The LMDh category has been a long time in gestation but it’s finally here, and ready for competition debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona at the end of January. The cars had a final group test at Daytona early in December and, although each of the manufacturers that were present, including Cadillac, Acura, Porsche and BMW, had car-stopping problems, the teams set about fixing them in test conditions, rather than a race weekend and go into the first race with some optimism after a challenging year.
This test was the first time teams had sight of the new tyres from Michelin that will be used next year, and was supposed to be a performance test to help organisers with the Balance of Performance for the 24-hour race. However, failures of the motor generator unit (MGH) and other electrical issues, along with dramas at customs shipping new parts in, prevented much meaningful running. Following the test, teams were more concerned with making their cars run cleanly than worrying about the obvious lack of grip on cold tyres fresh out of the pits, or even what their rivals were doing.
Acura ahead
Official times were not available from the testing, but from data available to teams it appears the Acura was fastest, at 1m35.75s, Cadillac narrowly behind at 1m35.80, Porsche 1m35.90 and BMW 1m36.35s. The cars were at similar pace over long runs, too.
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