Grid Report #1:

Grid report #1 The winter of our discontent is over! Well, unless you’re an open wheel fan, then you’ve got another two months to sit and wait. But for the rest of us, the green flag has dropped over the 2014 racing year. Today we take a look at the wrap up of three days of sports car testing in Daytona, and the surprising results from the Tudor United Sports Car Championship test in Daytona.


 Tudor United Sports Car Championship: Ex Daytona Prototypes pace the field after three days of testing.

 The announcement that the American LeMans Series presented by Tequila Patron, and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Championship would merge at the end of last year was not as celebrated as you might think. Many fans, who felt that Grand-Am was “NASCAR-fying” endurance racing and hence ruining the sport, lamented the move, calling it the death of American sports car Racing. The target of their aggression was the Daytona Prototype (pictured here). Developed for competition parity, the Daytona Prototypes were made to keep racing close and operating costs down. With their lack of aesthetic features and performance, the cars drew more comparisons to NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow than the European-style prototypes seen on the American LeMans Series grid. With both types of cars merging to form one class of Prototype in the United Sports Car Championship, fans of the European Prototypes (pictured here) were quick to call out the “ugly, slow” Daytona Prototypes.

 After one weekend in January, however, the Daytona Prototypes proved themselves to be worthy race cars indeed. With a series of upgrades to the aerodynamics and engine to bring the cars more in line with ACO (the international sanctioning body for Sports Car racing), Daytona Prototypes paced the field during the three day “Roar before the 24” test at the Daytona International Speedway. Cars representing the former Rolex Grand-Am series lead at the end of each of the tests eight one hour forty five minute sessions. Cars that used to make up the American LeMans Series' Prototype 2 category, cracked the top three only twice in eight sessions.

But before we go off and celebrate the triumph of American ingenuity, let's examine where the test was taking place. The Series was at the Daytona International Speedway, where the Rolex Grand-Am Series kicked off their season every year for the last decade. On the other hand, teams from the American LeMans Series have never raced at Daytona before this year.For them the three day test was more about dialing in their cars to the track than going for all out speed, unlike the ex Grand-Am teams, who have a notebook full of data to rely on from previous competitions. Naturally, you can go faster when you actually know  the circuit than when you're trying to learn the correct line.

When the teams return in two weeks time, the two types of Prototype will compete for the first time under the same rules package, forming the centerpiece of the Tudor United Sports Car Championship's mission statement to bring a diverse field of cars to America's finest road courses and street circuits. No matter what which side of the European Prototype vs. American Prototype feud, the final assessment will play out on the track, and that's something fans all across the world can't wait to see.