major global endurance racing series. The host is comparing how its race weekends are set up versus the European Le Mans Series.
Term
GT ranks cars
“GT” means grand touring—race versions of regular cars that are based on production models. In endurance racing, GT is one of the main car categories that races in its own class.
“WEC” is the World Endurance Championship—one of the biggest endurance racing series in the world. It’s the European-style counterpart to other endurance championships, with multiple classes of race cars.
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is a race track in Ontario, Canada. It hosts major sports-car and endurance races, so it’s the kind of place where you’ll see big multi-class fields.
Topic
Spock 24
This sounds like a transcription error for a famous 24-hour race in Belgium. The important part is that it’s a very big event, and the speaker is talking about GT3 cars and massive attendance.
Belgium is the country where Spa-Francorchamps is located, and it’s referenced here to explain the extreme heat affecting spectator turnout and race-weekend conditions. Weather can significantly influence endurance racing and crowd experience.
Term
zero to hero victory
“Zero to hero” is a motorsport shorthand for a dramatic turnaround—starting from a poor position or situation and then winning. It’s not a technical term, but it’s a common racing phrase used to describe an underdog or comeback story over the course of a race.
“Spa 24” is the 24-hour endurance race held at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. It’s famous for being challenging—lots of corners, elevation changes, and changing conditions—so teams have to manage both speed and strategy for a full day.
An engine change means the team replaced the engine because something wasn’t right. In racing, doing that can be risky because rules may add penalties, so teams try to manage it strategically.
Pit lane is the area where race teams pull in to change tires, refuel, and do other service during the race. How quickly and correctly a team uses pit lane can help them move up the order.
Superpole is an extra qualifying session where the quickest cars go head-to-head for the best starting spots. It’s like a knockout round that sets up how the race will play out.
Late restarts are when the race gets going again near the end after a caution. Because everyone is bunched up, it often leads to dramatic last-minute position changes.
This is a new racing event centered on Ford Mustangs. The hosts are saying it’s similar in spirit to a big endurance race weekend, but it’s scheduled to happen at Spa.
Le Mans is one of the most famous endurance races in the world. It lasts 24 hours, and the hosts are saying the new event feels similar in how it’s organized and celebrated.
The Ardennes is a region in Belgium with lots of forests and countryside. The hosts are basically saying the racing atmosphere will carry on around that area after the event.
Le Mans Classic is a track event for classic cars connected to the Le Mans name. Instead of brand-new race cars, it’s about older cars and interesting people driving them.
Company
HSR
HSR is mentioned as a group that’s very involved in Le Mans Classic. The hosts don’t explain what it stands for in this clip, but it sounds like an event organizer or partner.
Stefan Rotel is one of the business leaders the hosts say will actually drive on track. The point is that it’s not just typical racers—big-name executives are participating.
John Doonan is one of the executives the hosts say will drive at Le Mans Classic. The clip is basically saying the weekend has a surprising mix of people behind the wheel.
Richard Meals is another prominent person the hosts mention as being involved with Le Mans Classic. They’re emphasizing that the weekend draws more than just regular race drivers.
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a famous older American car model. Here it’s mentioned because it’s part of the racing entry list, showing the event includes classic-style stock cars.
The Audi R8 is a high-performance Audi supercar. In this segment, it’s being mentioned because an Audi R8 is on the entry list for the GT portion of the event.
Balance of performance is how race organizers try to make different cars compete more evenly. They may add weight or limit power so one car doesn’t run away from the others.
The green flag is the signal that indicates the race start or a restart is underway and that drivers may proceed at racing speed. In the segment, Pierre Fillon is described as waving the green flag at an SRO event, which is a ceremonial role tied to the event’s official start.
“LMP 900” is the name of a racing class for Le Mans-style prototype cars. It tells you what kind of rules and performance level that car is competing under.
The Aston Martin DBR RS9 is a serious race car built for endurance-style events. Here it’s being used to show how fast and impressive the cars are in that Le Mans Classic session.
“Qualifying pace” just means how quickly the car can do laps during the qualifying session. Faster qualifying usually means the car has a good chance to be competitive in the race.
A round robin is a format where everyone gets to race against everyone else. Instead of a single elimination bracket, results come from multiple races.
GT3 and GT4 are two tiers of “grand touring” race-car classes. GT3 cars are typically more heavily developed for pro/am endurance racing, while GT4 is a step down in performance and cost—often used for developing drivers and teams.
Garage 56 is a special Le Mans entry that lets teams bring something unusual—often experimental—rather than a typical race car. It’s basically a “wild card” slot to showcase new concepts.
A test day is when teams practice and fine-tune their cars before the main racing. The hosts are suggesting using that day to do qualifying instead of on Saturday.
Silverstone is a famous race track in the UK. In this segment, they’re talking about when races at Silverstone happen and how that can create schedule pressure before Le Mans.
Back-to-back means two races happen one right after the other. That can be tough because teams have less time to travel and make changes between events.
COTA is a race track in Austin, Texas. They’re listing it as part of the next season’s endurance schedule and explaining how the timing works with other series.
Fuji is a major race track in Japan. In the schedule they’re describing, it’s where the series goes next before the final European Le Mans race.
Place
Port-a-Male
Portimão is a race track in Portugal. They’re saying it’s the final race of the European Le Mans season.
Topic
LMEM
LMEM is shorthand for the organization behind the European Le Mans series. The point here is that they try to avoid putting races on top of each other so teams can plan full seasons.
The Formula One calendar is just the season schedule of F1 races. Since it’s so busy (and has restrictions around race weekends), it can make it hard for other racing series to pick dates that don’t conflict.
An exclusion zone is a blocked-off time period where you’re not allowed to schedule something else. Here, it means other racing events have to avoid multiple weeks around Formula One races, not just the race weekend.
A selection committee is the decision-making group that chooses which teams get to compete. Here, the host is saying your results in the championship can make the committee view you more favorably. So it’s not only about racing—performance can affect your chances to be invited.
LMGT3 is a GT3-based racing class used in endurance events like Le Mans. The host is saying it often comes down to the final moments, with several cars still in contention. That usually means the cars are closely matched and strategy matters a lot.
Brand
Panis
Panis is the name of a racing team/operation. In endurance racing, the team is responsible for running the car and supporting the drivers.
Person
Ollie Gray
Ollie Gray is a driver the host says has been doing great work recently. The point is that his progress is part of the bigger story this season.
Person
Stephen Hughes
Stephen Hughes is mentioned as someone who interviewed a driver earlier. It’s part of the show’s coverage of the people behind the race teams.
Person
Matishio Behr
Matishio Behr is a driver the host talked about in an interview. The host is describing him as a young up-and-coming talent.
Brand
Genesis Bible Racing
Genesis Bible Racing is the name of a racing team. The host is saying a driver is known for being a young talent within that team setup.
Topic
P2 High Flyers
P2 is a class of prototype endurance race cars. In this segment, “High Flyers” is the name of the group the host wants you to track as the season unfolds.
Griffin Peoples is a driver the host thinks is worth watching this season. The host also mentions he wasn’t part of a specific Le Mans entry, which makes his current rise more notable.
LIVE
Hello and welcome to another edition of the Week in Sportscars podcast.
I'm your host this week, Jonathan Grace, and I'm joined by Editor-in-Chief of DailySportsCard.com
and World Endurance Championship commentator, Graham Goodwin, and Editor at DailySportsCard.com
and WEC correspondent for racer.com, Stephen Kilby.
Today's episode, as always, is brought to you by Toronto Motorsports.com and The Justice
Brothers.
A huge thanks to them for making this show possible each week.
We put it out.
Now, Graham and Stephen, Graham will start with you.
Welcome along.
It's been a properly busy part of the summer, hasn't it?
It's been absolutely nuts.
I know you've been busy.
We're going to get on to talk about some of that.
I know shortly that you joined both Stephen and I, all being in separate rooms, in fact,
in separate hotels, but both in Imola for the Resumption post-Lamon of the European
Lamon series.
But yeah, it's been absolutely nuts and it's not finished yet, where I think we've got
about 24 hours on the ground from Monday before we head off for the Resumption of the FI World
Endurance Championship.
There'll be more to talk about that later in the show.
But we are into yet another really busy part of the endurance racing season, whether it's
your side, state side, whether it's here in Europe or whether it's back across in South
America and later back to Asia, busy, busy, busy, as I think you're finding too, Stephen.
Yeah, I mean, it feels like the heavy weight of Lamon is kind of lifted once you get through
that event.
But then you realize all of a sudden we're back racing again and every weekend there's
still another three sports car race meetings going on at the same time.
And yeah, the summer break, I'm kind of looking forward to that two or three week period.
I must admit where there's not as much going on because at this point, I think we're all
kind of zombies.
We'll certainly be zombies by the time we get to Interlagos next week, that's for
sure.
Jonathan, when was the last time you weren't at a race meeting and weren't standing around
with a microphone in your hand?
Because genuinely, it seems like you've been at a race meeting every single weekend since
I saw you last, what would have been Daytona?
Gosh, it feels like that.
I think I counted.
I've been home since the beginning of April in Los Angeles for about 20 some odd days
until now.
And I finally have a weekend off here for the 4th of July in the States.
But it's a weekend home with an asterisk because I'm in the middle of now a move to Charlotte.
So I'm home, but I'm packing and then I'm off to Rhode America home again.
I'll make the drive and then we kick off from there.
So trying to kind of tie up some loose ends in LA, see some friends, pack some bags, things
like that and just kind of soak in a little California weather because it's properly hot
on the East Coast right now.
But I've been very lucky.
It's fun.
It certainly, it beats a real job, that's for sure.
But we're taking care, by the way, with all of our American friends and a good look with
your Independence Day celebrations.
If at any point, at any point that seems to have been a bad idea, we're ready, willing
and able to help out with that and be your monstrous overlords once again.
Thank you very much.
We're all heart.
What are we going to talk about?
Well, gentlemen, I suppose let's start with the Salem Six Hours of the Glen.
I want to get to the Crown Strike 24 Hours of Spa as well.
Those two on coinciding weekends, it was it was a busy one coverage wise.
Daily Sports Car had boots on the ground and both continents covering both races top
to bottom.
But let's start in upstate New York.
Boy, what a, what a chaotic race.
What a great race.
If you're the 31 crew continues to go from strength to strength, it seems especially
after the first couple of races of the season, it had been podium after podium after podium.
Finally, a breakthrough win for them a couple rounds ago.
Open the floodgates and it seems that 31 has kind of emerged in the championship battle
in GTP as the favorite Graham.
Yeah, I mean, it's it's as with the hypercar side of the coin, GTP, increasingly, it's
obviously about excellence.
It doesn't really matter what happens on track.
BOP is a factor, but it's a operational excellence.
And we saw both sides of that coin, didn't we?
We saw some examples of mistakes really costing people.
Yes, I'm looking at you heart of racing and the fiasco with the Valkyrie under a safety
car of all things.
But I don't think you need to look much further than the wider Cadillac family to see the best
example that we've got at the moment, Imsa Wise, of the difference that, OK, good judgment,
good planning, good execution, good strategy can make.
Because despite the fact that this show last week, Stephen, you and I talked about a resurgence
of form at Le Mans from Waintaila Racing.
Where did that go?
Because the 31 to say that that that were put in the much better shift would be a dramatic
understatement.
Yeah, I mean, Waintaila cars were kind of there thereabouts on occasion.
But yet again, when it kind of mattered most and business end of the race, you're looking
at the leaderboard and you see in the 31 out front and the Waintaila cars not even in
podium contention yet again.
And any momentum that the team kind of looked like it built up during the Mon Week just
seemed to have vanished again.
It's just it's so bizarre this the way that this team season is panning out.
And, you know, the margins are fine and it wouldn't take much for them to be hot on the
hills of actually expressing some of these races or at least closer to fighting for
the podiums at every round.
Yeah, kind of a kind of running out of ways to talk about this, because it just feels
like every weekend it's almost the same story.
You know, you've got to hand it to the Action Express guys.
And in particular, you know, that crew has come together so nicely.
We talked about Jack Aitken and how impressive he's been and how much of a step up he's
had in the last 12, 18 months.
Earl Bamber and Fred Vesti making up that trio at these long races.
Amazing.
We're at like a really well rounded crew.
I didn't put a foot wrong really.
And yeah, just got the job done.
And all of a sudden you're looking at the point standings and you're thinking it's
going to be very, very, very hard to overhaul these guys.
And who would have thought that after Daytona when it looked like Penske we're going
to kind of run right again.
It's a point well made kind of a hairy moment, I think that should be brought up
earlier in the race, the 31, tangling very briefly ever so slightly with Simon
Man's Ferrari that fair way worse for the Ferrari.
But that was nearly a race ending moment for both cars.
Yeah, well, on another day because they didn't get penalized for it in the end,
did they? And it was I've seen incidents like that.
I've seen the hammer kind of come down from race control, you know, for not a lot
more than the contact that was there.
So maybe a little bit lucky to escape that one.
But that kind of summed up the race really.
Like there was there was a lot of contact in that race.
It was carnage.
Like there was it kind of seemed like I was dipping in and out of it throughout
the race and it just seemed like every time I flicked it on, there were cars
in the wall and that hit for Simon Man in particular was very, very hard.
And you mentioned Graham that the hit for the Valkyrie under safety car.
It took a long time for the race to really kind of come alive and settle down a bit.
And it's a shame because the Watkins Glen circuit is is amazing.
But it was a good reminder of there's really no runoff there and you get
punished, don't you? So easily.
I mean, you've probably been there a few times, right, Jonathan?
I'm sure in person because I've never been there.
I'm sure in person that track is like looks and feels narrow when you're there.
Like because it does look like you're running side by side.
You're running in traffic in a multi-class race like that.
You've got to be so careful, particularly in sector one.
No, I think it's a point well made.
A lot of the corners kind of tighten up on you.
They're very inviting in the braking zones, but then there's kind of choke
points built in. It's one of those really beautiful kind of classic
American old school circuits.
And I love it for that.
But it's challenging for a reason.
I'm glad we keep coming back there.
But it certainly does pose a challenge.
And the layout is absolutely one of those things, Graham.
It is. And it's also it's got flow without a shadow down.
It's got flow.
What it's also got is the classic elements that do mean that phrase
we hear so often, Cautions, Pre-Cautions.
And that's what we saw, didn't we?
We saw it at Spa 24 as well, more than once, that just people just
needed to just calm down, let the race find its own pace, rather than
try to jump in and take an opportunity.
And that's what for me epitomized a fair chunk of that race.
And, you know, I think I was one of those frustrated viewers
that found that a difficult proposition to invest my entire six hours into.
And I think that's what everybody involved has got to bear in mind.
We don't tune in to endurance race to watch cars burn a safety car
under full course caution.
And that's why it's important that calm heads preside.
Doesn't get in the way of the fact that actually we had some fantastic
running, some fantastic racing throughout it.
We did see some pretty ill tempered stuff kicking around, including a course
in GTD Pro. Yeah.
As the incident, the end, wasn't there contact between Ford and Ford and Corvette?
Jonathan, what was your kind of take on that?
That was rather was that Chris Mease getting hit by Nikki Katzberg?
We saw Nikki go back and apologize afterwards.
But, you know, I think obviously compared to the streets of Detroit,
I think the racing in GTD Pro was a little bit tame, if you can even call it
tame ever, any track we go to, especially in an endurance race.
But I thought for me, the bulk of the action and the incidents were in GTD.
It's always a healthy field, but more than a couple of incidents.
I think probably the largest of which is when the 70 of Inception kind of turned
the number 13, 13 out of sport car, caught about four or five other cars
in the mix as well. Magnus was caught out, Windward was hit from the back
and that caused a lengthy caution and debris was kind of all over the S's.
And that one took a while to clean up, too, didn't it, Stephen?
Yeah, no, it is that part of the track, isn't it?
And I think the Magnus guys put something out on social media.
They were completely blindsided in the middle of all that chaos.
And, you know, we've seen it time and time again there.
You've got to be calm and collected.
It's just you don't have to do much wrong to cause an absolutely huge
incident involving multiple cars.
And it was it was a shame.
It's always a shame that early in a race like that, to see
teams having to kind of pack up and go home early.
But I would say, you know, we're dwelling a lot here on some of the incidents.
I was really, I was really pleased to see the P2 guys back.
I think we'd mentioned this, Jonathan, when we were on the Imza endurance hour
recently, it just feels like such a long gap for LMP2
from seeding all the way to Watkins Glen with no racing.
Obviously, these teams are busy doing testing and bits like that,
but they were all clearly raring to go.
For me, the the battle in P2 is truly alive with, you know, for the championship.
We've got four more races to go.
We've seen three different winners so far in Crowdstrike,
APR Daytona, United with the two car at Seabring.
And now a racing, getting back in the victory lane with the spike,
the dragon, Watkins Glen.
For me, that's something that everyone should be keeping an eye on.
It's so tight in LMP2 at the top.
So many big teams going out at Hammer and Tongues.
And I was delighted to see the AO guys pull that one out.
They were they were excellent, I thought.
What I wanted to mention, too, though, we talked about GTD Pro.
We didn't mention, by the way, the Lexus took the win.
And the Lexus took the win for the first time in GTD Pro
since Seabring in 2024 and on a really emotional day for the team.
They were honouring, you know, a long time friend and partner,
Dennis Reimboldt, during the Emsa race.
So they actually ran the cars under the banner of Vassar Salaf
and Championship Racing, the drier Reimboldt, badging on the cars
as well as a tribute to the Indica legend.
But great run from them.
And we should not forget that amongst the commentary around
perhaps some of the less salubrious happenings on track.
No, I think it's a point well made.
There's there's a little bit of life left in that Lexus RCF GT3 yet.
It's certainly one of the old dogs on the grid,
but it's been nice to see now in GTD.
And then last weekend in Watkins Glen GTD Pro,
Vassar still have still be able to extract the maximum performance in that car.
We know how capable they are.
And, of course, with the the the Reimboldt tie in as well
and how much that meant to Sully.
We've even heard it a few times on the broadcast through the race.
It seemed like there was a real desire to have a good result
for more than just the team.
And I think that's that's one that that Reimboldt would be very, very proud of.
But nice to see them back in Victory Lane, too,
because it's been weird not seeing Vassar Salaf
win as much as we would have thought may be going into this season.
But nice that that's starting to change form.
And just to quickly tie up that point on LMP2.
Hard to believe, again, yes, we've only had three rounds with those cars.
Hard to believe that that's A.O.'s first win of the year,
given how fine of a run of form they had last year.
But I think for for PJ Hyatt, Johnny Edgar and Dane Cameron,
that was a really phenomenal weekend.
But it was hard fought.
I mean, there were times in that race where four or five cars
were fighting for the lead in LMP2.
Yeah, fantastic. It just always delivers them.
I know, you know, LMP2 catch some flak here and there for being former Oracle
and maybe a bit boring and old people.
Some people aren't as interested in in prior racing, which I kind of understand.
But when you watch the races themselves, they always add so much.
And when you've got the full Imza field together with all the classes in one race,
LMP2 at times doesn't get the airtime it deserves.
And it's an argument it's really challenging for a broadcast
to try and cover all these battles, all these classes and give them all justice.
But yeah, P2 is fantastic.
And there was another good performance by CrowdStrike by APR as well.
I mean, they've had two podiums, including the win at Daytona in free races,
leading the championship now.
Irremote Sport were good.
They're kind of catching a bit of form.
So a decent at sea bring, but didn't get the podium just came off.
Ended up fourth, I think.
And then getting third place, I thought, was really, really encouraging from those guys.
So excited to come see where the kind of twists and turns take us in that class.
And I think it will probably go down to Pateet, the mom, to separate
some of these teams in the championship.
So yeah, now it's really good.
LMP2 in Imza seems to have two flavors.
One is chaotic and the other one is absolutely mesmeric.
And for those of the fond of let's call it what people call it, form of oracle.
It's going to go on for a bit longer
because that's the other little piece of news that has been breaking
in the last week or so is that it is going to go into 2029
before we get the new flavor of LMP2 cars being adopted by the Imza
where the tech sports called championship.
And that a decision that's been made in consultation with the teams.
And that's who you've got to listen to.
They're the customers. It's are they ready? Are they confident?
You know, Steve and I have been doing a fair amount of work in the Imza.
Sorry, the Imza, the Imla paddock this weekend
to talk through how things are progressing on the road towards the new
spec LMP2 cars, which will join the European Le Mans series in 2028.
You know, there's a variety of opinions on whether or not we've got enough progress yet.
What are we going to see first?
I think the smart money is that we may well see the leisure on track
before we see the Orica, but the moment commercially
that needs to happen because it's Orica that, of course, have cornered
the entire business of LMP2 right now and that needs to change around.
Yeah, it's going to be challenging for Leje.
And, you know, they're fully aware of that to get a big chunk of market share.
But it's not impossible. There are teams on the outside looking in the P2.
I know that one wants to get involved for a long time.
They may choose Leje because I feel like it adds to the chances of getting grid spaces.
And they're really at a premium because they're going to want variety.
And it would be an enormous shame and a failure in some ways of the ruleset
if we end up with a complete whitewash of one manufacturer from the get go.
And so I think Leje pushing really hard the background, of course, to talking to
Orica customers, existing customers as well as tapping up some of their P3 customers and
everyone else on the periphery.
But interested to see how much ground they can kind of make up as they look to kind of reinstate
themselves in P2. And I think as a whole, I'm delaying it by a year.
I think a pretty smart move. I think history will probably be kind to that decision because
although I don't believe that it would be an enormous struggle for Leje, Orica,
and certainly Gibson to have everything ready to go for Daytona in 2028.
And I guess for the for the sanctioned test at the end of 2027.
But it would be tight. And debuting a formula and a ruleset with a 24-hour race, as we've seen
in the past, and I'm thinking back to the first ever GTP race of LMDH,
it is a challenge to debut a formula of a 24-hour race and one that's so early in the calendar year.
So I think it's probably the smart move to give everyone an additional year in IMSA
to kind of prepare for it. It will play out in the LMS.
Gives the teams a bit more time to look at the investment they're making because
ultimately we're looking at a million euros a car pretty much for these teams.
And it's there's risks attached with whatever choice you make.
And we're seeing obviously a lot of European teams go over and do IMSA as well.
They'll need at least, you know, if they want to run two cars in the LMS and want to run a car or
two in IMSA or maybe even Asian Le Mans series as well, they're going to need more than two cars.
They'll want to, you know, ease into it. I think certainly there'll be teams that will be happy
to put down money for three or four cars at a time. I've no doubt there will be teams that are
ready to do that. But for these teams that put so much time and effort into it, and it's been so
long running with these Orochro 7s that they're going to want that choice. They're going to want
to have that little bit of extra time to get ready for what is a grinding difficult IMSA
season and one that's also very expensive. I think the other point here is you mentioned
the comparison with GTP. It's perfectly valid. But the big difference, of course, is those were
cars operating with factory budgets. These are not. These are customer cars. And what you certainly
don't want to do is to add in the uncertainty of potential development costs very early in the
car's life. You need certainty. You need certainty that what you've got is a car that is performing
in the way that it should, that is reliable in the way that it absolutely has to be.
And from IMSA's point of view, those customers are extremely important. It's not UC and ELMS.
It's the IMSA Weather Tech Sports Car Championship. It is their premier championship.
And what they don't want is in the premier championship and in their premier event, the Rolex
24 Hours of Data owner, as to be finding out early where developmental needs might be required.
It gives us another effectively three to six months of development time before those cars
are tested in competition. And I think that's the right decision. I'll be absolutely honest with
you. It's not going to impress some people in the industry side of things. But I think in terms
of the marketplace, it's the smart choice. And we wait to see what other decisions are made along
the way. Kind of an observational thing too, less technical and more intangible. But I've noticed
a lot in the IMSA Weather Tech Sports Car Championship. And I'm starting to see this kind
of bleed in to ELMS a lot, and especially in the build up to Le Mans. A lot of fan excitement
amongst new fans, like genuine excitement, particularly around some of the drivers in LMP2.
But more than I think I've ever seen for LMP2 as a category, like you said a few minutes ago,
it often gets a lot of guff. But it's been neat to see new fans, I think, especially kind of
amongst my generation, being properly excited about some of the racing and some of the personnel
in these cars. It's just not something I've seen before, but I think it's something that's only
positive for the sport. Again, I've seen it a lot in IMSA, but definitely seeing it on the European
side as well. I'm curious if that's going to extend into the new ruleset. I kind of hope it does.
But it's just kind of an interesting thing that I haven't really thought about much. And as you're
talking about it, and what LMP2 is going to look like in the next couple of years,
Graham, I think it's something that I really do hope continues, because I think it's only a good
thing. Well, we're certainly seeing, and a good example of that is European Le Mans series. And
what are we seeing? You know, Steven will attest in a moment, I'm sure, crowds are coming. And
crowds are coming for, I think, two or three reasons. It's in marketplaces that the WC isn't.
That's certainly a factor. And there are a number of teams and drivers in the GT ranks cars as well
that you otherwise would see in the FI World Insurance Championship. It's a very accessible
cost. And the access is stunning, really good. So it's a properly cost effective way to get
yourself, your friends, your family to a day of sports car racing. But let's not forget as well,
the racing is really good. I mean, the racing is really good. And they've got something that at
times the WC has not had, which is a decent package across the weekend. Now, you know, we're off to
Interlagos next weekend. As things currently stand, and I think it's the way it will stand,
is there is not going to be a support race for the WC. My understanding is there was a discussion
slash agreement in place with a local GT series in Brazil. They've not produced a grid that is
deemed to be sufficient to be financially viable. So the answer is no local support race. That's a
real shame. Elon S, of course, headlined by a big grid. Is it 21 this year? We've got Stephen across
both classes of LMP2 cars? Yeah, 21, 23, something like that. It's usually competitive.
It's a huge grid of spectacular, very quick race cars. And, you know, the very fact that they are
the same means that racing is phenomenally close. Whether or not the racing is phenomenally close
with the gentlemen drivers at the wheel, many of whom have got great personality around them,
or whether or not it's with the more household of the names, if you can describe sports car racing
drivers in that kind of vein. There's certainly a number of names that, you know, been through the
series. It's amongst the best racing we see. It's as simple as that. You know, I called those races
with Johnny Palmer, Stephen, you report on those races for DSC. There's no doubt whatsoever that
the quality of racing deserves a crowd. No doubt at all. It's not always been the case in the LMS,
but it's been the case in the LMS for some years now. This stands up to pretty much anything else
that's out there. And as all the other advantages has just listed. Yeah, kind of a rising tide,
as I say, lifts all boats and sports car racing is obviously in such a good place worldwide. People
watching it in more numbers, people are interacting with it in numbers who've never seen before,
people are going to these races. So they're biosmosis discovering these hypercar drivers that
end up in P2 cars when they're not in IMS or they're not in WEC. They're familiar with the teams
that have either used P2 as a stepping stone to hypercar or they look at an AO racing, which is
very fan focused with its character designs and things like that. They get people kind of
interested and engaged. So it's no wonder that we are seeing these crowds turning up at
LMS races. And it's why there isn't GTP across the border in IMS of Canadian Time Motorsport Park,
but P2 is the headliner and it doesn't stop fans coming out for it. They're still impressive
cars to watch. They're still driven by incredibly talented drivers and you still get plenty of
value for your money. I think as well, I think at the moment in this pretty packed period of
international sports, we're in the middle of the World Cup. So of course, we're here in Italy,
there's no reason for our Italian friends to be looking to football because they're not in it.
The same with the Danes and the Germans and the Scots and by the time this goes out a couple
of days, the Americans as well. And the Australians. But again,
joking aside, as the Italian police screech to a hotel. What was funny, you were just listing
facts, Graham. There you go. But the reality is, it is not unusual nowadays, wherever we go with the
European Monseries. Let's not forget that is the continental series for the ACO. It is not unusual
for us to be attracting five figure crowds and for the first figure in that crowd not to be a one
and not even at times a two either. And that's great. Nobody needs to make any excuses about
any kind of race meeting that attracts a crowd of 20, 25, 30, 35,000. That's a damn good crowd
for any sporting events. You know, we need to get away again from the exaggeration side of things
and move forward to the fact that what we're actually doing here is building something.
Well, speaking of good crowds, I was lucky enough to spend a little time in Belgium for the Spock
24. 132,000 people went to, I think, I think the the world's biggest race for GT3 cars at a
phenomenal circuit. Holy moly, 132,000. And in one of the hottest weekends Belgium has ever had on
record and disappointing 132,000. It was a horrendous crowd. It was amazing. I loved seeing it. I mean,
Spaz a vast place and it can hold a lot of people and it can make 132,000 people look like a mediocre
crowd. It was absolutely not. It was packed on the grid. Fans stayed throughout the night. I was
amazed. I was doing the night shift in the commentary booth. I can't believe how many
people I could see directly across from each sleeping in the main grandstands in unbelievable
heat even in the middle of the night. I was so encouraged by that. Yeah, I mean, Europe's been
in the middle of a massive heat wave. I mean, one thing that will make clear, it's an incredibly
impressive number. I think that's up from 120,000 last year. That is, remember, a weekend total.
So the reality is probably you had about 60,000 to 70,000 people being counted twice because
it's a two day race. The same applies to pretty much any number. But again, we need to focus not
on the minutiae, but the fact that we're talking about very substantial numbers. Spa 24 Hours
is one of the great endurance racing events. And, you know, even in years, and we've said
it's not been particularly good, the event has been stunning. SRO do an absolutely fantastic
job of putting that together with the Royal Occidental Bill Club Belgium. There's always
fantastic stuff for people to do. It attracts families, attracts younger people. There's obviously
the on-site parties and concerts that go on through the night. You know, it's a proper
event in the same way that Le Mans is the same. You know, the massive sound station has now got
the middle catering for a group of people that might like to watch cars for an hour or two,
but certainly aren't there to be clinging onto the fence tracks after all 24 of it.
It's a recognition that it's a good thing to get people together to celebrate sport,
to celebrate just a festival of whatever it's going to be. And it's great to see
in this era, the Spa 24 Hours thriving, I think that's extremely encouraging. And, you know,
in an era where we've got so much racing to be able to maintain and grow our blue ribbon
events is a very good thing indeed. And they put on a heck of a show for us this year, it has to
be said. It's a nice way, I think, to transition to talk about the race itself, certainly not
a lackluster year. There was excitement all the way from beginning and a zero to hero victory for
the number 80 Lion Speed Porsche. Porsche winning that event now for the first time since 2020,
which I think makes them the second winningest manufacturer at the Spa 24 of all time. And
a win from a team that was unlikely to win had done an engine change before the event had to
start the race as did a few other of its compatriots from Pit Lane literally came all the way from the
bar one position to win. And this is in a race where Porsche had no inherent pace really,
even through qualifying in Superpole, but it came to the fore in the race. It was a phenomenally
managed 24 hours from everybody involved. Thomas Prining, Ricardo Feller and Bastion Busse,
really, really strong effort, all three pulling their weight phenomenal result for Porsche.
And even with some late restarts had had a fairly decent little margin as well in there. But if we're
talking about the health of the sport and events that fans are coming to see, those that did stick
around had action all throughout. I mean, it was busy in the nightstand, it was busy at the
beginning, it was busy at the end, plenty of incidents as we're used to seeing at a race like
Spa that just entices drivers to kind of go over the limit. But but my goodness, what a phenomenal
24 hours, I might be a little biased and still have the rose colored glasses on because it was
my first time at Spa. And I was running around like a kid in a candy store, but I have a feeling
if I go back, I would be much the same way because Graham, it was a heck of a weekend.
Yeah, and it always is. And again, you know, SRO have grown so much in terms of understanding
and then acting on and providing a show. And what's always impressive about the Spa 24 hours is,
well, number one, it's Spa. As you said yourself, Jonathan, your first opportunity to experience
it, you can travel, you can walk around pretty much the entire circuit. My first time at Spa,
by the way, I can remember doing the walk, but I think it was the launch of his race,
did the walk all the way around the circuit with David Addison back in the day. My very first time
there. And what a phenomenal opportunity it was to see all that's got to offer. It is an amazing
place, an amazing part of the world. But then beyond that, if you're there with your family or
friends, just wandering around the paddocks, plural, the stuff to see their support package
is phenomenal. What they've built in terms of a support package is extremely impressive. You know,
we've got news in the always packed press conference that there's yet another new attraction
coming next year with the Mustang Challenge Invitational. Is that what they're calling it?
It is indeed, kind of similar to what we saw at the 24 hours of Le Mans last year, but now
getting to come to Spa for the first time, which I think is phenomenal. Yeah, absolutely. Sound
of freedom will be rattling around the Ardennes for days afterwards without a shadow of a doubt.
So, you know, it is, I said it before, I'm going to say it again. Say it again, because I do want
people, if they're listening to this, to think, need to put that in my bucket list, put it on
your bucket list. There's so much you can do in that area without just going to the racetrack.
You know, the racing is great. The event countryside around there is absolutely
phenomenal. And if, you know, if your interests go beyond motorsport, as Stephen and I found out
earlier this year around the UC event, the museums, etc., the memories of history that
happened in that area, in particular, things like the Battle of the Bulge, if you're coming from
further afield, book a few extra days, because I tell you right now, there is so much to see
and do, and you'll find a great welcome and pretty phenomenal fries as well. The fries
and waffles and beer. That's what I want to hear. What's next, boys and girls?
I think we should talk Le Mans Classic, because there are plenty of exciting things there.
HSR very, very heavily involved. Some very interesting drivers on the entry list, and some
folks who we don't typically see driving the race cars, more managing and kind of at the helm.
A couple of very prominent CEOs, Stephen, have gotten behind the wheel for this year's edition.
Yes, we've had Stefan Rotel, Pierre Fion, and John Doonan all on track on the same, on the
same bill of racing. And Richard Meals. I mean, Le Mans Classic, genuinely, I love going to
illamese races. I absolutely love illamese races. Some of the weekends that I look forward to the
most, I'm gutted that it clashes with Le Mans Classic. I'm gutted it's going to clash again next
year, it looks like, because we've just had the illamese calendar published for 2027, because
I'm looking at some of the pictures coming through from our photographers on site.
Andrew Scott and just the machinery there is just mouthwatering. And, and that's without,
you know, mentioning anything other than the HSR part of the paddock, which looks just stunning.
So you've got John Doonan in the Wonderbred Chevy Monte Carlo from Talladega Nights,
down as, is it John Bobby or Ricky Doonan either way on the entry list, which is amazing.
The Perrier car is there as well in just this amazing field of stock cars. And I'll stop talking
about stock car racing in a moment, because this isn't a stock car podcast, but I could just basically
go through that entry list and drool over that because I love stock cars so much. But that's
just one part of it. You've got Pierre Fion in an Audi R8, and then Stefan Rotel's part of the GT
free pack, isn't he? So yeah, really cool to see collaborate. There's so much collaboration now,
which is really impressive. And something like, you know, I'm really encouraged by, you know,
we've got meeting of the minds happening quite a lot. And everyone's realizing if we work together,
we can build something. And that's not just that the one classic we saw at Spartan E4,
didn't we, Jonathan, that there was some IMSA influence there with a message from John Doonan
in the press conference about collaboration on balance of performance in GT3 and GTD,
between IMSA and SRO. So this isn't just free guys on a jolly racing round, you know, an awesome
track in some awesome cars. This is kind of a product of a wider movement between SRO, IMSA,
and the ACO to actually get together and build something which I absolutely love.
Completely agree. I will disagree with one thing. I think it is three guys on the jolly,
but in the best possible way. The one I actually forgot, am I right, Jonathan,
that waving the green flag for the Spartan E4 house was Pierre Fillon.
That's correct. Exactly. I think it was actually a really neat thing to see. Pierre Fillon was
waving the green flag at an SRO event on the same weekend where a BOP collaboration at the Daytona
test this winter between IMSA and SRO was announced. That's awesome. Something John Doonan touts all
the time is kind of the phrase, a rising tide lifts all ships. And I think that was a great
example of it. Stefan Rotell in his annual press conference was very adamant about the desire to
continue working together with the partners at IMSA, with the partners at the ACO and the FIA,
and Graham, it's a super positive thing to see because I think it only makes the sport better.
I've long been a massive fan of aligning. I think it's the way to go in what is a very tricky time
indeed financially, globally, for the automotive trade in particular. But I want to go back and
talk a little bit about this Le Mans classic. And in particular, Stephen's point was well made
about our three president's CEOs of the three major bodies in the sport, which this podcast
supports. To make clear, by the way, Pierre Fillon, the quickest of the three, because that
Audi R8 is not an Audi R8 LMS GT3, it's an Audi R8 LMP 900 car, lapping today in under four minutes.
Somewhere a little over that, Stefan Rotell and his driving partner in Stefan's own Aston Martin
DBR RS9, gorgeous, gorgeous car. And what I thought, I can only presume this, and I'm sure that John
will be on the phone to correct me if I'm wrong. But I was taking a look at the qualifying pace in
the HSR NASCAR Invitational, 35 cars, by the way, in that pole position for ex British touring car
champion, Andrew Jordan. I think it's a 2011 Toyota Camry, he and his dad own.
John, I can only presume that John, who by the way, did turn up not just with the car,
but with his race suits in the Ricky Bobby Wonderbread livery, I can only presume that John,
in his typically fan forward manner, stopped to sign autographs on his qualifying lap,
because that's the only explanation for the time that we saw there, John. So well done,
I'm sure there's now thousands judging by game by the time of John doing an autographed bits and
pieces all the way around that circuit. So it must have pulled up, I think 20 or maybe even 30
times, but cracking stuff. He also seems to have the Fig Newton sticker on the windshield,
just like in the scene from the movie, judging by that lap time as well. So fair play to him for
really going the extra mile to sort of be Ricky Bobby.
I think the honest answer from me is, as we remember, what's the quote from the film? If
you're not first, you're last. Well, you weren't last, John. You were 34th out of 35. But I love
you dearly for doing it. I think the efforts put in by HSR to achieve what's been achieved there
is absolutely phenomenal. And I 1 million percent agree with Stephen. I think this is the start of
something quite big. And I hope that quite big applies not just to historic racing through
HSR and Peter Auto, of course, now with a significant shareholding and ownership stake
from the ACO with Peter Auto. But I hope this expands further into even closer relationships
between the three big bodies. We've been very lucky, gentlemen, in our three very different
career paths and career timelines in this sport to be working at a time when the racing is
deep and phenomenal and interesting. And long may that continue. I'm going to use the platform
that is this podcast to make a major request to John Doon and the wider NASCAR organization,
which is we've seen a lot of creativity in the NASCAR schedule in recent years,
and hats off to them for doing it with Street Races in Chicago. We just had the
race at the Naval Base in San Diego. Please, please host the NASCAR race on the support bill
for the Le Mans 24 hours. Please have the LaSalle 500. Please do it. The cars look amazing on the
circuit of LaSalle. Imagine the reaction. Imagine the crowd that would turn up. Imagine how good
of a race it would be to see 43 NASCARs flying down the Mulsanne Strait on a one-off NASCAR race
there. Please do it. Thank you for your attention. That would be something, wouldn't it? I don't think
there'd be anybody against that. I think I go back to just watching the European crowds reaction
anytime the Garage 56 entry went by when we got to see that a couple of years ago. And I mean,
I'd point you to IMSA's YouTube channel as well, because there's a couple of really cool pieces
that they've put out just about the HSR effort there at Le Mans Classic, what it's taking to run
these cars, and John Doonan kind of breaking down some of the entries as well. But he said,
within the first hour, more than 2,000 fans showed up in the video that he and Kurt Busch did kind
of breaking down some of the cars there. There's a lot of fan interest for some good old American
stock car racing over there, and I applaud HSR for the effort there. But yeah, if you don't get to
see it there, come to any of the other HSR rounds as well. They do a really phenomenal job. I mean,
you get to see rolling examples of history. These are not just display cars or continuation
cars or mock-ups. These are often real cars that really not often, always the real cars.
It's a pretty phenomenal thing to see. It'd be pretty sweet to see them at Circuit De La Sartha,
wouldn't it? What wouldn't it just? And you know, look, what we've got the moment is a round robin
of the One Mate Championship. So we already know that McLaren are coming with their trophy
for 2027 with GT4 and GT3 cars from McLaren also invited for that race. But yeah, I mean,
we've discussed, even on our road trips, what next after Garage 56 and NASCAR?
Don't disagree with you. Don't disagree. And actually, there's something in it here for the ACO,
potentially, to extend that race meeting by another day. Potentially have another track day
and don't run it on the Saturday. Run it midweek and just encourage fans to come earlier. Why would
you do that? Get the cars to do a quick qualifying run on the test day. There is time to do that on
test day. Get the qualifying done on test day and then get those cars running and extend the racing
week. Why would we not then see other major championships bidding for that slot? What about
V8 Supercars? What about Super GT? What about these fantastic, what about Super Formula? What about
those championships that don't get an opportunity to race at a blue ribbon event outside of their
normal bailiwick that all of a sudden have got this defined rolling slot that could just give
them a global audience that, as you said, and you know, as John Doonan says, pretty much every
time we talk to him about these things, it floats all boats. Yeah, totally agree. Totally agree.
Why wouldn't you do it? What's next, boys? Well, I suppose we can talk calendars. We've had the
ELMS calendar released as well. Some of the positives, some of the potential pitfalls there.
We talked about it briefly. Graham, what are some of the things you like? It's a fairly stable calendar,
but there are a few changes in when some of these events will take place. Yeah, I mean, there's a
recognition of, I think, a couple of factors. One of them is there's been a shift that principally
is designed to accommodate what we already know is an expanded UC calendar. That presents some
challenges with fixture congestion prior to Le Mans because Silverstone, as we all know, is back
on the calendar, but that will be prior to Le Mans. And because you've got the end of the Asian Le Mans
series in early 2027, you've got the start of both the WEC and the European Le Mans series with the
projection that it will be back in Qatar for the opening round is currently we're still working on
exactly what's going on with Qatar and Bahrain. This is year three of the plan seven. So bringing
the start of the season forward makes sense, but it's also, Stephen, resulted in the fact that we've
got an extension of a phenomenon that's been there maybe once, maybe twice a year, but now is becoming
more and more regular, which is back to back. Yeah, there's four of the six races
on the calendar for next year, back to back. So you've got Silverstone's return with WEC in April,
week before we go to Le Castillo, the LMS, then Yimaly LMS race, we're on back to back with WEC
into Lagos. And the Silverstone LMS race would be just before low style Lamont at Cota. And then we'll
go from Fuji with the WEC pretty much straight to the LMS finale at Port-a-Male next year.
Anyone who's doing the double there, for those of us straight off a plane from Japan to go straight
to Port-a-Male, I think you'll be able to spot us from a mile away because we'll be crawling down
that pit lane on that first setup day. But it's just, you know, there's only so many weeks in a year,
it's so hard to avoid clashes. And, you know, I applaud that what the ACO and LMEM do in terms of
not clashing with their own events so that we don't have situations where people have to,
you know, decide whether you can do full season WEC or full season LMS, things like that. It's
that's really important because LMS for a lot of drivers and some teams is almost a supplementary
thing for what they're doing in WEC. So glad that we get a stable calendar with a lot of great
circuits, glad that there's no silly clashes. And there's not really much in the way of
major clashes with anything that IMS is doing as well, which is also very important.
But it does mean that we have got these stretches certainly early in the season and then at the
back end of it, where we're going to be very, very busy boys. Yeah, I mean, I've seen a little bit
of commentary elsewhere, particularly around Sparr and Watkins Glen, that was implying that
that clash was a major problem. It's a problem. It's an issue. It's a pretty easy, you know,
stone to throw. It's a very much more difficult problem to solve with all sorts of things in
the mix, including of course, the constraints that a massive Formula One calendar throws into
the mix, not just because Formula One's got so many races, but because Formula One also has
an exclusion zone before those races. That means it's not just a week you've got to avoid,
it's multiple weeks for each of those, those tracks. I look at it on the other side, and I'm
going to get some snotty notes from friends in the panic, particularly friends who are professional
race drivers. When I say I get it, it does mean that some guys and girls have got to make a choice
between a full season here or a full season there, if indeed their contract gives them that choice.
It also means that if we have got a clash or two, other people get a shot. Other people get
an opportunity to show what they've got with a team that perhaps they hadn't run with before,
with a car that perhaps they hadn't run with before, it's not all a negative. And certainly,
I'm not massively at home to a very much smaller part of the racing community making this the
big issue. The big issue is that I can't go and race in both places. The big issue is that I can't
go and attend both races, whatever their position might be, unless convinced that that should be
the defining argument. I'd like us to be able to avoid a clash. I'm of the opinion now having sat
down with many, most if not all of the organizing parties involved here. It's pretty much next
to impossible. Well, we've had a look now quickly at the European Le Mans series calendar. Let's
talk ILMS in round three, because at the time of recording, at least, that's where the rest of
the daily sports car contingent is. You guys are focusing your efforts out there in Italy.
Just want to get some quick thoughts on the weekend ahead, what you think where the series is,
three rounds in, four classes to contend with, an LMP2, LMP2 Pro Am, LMP3, and LMGT3. Just a
couple 30,000 foot view looks at what we can expect. And Stephen, I'll start with you.
Yeah. Again, it's obviously that gap we've had Le Mans, where a lot of the same teams,
a lot of the same similar looking cars were there, certainly the P2 ranks, but very different
driver lineups. And now we go back to these teams battling for points. And it is ultimately very
important, you know, this championship, it makes up the P2 class. When we look at LMP2 and LMP2
Pro Am at Le Mans, the majority of the teams there are from the ILMS pool. So how they do
the championship certainly has an effect on how favorable they are in the eyes of the selection
committee. So definitely worth a watch from, from there on. And it seems like a long time ago,
but last time out, we saw United get a win for the first time in a while with Ben Hanley, Griffin
Peebles and Greg Russel. See, they were fantastic. And they lead the championship now with that win
because they also had the podium, the opener at Barcelona. So keen to see how United get on
after what was a pretty challenging Le Mans for both their cars. So, you know, an opportunity for
them to kind of bounce back and get their season back on track. And then into Europol, I mean,
definitely want to see what's what they follow up their Le Mans performance with another big
win at Le Mans. But this is a team that sort of traditionally it feels like finishes second in
every race in LMP2 and LMS. So hopefully they can, you know, find a way to break through or at least
be in there. So I want to see that championship battle stay tight. And then same for, for Fristio
by, well, for Fristio racing by Panis, they've been, you know, impressive, the one, the opener
had a mare and retired from Le Castellet. So they'll be looking, looking to kind of, you know,
get back on to terms with the sort of head of the field. And then look elsewhere, Graham, I mean,
P2 Pro Am looks tight. You can't look great. Of course, our GoPro racing LMP3 just seems to be
more more competitive, I'd say that it's been the last couple of years, we've got more contenders,
it's not just one lineup that looks much better than the rest this time. And then we've got
LMGT3, which has a habit of going down to the wire with like seven or eight cars in the mix. So
will Kessel racing retain the points lead at the end of this event? I wouldn't necessarily put my
money on it based on previous seasons, but excited for all of the classes really, it's always, always
a good time. I think for me, I look forward to kind of the sort of compartmentalize these races.
I think the battle of the bronzes is always enthralling through the qualifying,
the way it's now run, and then into the race with a really capable bunch of bronzes.
For me, one of the emerging tales of the European Le Mans series is this group of
truly talented emerging stars. You know, we all know about Malta Jacobson, he'll be back with
the 25 crew, of course, this weekend. And so truly, apart that one as well, estimate Masson how much
longer before he gets a shot in a factory hypercar at Toyota. You know, we talked about
Ollie Gray and the amazing work he did last year and into this year with what's now for us here,
racing by Panis. I know Stephen Hughes sat down earlier with Matishio Behr. Now, and usually
the baby driver, as he's now known within Genesis Bible Racing, isn't a GT car for this one. But
then you've got others kind of emerging. There's a change in LMP3 that I'll be keeping an eye on.
You haven't missed Iglesias and how might he actually emerge as a bit of a rising star there.
And there's a name you mentioned when we talked, you talked just a few moments ago about the
battle between the P2 High Flyers that I absolutely urge people to keep an eye on
through this season. And that is Griffin Peoples. He was not part of United Order Sports' efforts
at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But I think he, and for that matter, a resurgence in form from Gregor
Salty has been a massive factor in the turnaround of form we've seen from United. It's a team with
a massive amount of ambition with their pro-am efforts in the European Le Mans series, the
Asian Le Mans series and IMSA, which will remain beyond their time into hypercar with McLaren.
And that process too, I think, is beginning to attract the attention of a lot of people
within that organisation, not least the drivers. Gregor, one of a number that's got the opportunity
to do some development running before the final selection of drivers is made. Who knows what
are the storylines might come forward. There's been announcements in just the last 24 hours
about another area of motorsport that involves McLaren. And I do wonder whether or not that
announcement has got carried over into a hypercar programme too.
I would be surprised if it didn't in one way, shape or form. But of course, until the news is
out, we can only speculate. But there does seem to be a lot of behind-the-scenes movement,
especially when these big OEMs are involved in different types of racing. It's hard to not
ignore the possibility of, okay, what do their contracts look like? Can they be pulled to do a
race here? Do a full season here or things like that? So we'll have to wait and see, Stephen.
Yeah, I want to use this chat about ELMS at Imola as a springboard into another
selection of news items that we've had in the last couple of weeks and certainly coming out of SPAR,
which is, we talked about ELMS calendar, we've had Le Mans calendar, but SRO has used the
opportunity at the SPAR 24 hours to throw out tons of calendar news for all their championships
around the world, which is always a reminder for me of just how much they're involved in.
Couple of items I think are definitely worth picking out, picking the sort of bones out of.
We've got Imola, I think, is back on the GT World Challenge Europe calendar instead of Monza,
which will be a lot of fun. And for anyone who loves Turn 1 crashes at the Monza chicane, it's a
bit of a disappointment. But I think for those of us who love Imola and I, one of those certainly,
I'm excited to see the cars go around there. But for me, the biggest news calendar-wise
of the last couple of weeks has been IGTC, a change for the round in America. We're going to
instead of Indianapolis and Jonathan, you're well equipped to talk about this
with the work that you do of SRO in America. So you kind of reaction to them switching out
venues for the North American round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, because that looks
to me like an event that could have potential to become more of a landmark going forward and
something worthy of the calendar that they put together.
I think it does. There's a lot of positives here. Part of this was drawn in part by, and Stefan
Rotel spoke to this, is a potential for the IMS road course to be repaved in that part of the
year. There's still some speculation on if that will happen or not. But that was certainly a
deciding factor. But I think the move to have the American round at a very American track,
of course, it's hard to argue that an American racing track doesn't get any more American than
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But if you're going to have a secondary option, I think doing
an eight hour race in Texas in Austin earlier in the year, yes, it's going to be warm, but it
always is in Texas. It's a great city. There's a lot to do outside of the track. It's a phenomenal
facility. And I think for SRO America, this last round we had here, just the second round of the
season with a normal race duration weekend, the three hour contest for GT World Challenge and
all the support series with their various race durations, it was the highest attended round
at Kota that they had seen. And it was the highest attended SRO America round bar none
that SRO had seen under the SRO leadership. So there's already momentum for that event under
a normal race duration. You add an eight hour endurance race that's immediately more bang for
buck for the fans there. And they also they had a lot of fun with it with the hospitality unit.
I mean, they had they brought a stable of actual live bulls to do some promotional shooting and
things like that. That was a lot of fun. It was no, it was amazing. I mean, they kind of dubbed
the whole thing the SR rodeo, which I loved. I think if you're going to lean into it, it was great.
Like we were all just giggling and laughing and having a great time. All the European drivers had
cowboy hats, they went and bought boots. It was great. So I think if you're going to do an eight
hour race there, job done, great move. I don't see that event going anything other than well.
And also the racing we got for three hours was phenomenal. So for eight hours, and you add on
the international contingent as an IGTC round, I think it's it's a bang up job for them to do
that. That's one I'm really, really excited for next year. Do you get the impression that if it is
a major success, it will stay at Cota? Or do you think this is just a stop gap for them going
back to Indianapolis? Do you have any insight on that? I don't know. I wish I could comment one way
or another. I think that one's a little above my pay grade. But again, I don't I feel like this event
is going to go well. My gut tells me that and the numbers that we saw from this year, we go from
it was a market improvement from what we saw even just a year prior. There were I think SRO has done
a really good job at catering to local car communities and bringing them in maybe car
enthusiasts that don't quite know their motorsport fans yet. They've done a really good job of that.
They've largely expanded the VIP section of it. So you can get into the door very affordably and
then go up to whatever kind of experience you want to have. And you know, if you want to sit in the
grandstand all day and roam the track, you can if you want to sit with caviar and champagne,
you can do that as well. But I don't know. I wish I had a better answer for that. I think,
of course, if there was an opportunity to go back to Indianapolis, I think Greg Gill and
Stefan Rotell and everybody involved would immediately be on the phone to Doug Bowles,
the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and try to make that happen. But an eight hour
race and an IGTC round at Circuit of the Americas is pretty enticing as well. So I wouldn't be
surprised if that one stuck around if it is a success. And I suspect it would be Graham.
Yeah, I tend to think so. You and I, Steven, have had cause to, we've sat down with Doug Bowles in
recent times, but not necessarily about Indy. We've certainly done so with the management team
at the Circuit of the Americas and neither lack ambition to draw these kind of big international
events to their places. And here's the thing, competition between the two is not a bad thing
for the show. I think that's a good message to get across. And we wait and see just exactly how
long the WEC is committed to the Circuit of the Americas and whether or not there might be
some competition emerges there too. I suspect that might be the case in coming years. I don't
think there's an easy ride for people to have 567 10 year contracts for these big
races when you've got other facilities that are very keen to draw that attention. While we're talking
IGTC, by the way, I just want to mention one other news item that broke, I think, yesterday, day
before. And it's congratulations to friend of the show, Richard Crailsy Crail, the man behind the
success that is the Bathurst 12 Hours, of course, another IGTC round, looking after the PR for many
years with that event, Lee Commentator for that event, the voice of the Bathurst 12 Hours and now
confirmed as the voice of the V8 Supercars or Supercar Championship across Australia, the biggest
job in motorsports broadcasting in that great nation. And I'm proud to say he's my friend,
he's my mate. I'm proud to say I'm proud of him for getting that job and a voice that millions of
Australians will be following their favourite part of the sport, I hope for decades to come.
Completely agree. Love, Richard, I've spent plenty of time with him,
not only at Bathurst itself, but I've spent a little bit of time with him when he came over
for Le Mans and he's thoroughly deserving. I mean, the ability he's got commentary-wise,
he's so good at analysing races, he's so good at bringing, interjecting with a bit of humour,
his knowledge is second to none. That is fantastic news, I hope, but I assume it's not going to
change anything to do with his commitments to the Bathurst 12 Hours because he's been a revelation
for that event and the way it's built and the way it's kind of hung in there and now grown again
after the travels of the pandemic. So yeah, great shout out there, Graham, 100% that's
a worthy news to chat about. Bathurst is, of course, a Supercar's promoted event. I see
no reason why they wouldn't have their major voice doing it. What I hope is that it just
encourages yet more crossover into that event. It had its years when it was quite the opposite,
but we've seen a great move towards yet another aligning success there and I hope we hear more
of it. And, you know, he's got his troubles to come in the years to come, Creelzy. There's
teams, but on the most sport front, at least, he's got a smile on his face.
Well said. Let's talk about tyres and let's talk about the context of the interlargos round that
we've got coming up in the WC next week. I think that's where we should go next, guys. Had the news
that Goodyear has had its contract extended in the ELMS for LMGT-3 through through 2029,
the bringing in new tyre, which, you know, is fantastic news. They're very well invested in
this other sport. They do a lot of activation as well as just providing the actual rubber for
the teams and drivers to use. But this is a really important moment, not just for ELMS and Goodyear's
kind of presence there, but also for the general marketplace in sports car racing. People will
be looking to the São Paulo race next week for many reasons. It's a crucial race at the championship.
There's loads of storylines to follow and we'll get into that next week,
Graham, when we're there on the ground and recording Twisk in that part of the world. But
there's plenty of people looking forward to the week after that race. We might hear more about
the WC and the calendar for the end of the year, the final decision being made on whether we're
going to the Middle East. But we're also expecting, yeah, but we're also expecting to hear in the fall
out of the São Paulo race at some point, what's happening with the tyre tender for hypercar. So
for next-gen hypercar, it looks like it's a battle between at least two
tyre brands and there's no prizes for guessing that Michelin and Goodyear are involved in that.
Both brands pushing incredibly hard, putting together packages and
putting together solutions that will try and get them that exclusive contract. That's a huge deal.
I mean, I talk about tyres a lot and I kind of, you know, people do it on occasion in press
make fun of it, but I find tyre technology very interesting. But I also find interesting the
way that the marketplace has kind of changed recently. We've gone away from tyre walls,
we've gone away from open tyre competition really pretty much everywhere. It's now a battle of
sustainability. It's now a battle of market share and where you've got a footprint. And
we shouldn't underestimate, should we Graham, how important it is to have brands like Michelin
and Goodyear putting lots of time and effort into investing into our part of the sport,
what it does for the racing, what it does for the messaging around the racing,
and what it does for fans enjoyment of the race at some of these races, because they do
put a lot of effort in. So a really interesting moment coming up in the next couple of weeks
from that. It is. I mean, you mentioned LMGT-3. It's also, of course,
LMP2 extended into the new era for LMP2 from Goodyear. And you mentioned the sustainability
side of things in pushing forwards to and through 50% of sustainable materials in the new for 2026
hypercar tyres. Michelin, I think I'm right, saying 66% for the next generation. I think
Goodyear. But you're right. It's become something that perhaps we'd been missing for a little
wee while, a technology showcase. And that's great to see back. And there's a lot of people
push on about, yeah, we'd love to see tyre wars, pretty much impossible to have tyre wars in a
BOP formula, effectively, because it's something that makes it so much more difficult to balance
when you've got that variable in there. It is great to see. You and I both know from talking to
some significant movers and shakers in both those brands. And let's call it what it is. It is about
the brands with Goodyear, Dunlop, selling off their interest in the remaining marketplaces they held
for Dunlop to Sumitomo rubber. That, by the way, the basis of the change in the Dunlop bridge to
Goodyear bridge this year, it is about the brands. And it is about market share. So there's a big,
big push from each of those brands, as there is, by the way, from Pirelli with their efforts in
GT racing and remains to be seen, by the way, whether or not they do pony up and rebid for
Formula One. There's all sorts of rumours that that may not happen. There is about the brands.
What's interesting here is how much those two brands value this platform right now. And that
brings us into a whole different ball game, a whole different discussion, which is something
that, to be blunt, seven or eight years ago, we would not have been talking about in top
class international sports cars. And that is the increase in return on investment that all of a
sudden now, with more people watching, more bums on seats, people coming through the turnstiles,
people taking an interest, more media coverage, we seldom, Stephen, go into a media room now
that is not full. All of a sudden, these are becoming contracts which have got really hefty
commercial weight behind the competition for them. Yeah, it goes far beyond, I would say,
the tires themselves, lots of good gear bringing blimps to races, we've got the likes of Michelin
bringing along massive stands and activation, stands at some of these rounds and showing off
their road car tyre ranges at races. And it is really important to know what you lose from a tyre
war, an open tyre competition in raw performance and pushing the boundaries there. You gain in
other areas of innovation. And let's not forget that these tyre companies are very similar to
the way that most companies are now and certainly in the automotive sector, where they've got an eye
on sustainability, they've got an eye on the future. And by not having to focus entirely on
raw performance, which of course, there's still elements of every time they've been at new tyre,
they want to make improvements in that. It's more about road relevance, what they can get from
consistency from tyres, and what they're getting from materials that they're using in these in
these tyres. So when we're seeing these figures about 66% sustainable materials from a like a
good year, likes a good year, there's a lot more opportunity from the road car division and the
racing division at a company like Goodyear to trial out new materials they're using in the
kind of cocktails that they put together for these tyre compounds and testing them on track.
And it's very, very relevant for what they're bringing out for the road. They're testing not
only what these materials can do in terms of properties, and these are everything from lemon
peels and tomato enzymes and all sorts of innovative and new materials are being used to
kind of take the place of traditional rubber. They have to test how effective they are performance
wise, durability wise, but also what the supply chains like for these materials and whether
they're relevant for the road. So always kind of good to keep an eye on that side of thing.
I think we're coming quite close to the end of this, but there's certainly at least one big
multifaceted story that I want to try on Jonathan first before we move into a couple of bits of
news on this. And that is Lamborghini. Is that the last of the big stories we're going to cover
Stephen or am I missing one? No, that's for me the last big story of the podcast.
So I want to start this with the man that was at the Spa 24 hours to observe the progress of the
much committed upon Lamborghini Timurario and what its performance levels look like.
So from your perspective, Jonathan, watching the progress of the two cars that raced at the Spa
24 hours, how did Lamborghini's new baby look on track? I think it was a solid showing for them.
Was it a race winning car? No, but they were hovering in the top 20, top 15. Remember 69 cars
started the Spa 24. So in the top third, if not better of the field, the entire race,
unproblematic, the nose was largely clean, very few if any issues during the race, which I think
for the reliability of the car. Remember first GT3 car that Lamborghini has built up from the
ground up themselves, I think is something to absolutely be proud of. Again, did not have
race winning pace, but a very solid day kept the nose clean. And, you know, I think back to some of
the comments that have been made by Lamborghini squad of course of this year saying that they
are targeting a win for the Timurario in some category. It races in DTM, it races obviously
in IGTC, in the European leg for SRO Europe, and also in the IMSO WeatherTech Sports Car
Championship as well, where it came second on the streets of Detroit. Positive results I think
are starting to come. I think that Spa 24 is one to absolutely be proud of. It was a big weekend
for Lamborghini as well. They had Super Trafeo Europe on display. We saw that the North American
arm of that championship at Watkins Glen with the outgoing Huracan Super Trafeo Evo 2 that will
be replaced by the Timurario and I think looks fantastic. But for the GT3 car, I think it was a
solid showing, something to be proud of, something to build off of. It's just a matter of starting
to now extract that little extra performance in the second half of that car's first year.
I think there's, you know, I've had a couple of conversations with people
involved on with her, running the Kimos over in the shaping of the program. And I think there's
frustration that yes, there are some problems. I mean, areas that keep coming up, breaking system,
and in particular rear grip. The homologation bracket, if you like, does not appear to be
being kind to its handling characteristics. Not unique to the Timurario, something that was
an issue with in various states of trim for the Huracan as well, particularly in LMGT3 form.
Remember the Iron Dames having an absolutely terrible time with the car in a bon year?
They ran with it in the WEC. But no shortage of ambition still for that platform. Big
plans in terms of the rollout into Super Trafeo, which is a huge part of the, how can I put it,
the funding chain, the packaging of Lamborghini Squadra Corsa. And Stephen, I know you were talking
to you and Wayne and James Alston, we had that pairing at the Spa 24 hours. A lot of opportunities
sit down with the powers that be at Lamborghini Squadra Corsa and lots of positivity about GT,
and a little bit too maybe about the future elsewhere. Yeah, no, it was a first real opportunity for
Andrea Rajani, the new head of motorsport at Lamborghini Squadra Corsa. A bit of stability
there now finally after quite a few changes in the last few years at the top end of that program.
And yeah, he was talking about the direction of the Tamarario after its initial rollout and
their kind of plans for production, because of course the Super Trafeo, as you mentioned,
Jonathan is coming along song very soon. So there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes to
kind of build up a stock so that they can fill these grids. And yeah, I mean, he was pretty honest
about the fact that the Tamarario does have its weaknesses and areas, but it was it was interested
to hear him kind of make sure that he kind of stressed that they're not rushing into an Evo
for this car necessarily, they're trying to work with what they've got at the moment.
They believe, you know, and there's every new car that's, you know, rolled out, no matter what
formula it is, there's going to be an element if you just need a bit of time, you know, you can't
expect a car that's brand new and just been developed to be up there with the best in the
business immediately. It's going to take a little bit of time for everyone to extract the maximum
out of that package and for them to work out if they do have fixes to bring out for it, whether
that is an aratom fix, which is like an outside of a moligation change to a car for safety,
which is what we saw Ford do with the Mustang and that made a huge impact. That's a lever they
can pull. They can pull the Evo lever, but it doesn't seem like they're going to be doing that
anytime soon. They've got the reliability nailed down. They've got to, you know, make sure that
they're on top of everything else before we start to see this car entering new markets and being
produced and delivered to customers and numbers. And I think I think they're on track with that.
It is on an upward curve in terms of performances and results that we're seeing from the program. So
it was good. It was good to hear him come out and chat to the media, kind of give some positive
and encouraging signs for where this is all going because they need their customers and potential
customers to know how invested they are into this. And there's no doubt that they are entirely
invested in making sure that the Tamarara goes on to be just as successful if not more successful
than the Hurricanes. Yeah, some nice stuff on the website about the Tamarara, but as you mentioned,
Graham, they did talk about hypercar as well, a little bit of a kind of hint that perhaps they
are still sniffing around at 2030. They are still potentially looking at whether there's an opportunity
for the SC63 LMDH to run again, maybe an Asian Le Mans series. So yeah, I think that would be
good news. But the other thing I was going to say, you mentioned about Lamborghini,
Jonathan targeting a win in its first year for the Tamarara EO GT3. They did take a win,
but then lost it for speeding under yellow in the DTM. Albeit it should be said with that car
running slightly outside the mulligation window with the rear wing in DTM trim. But I'm certainly
not seeing very much by way of evidence as to why some of the commentary, I think particularly in
German media was so down about this and it wasn't very long ago. So let's get a bit of hashtag
wait and see on that. Yeah, it's an interesting thing, isn't it? I mean, how often do we talk
about it? A brand new car is uncompetitive in its first year. This has not been the case of that.
I think the Tamarara EO has been competitive. Again, we talk about Detroit, some of the work in DTM
with an asterix for some of the rear wing angles, things like that. But it's first 24 hour race
because it debuted at the Mobile One 12 hours of seabring. It did not do the Rolex 24. That was
the outgoing Huracan GT3 Evo II. But in the hands of FAF, I think it started to come along. I know
there's been some frustrations there and trying to get the car, like you said, rear grip wise into
a window, but very capable crew. I have no doubt that Steve Bartolotti will continue to find some
clever things to make that car work. I know that folks at Squadra Corsa are working with them to
develop it and all their customers to get feedback. But for a first 24 hour showing, I think it's
very positive. But what of hypercar? There's been some new comments on that front as well, Graham.
Yeah, I think we're talking about two potential ways forward. They talked about a program being
paused. There are cars out there available. Is there interest for the Asia-Lamon series?
Well, I think we'll find out once we know what the calendar is. The clock is ticking here.
And if there's been one theme that has kept coming back at me with conversations I've had in the
European-Lamon series paddock this past few days, it is, boy are people hungry to find out what the
decision is going to be about Middle East or no Middle East. We've seen Graventic make some moves
with their calendar. We've seen the Golf 12 hours cancelled. I think we can pretty clearly see why
from Bahrain, sorry, excuse me, from Yassmarina in January. Graventic with the three race calendar
now focused entirely in the UAE, a 12-hour race at Yassmarina. The Dubai 24 on the same date that
was initially allocated for the Golf 12 hours and immediately following a six-hour race at Yass.
So they're going back to the UAE. ACO, LMEM, need to make decisions about Qatar and Bahrain for the
WEC and about the UAE for the Asia-Lamon series. And the critical path for all of that is pretty
clear to me that if they make the decision on one that we're not going, we're not going for the other
one either. And there's all sorts of good reasons why that would be the case, not least of which is
that hypercar is coming to the Asia-Lamon series. I am concerned about the viability of that new
class in any depth should the decision be made that we go to Southern Europe for the Asia-Lamon
series. I think if we go to Europe to replace the UAE, it is highly unlikely we'll be going to
Sabang. I think it will be an entirely European series for 26, 27, if that's the decision. I don't
envy them that decision at all. We're having to lock in very early at a time when, well,
we know on this side of the Atlantic, and I'm sure you guys know on your side of the Atlantic,
Jonathan, to say that this is in a state of some flux, to say that there's uncertainty about
the announcements and the intentions on both sides of this would be a dramatic understatement.
And unfortunately, all the powers that be both in the hosting nations, whether that be Europe
or the Middle East, and for that matter, the sanctioning bodies, because this is not just
about sportscar racing, it's about motor GP, it's about Formula One as well, are pretty much
helpless in that maelstrom. Yeah, it's not a position I envy in any regard. It's something I
wait eagerly on with, I think with the rest of us that do reporting and journalism and broadcast
work of the sport to see what decisions come out of it. But there's so much that hangs in the
balance. Like you said, there's global politics. There is the case of the new rule sets. There are
other series in their calendars and driver availability. What the desires of the OEMs
are at the end of the day? Are they focusing more on going the EV route? Have they gone too far in
that route? Are they now pulling back? Are they trying to sell more cars in this sector or that
sector? Do they value this market more or less than another? There's so many different things
in flux. I think the timing of the announcement of the new rule set, which we now know what they are,
I think is a very positive step forward. In my mind, that would lead to some more
concrete decisions being made sooner rather than later. I would hope by the end of the year,
if not before, in terms of what programs may or may not be coming or where they would be racing.
I think the desire is for everybody to race everywhere that they can, Graham. But
I'm hoping that at least the announcement of the rule set is a positive step forward into
getting some of these things cleared up. I think that the 2030 rule set, the clarity that we've
got moving forward is very, very positive. In the short term, though, what the teams,
whether or not that be the full factory teams involved in the FI World Endurance Championship,
or the professional Pro Am teams that involve themselves in the Asia Le Mans series and
the European Le Mans series for that matter, they are hungry for certainty and what we need now.
And I think we're weeks, days, weeks away from that certainty. A call is going to have to be made
on this. And I know that one or two of our rule makers listen to this podcast. I don't envy you
that decision. Whatever the decision is, there are going to be critics on one side or the other.
I think it's just a matter of making sure that, number one, we're as safe as we possibly can be,
that people are confident they can travel. And number two, we've got high quality events to
look forward to. And number three, that in the case of the Asia Le Mans series that the customers
have been listening to and what their desires are, because I think there might be a very different
answer to those that are prepared to put the money down for what will be multimillion euro programs
for hypercar, should we be going to Middle East and Asia, to that which might be rather more
risky meteorologically speaking, should we be going to Europe in the winter months?
Fingers crossed, the right decision is made. I'll put my hand up right now and say, personally,
right now, whatever the decision is, I'm going to support it because I don't want to be the person
making that decision. It requires bravery, it requires certainty. And I know that this has been
done with the long term vision, future of the sport as a whole, but these championships
in particular and the partnerships we've currently got in mind. And I think that's the attitude we
should all take. It's an almost impossible decision to get right while the pieces are all still in
play and they are. Maybe, just maybe the FIA should offer a peace award that might sort things out.
That somewhat acid opinion, I sort of apologise for it, not really, but somewhat apologise for it.
Jonathan, after PAC Show, with an hour and a half on the clock, bring it home.
Thanks very much for listening from Graham Goodwin and Stephen Kilby. I'm Jonathan Grace. We'll see you
next time on The Week in Sports Cars.
About this episode
Coverage of back-to-back endurance highlights kicks off with the Six Hours of the Glen and the chaotic, caution-heavy nature of Watkins Glen. The 31 crew’s breakthrough win is framed as the payoff of operational excellence, while rivals like Wayne Taylor Racing are criticized for losing momentum when it counts. The hosts also dig into contact and multi-car incidents across GTD Pro and GTD, plus the importance of calm driving under “cautions, precautions.” LMP2’s return to racing at Glen is praised for reigniting a tight championship battle.
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