the 2015 season kicks off in 3 weeks and I start fidgeting with excitement just before Christmas….  So, what do we have to look for?

What We Lost

Well, we are losing 3 teams to the Pirelli World Challenge!  GTD Champion Turner Motorsport, for one.  Flying Lizard and Bob Stallings/Gainsco have also left IMSA for 2015.  That’s 3 teams with 5 cars, 4 of them in GTD alone.  With them goes 10 drivers. (Anyone who argues that GTD has not gotten too expensive, remember this!  They left due to the costs of the series.)

We lost the Dodge/SRT Viper team in GTLM.  Thats a shame, right after winning the GTLM championship and screwing Jonathan Bomarito out of a championship that he rightfully won WITH Kumo Wittmer.  They both ran the same car throughout the season.  To put them in separate cars, though…  I understand the strategy but after all the work to get there only to split the drivers for the last year is an insult to the drivers.  It’s like pulling your best wide receiver for the Super Bowl!  No sir, I don’t like it!

Scott Sharp’s Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) and Patrick Dempsey Motorsports leaves full time Tudor for the WEC.  Both intend to do all 4 of the Patron North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) races.  OK, ESM kinda has to as driver Ed Brown is Patrons CEO.  However, I think that’s a good sign.  They are moving up from Tudor’s regional series to the World Cup of Endurance racing.  If they are competitive, and I see no reason for them not to be, it speaks volumes to the quality of the racing in the IMSA/Tudor series on the world stage!

What We Gained

We have a new prototype team and the return of two former stalwarts.  RG Motorsports is fielding a Riley/BMW for Ohio neurosurgeon Richard Gewirtz.  While they have yet to name drivers, its a start.

Starworks Motorsports is back, this year with a Riley-BMW in cool Martini colors!  After last year’s debacle with the Riley-Honda that struggled at both Daytona and Sebring, they bring a solid, competitive, package for 2015.  Its a package that will work, something they couldn’t do with the Honda in the DP chassis.

Krohn Motorsports returns with a Ligier-Judd for the full season!  The solid green cars return with the state of the art P2 package.  With the speed that OAK Racing showed with their coupes last year, this should be very competitive.

What’s Changed

Michael Shank losses Ford but gains Honda!  Not only that, they go to the Ligier-Honda P2 package. They should be fast!

Chip Ganassi (Ok, I AM NOT Spelling out the entire name…) drops Memo Rojas and his TelCel sponsorship and gains American Ace Joey Hand and Ford as primary sponsor.  This is a very interesting story to follow for 2015.  Ford IS releasing a new GT car at next months Detroit Auto Show with plans to attack LeMans in 2016.  That year is the 50th anniversary of Fords first win with the GT40.  Ford is teaming with Chip Ganassi to make this happen.  Ironically, Chip has both Chevy NASCAR and Indycar teams.  Though Roger Penske (a hero of mine) splits Ford in NASCAR and Chevy in Indycar, I see a big change in the future on the other side as neither manufacturer usually tolerates this kind of conflict of interest.

The FIA drivers ratings are kind of screwy.  ( I can use that word, my blog).  How is it Jordan Taylor goes to Platinum with only a win this season and Joao Barbosa drops to Gold after winning the championship?  Why are there so many top line drivers NOT able to get rides and so many people who, frankly, I don’t care to know, getting (or paying for) rides.  I mean, REALLY!  Ryan Eversley, Guy Cosmo, Spencer Pumpelly and others are not going to be here.  I think GTD should be broken up to a GTD-Pro and a GTD-Am (or Pro/Am).  But, maybe if the purses were bigger…  A story for another day!

What I Expect

I expect there to be another year of GREAT racing, with fewer controversies.  I think the P2 Coupes will be even more competitive with the DP’s.  I feel the Depth in the Prototype class is better than in many years, including 2014.  I think fewer cars in GTLM and GTD will actually improve the racing throughout.  2015 is going to be a great year.

Something to look forward to will be 2016, which is just out of sight.  With GTD going GT3, I feel many PWC teams, many who have wanted some endurance races, will come over.  Maybe only for the NAEC.  But the depth of machinery will be very exciting.