Ben Barnicoat want to see a couple of tweaks made to the IMSA schedule sooner or later, together with a race on the streets of Arlington.
When IMSA revealed its 2027 schedule final week forward of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, essentially the most important change for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was deliberate series-sanctioned testing at venues that host the endurance rounds.
“Yeah, it is an enormous assist,” Barnicoat, 29, advised Motorsport.com. “Preparation’s all the things. It is undoubtedly an enormous profit. The benefit of the IMSA-sanctioned exams is that they do not come out of your personal testing allocation. So in the event that they take a look at for all of these lengthy endurance races, it then offers us the chance to go and take a look at all of the dash tracks if we want to, offering the principles do not change.
“Clearly, I am undecided what the regulation’s going to appear to be. Nicely, in the event that they do or they do not, it nonetheless offers you the chance to sort of, I really feel, be higher ready, and it’ll undoubtedly assist with the tire allocation.”
For essentially the most half, Barnicoat was upbeat concerning the consistency of subsequent yr’s calendar, with IMSA returning to all the identical tracks with almost an identical race dates. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t thoughts seeing GTD Professional, the category he competes in with Vasser Sullivan, returning to the Grand Prix of Lengthy Seaside for the primary time since 2023.
“Pay attention, I feel the schedule is nice,” stated Barnicoat, who has two class wins (together with a GTD win in 2024) and a runner-up in three begins at Lengthy Seaside.
“I would love for GTD Professional to be again at Lengthy Seaside. It is my favourite observe, or one in every of my favourite tracks.”
#14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat at Lengthy Seaside, 2023
Photograph by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Pictures
The Brit was additionally in awe of watching the IndyCar Sequence tackle the streets of Arlington for the primary time two weekends in the past, and believes IMSA ought to press to be on the cardboard on the 2.73-mile, 14-turn non permanent avenue circuit.
“And my last level to the schedule is Arlington appears like an incredible race for the Indy vehicles, so I feel there needs to be a giant push to get IMSA to move that present,” Barnicoat stated. “I feel sports activities vehicles would race very well there. It is an superior venue, and I feel it appears like an ideal place to develop motorsports usually.”
Barnicoat additionally has a distinct perspective than most on Arlington, contemplating that, together with full-time co-driver Jack Hawksworth, he shares the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 for the endurance rounds with IndyCar star – and the occasion’s inaugural race winner – Kyle Kirkwood.
“I am undecided if I would go all 4 lessons,” Barnicoat stated. “You perhaps might. That is most likely a bit an excessive amount of for the streets although, however I feel you could possibly go three, like 2022, 2023, my first two years at Lengthy Seaside. That was prototypes, GTD, and GTD Professional. You possibly can actually do this. It is clearly a protracted observe.
“It is also very large in spots, in order that makes it simple for the prototypes to come back previous us. So I undoubtedly assume that is doable, and the venue actually had house to suit everybody in there as effectively when it comes to a logistics viewpoint with the haulers and stuff like that. So I feel it might be an enormous alternative for the collection.
“Kyle was there, clearly he ran nice, so it might be good for us to get a bit of excellent data on learn how to go quick across the place. He was on hearth there, nobody was touching him. I had that opinion from the primary laps of observe I watched. I used to be like, ‘This place appears superior.’
“As a driver, you at all times need to go and problem your self on the most effective tracks on the planet, and I feel that is slotted in fairly excessive.”
AT&T Stadium on the epicenter of the Grand Prix of Arlington
Photograph by: Penske Leisure
The concept of including Arlington would come at the price of one other race, although, with IMSA President John Doonan beforehand stating an 11-race schedule is probably going the max. So, what race ought to it substitute?
“The brand new Detroit,” Barnicoat stated.
“The market issues but in addition, we’re right here to race, and racing needs to be pure, it needs to be enjoyable. It needs to be thrilling. There wasn’t a driver who received out of their automobile and stated that observe (in Arlington) was boring, whereas I feel in case you ask us all our sincere opinion of Detroit, it is most likely not going to be the identical as that.
“I simply assume it might be a very good place to, and it is the house of Toyota, of Lexus, so it might be a house race for us.”
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