IMSA/WEC COTA notebook

THE TIMES ARE A CHANGING: Speeds have been a point of interest so far this weekend with cars from all three sports car series that raced at Circuit of The Americas together in 2013 at the same event in 2014. The 2013 Rolex Series Daytona Prototype pole went to Jon Fogarty in the No. 99 Corvette DP at 2:00.179 and the Rolex GT pole went to Alessandro Balzan in the No. 63 Ferrari F458 at 2:08.846.

With the numerous DP performance upgrades in mind, the No. 10 Corvette DP piloted by Ricky Taylor qualified second in the TUDOR Championship Prototype class with a 1:58.643, a full 1.536 seconds faster than the best DP one year ago.

Qualifying for the ALMS series was wet last year, making a direct comparison between P2 pole laps a challenge, but if we look to the race, the winning No. 555 HPD ARX-03b driven by Ryan Briscoe and Scott Tucker posted a best lap of 1:58.099 on Michelin tires. The 2014 TUDOR Championship Prototype pole went to the Continental-shod Ligier JS P2-Honda of Alex Brundle whose lap of 1:57.809 was set in conditions that weren't ideal.

For the sake of comparison, the World Endurance Championship LMP1-H pole set by the No. 8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid on Friday night included an impressive individual lap of 1:48.993 on a mostly dry track, just shy of the 1:48.355 average set by Audi to earn the COTA pole in 2013.

The best individual lap from the pole-sitting No. 26 Ligier JS P2-Nissan in qualifying yesterday was a 1:55.752 on Dunlop tires, 2.057 seconds clear of Brundle's TUDOR Championship Prototype pole lap.

Toyota's WEC P1 pole is 9.65 seconds faster than the best DP qualifying lap, 8.816 seconds clear of the best TUDOR Championship pole set by a P2, and 6.759 seconds faster than the WEC P2 pole.

Interesting stuff...

PIT LANE LOGJAM: With 51 TUDOR Championship cars entered, 51 Continental Tire Series entries and 29 more from the WEC, pit lane looked like a wall-to-wall clearing house for refueling tanks, timing stands and air hoses. Cramming the necessary endurance racing equipment from three different series into a single pit lane had an element of comedy to it as the inevitable logjam took place from the moment practice began on Thursday. Prior to the Conti race on Friday, as many as five teams shared space normally reserved for two to three, yet with their event now completed, IMSA and WEC teams will have a bit of breathing room thanks to one series packing up their equipment and heading home.

NEW AK FOR PORSCHE: The Porsche 919 Hybrids appeared to lack the final bits of downforce needed at the opening WEC rounds in England and Belgium, and the Germans have used the three months since Le Mans to come up with a new body kit that made its debut this weekend. The differences are subtle, with rear treatments standing out above everything else to help plant the car's light powertrain.

TOUGH START FOR PARK PLACE: The Park Place Motorsports GTD team was a victim of the nasty weather that besieged the track Wednesday and early Thursday. The team's aluminum canopy structure was badly damaged, bending the long poles into U shapes. Fixing the structure was impossible, leading the Porsche entrants to rent a tent that was erected for the weekend.

COOP'S NOT SURE: College student and Alex Job Racing Porsche GTD racer Cooper MacNeil tells RACER he's not sure how much he'll drive next season. The team's new Porsche GT America will enter 2015 as a lame duck; IMSA is adopting full GT3 regulations for 2016, and for MacNeil, it's thrown a considerable curveball. "I'm not sure how much I'll drive, we're not sure what we're going to do, and it sucks with buying a Porsche that was made for [the GTD class] that won't be eligible after next season," he said.

THREE TEAMS FOR HPD? Chatter this weekend at COTA from a well-placed source says three teams could run HPD's new ARX-04b P2 coupe next year. Of the six cars being built, two have been bought by Extreme Speed Motorsports, and two single-car entries could be on the grid in IMSA. The other two are expected to race in the WEC

BIG NUMBER FOR WILL: BMW entrant Will Turner is reaching a milestone this weekend at COTA: His turner Motorsport team will complete its 300th race using products from the German brand.

SMALLER BRAKE DUCTS FOR AUDI: The electric motors used at the front of the Audi R18 e-tron quattros to harvest energy under braking are so powerful, the team has reduced the size of brake ducts at the front of their cars due to the reduced workload required from the carbon discs and pads.

McNISH ON THE GAS: Three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Allan McNish is at COTA in his official capacity with Audi, and has also been giving guests rides around the circuit in one of the brand's R8s. He enjoyed himself so much Thursday night, he actually ran out of fuel and was stranded on track with a passenger in the car...

DELTAWING DEVELOPMENT DELAYED: The DeltaWing team raced its DWC13 coupe for the first time at COTA last year, yet decided to skip this year's event to concentrate on numerous updates that will appear at the season finale in two weeks at Petit Le Mans.

CHARLIE PUTNAM INCIDENT: Fall-Line GTD Audi R8 driver/sponsor Charlie Putman had a scary incident just prior to COTA that forced the team to withdraw from the event. A crash while off-roading saw Putman stranded for approximately 20 hours with a number of broken bones. He was eventually found and rescued and is said to be recovering with no recollection of how the incident was triggered. The team could miss Petit Le Mans unless funded replacement drivers are found.

FIRST HPD ARX-04b TEST APPROACHING According to HPD vice president Steve Eriksen, the firm's new P2 coupe will run in November. "That's what we're shooting for. You've got to be ready for Daytona so you need as much track time as you can. The car will be going together – we've got guys over in the UK right now doing the wiring on the car, the wiring layout and all that. The first car will go together in the UK in October. Then go across to ESM, ESM will then take it back apart, do a beautiful job of putting it back together to be race ready and then we'll go to the track."

ONROAK WELCOMES P2 COST-CAP INCREASE: Says Oak Racing team principal Jacques Nicolet: "Most of the current open LM P2 chassis are from the LM P1 chassis, and so it was possible to work with a cost cap of 370,000 euros [$475,000] excluding tax, as most of the development costs had been distributed over time and across the LM P1 and LM P2 models. The new generation of closed LM P2 chassis are 100 percent new creations, with specific developments: this required an adjustment of the cost cap [to 450,000 euros/$577,000] to cover the price of these new cars."