Wholesale BoP Changes for Long Beach

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

IMSA has made wholesale Balance of Performance changes to both the GTP and GTD classes ahead of next weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Confirmed in a technical bulletin on Thursday afternoon, the sanctioning body confirmed the weight, power and energy configurations for the third round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

All cars in the GTP class except for the BMW M Hybrid V8 receive weight adjustments since last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, with the Aston Martin Valkyrie getting a 10 kg break, and both the Porsche 963 and Cadillac V-Series.R getting 9 kgs of less weight.

The Acura ARX-06, however has received a 5 kg increase in minimum weight, along with a 7 kW (9.3 hp) reduction in first-stage power levels below 230 km/h. Conversely, the Acura gets a 2.3 percent increase in power at speeds over 240 km/h.

Both the Cadillac and Porsche have also been hit with first-stage power reductions, to the tune of 13 kW (17 hp), although with increases of 2.1 percent and 2.4 percent at the second stage, respectively.

The Valkyrie gets a 3 kW (4 hp) power reduction at the first stage, and a 0.2 percent increase at top end speeds, while the BMW has a 3 kW (4 hp) increase at low-end and a 1.1 percent boost at top-end speeds.

All nine of the GTD class manufacturers have underwent adjustments in power and weight to its cars, meanwhile.

Among the biggest weight changes include a massive 31 kg reduction for the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, a 27 kg break for the Ferrari 296 GT3 and 24 kg reduction for the Lexus RC F GT3.

Almost all of the GT3-spec cars have received weight breaks, but to smaller degrees, except for increases to the Porsche 911 GT3 R (+12 kg) and BMW M4 GT3 EVO (+9 kg).

The Mustang GT3 gets the largest low-end power adjustment at a 5.6 percent increase, compared to the Porsche at +4.8 percent and BMW at +4.5 percent.

It’s unclear the reasons behind some of the significant changes and swings in power and weight, particularly in the production-based ranks.

Source: Sports Car 365