"Ever wondered how hot the brakes get? Or the incredible deceleration drivers endure at every turn? Which circuit pushes the brakes to their absolute limits?"
These and many more fascinating insights into the braking systems used in the IMSA championship are now at your fingertips, thanks to Brembo.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier series for Prototypes and Grand Touring cars in the US and Canada, attracts a highly knowledgeable and enthusiastic audience. And who better than Brembo, the trusted supplier for most of the championship's cars, to satisfy the curiosity of any racing fans?
Starting from the 2025 season, Brembo, in partnership with the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), will provide fans with exclusive data on every braking moment on the legendary IMSA tracks, from Daytona to Road Atlanta, Indianapolis, Sebring, and Watkins Glen.
These crucial braking stats will be featured in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event coverage, available on the official IMSA YouTube channel, IMSA.TV, IMSA Radio Network, Sirius XM, and in-track audio/video distribution. Plus, a new series of social media content will further enhance Brembo's visibility in IMSA broadcasts on NBC Sports and Peacock in the US.
This partnership with IMSA stems from over thirty years of technical collaboration between Brembo and the most successful teams in prototype and GT racing in the US and Canada. Brembo's dominance is evident with ten consecutive American Le Mans Series championships won by cars equipped with Brembo calipers and discs since the series' inception in 1999.
In the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which succeeded the ALMS in 2014, Brembo has continued to set the standard, winning seven consecutive championships: four with Cadillac and three with Acura, showcasing unparalleled performance and reliability against global competitors.
A special race: the 24 Hours of Daytona
In the Brembo Brake Facts for the 24 Hours of Daytona last January, several key data points were highlighted for the premier class, Grand Touring Prototype (GTP). The track's braking difficulty was rated a 3 on a scale from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high), with five braking zones per lap, excluding pit stops. The winning car completed 781 laps, meaning the drivers used the brakes nearly 4,000 times over 24 hours.
The hardest braking point at Daytona was the first turn, where drivers decelerated from 320 km/h to 130 km/h, experiencing a 3g deceleration, compared to 2g for GTD class drivers. Spectators could witness the carbon discs glowing red-hot due to the intense braking effort after several seconds on the banking, especially at turns 1, 3, and the chicane (turn 9). Brembo's carbon discs in the GTP class reached temperatures of 900°C at some points on the Daytona track without any issues. Typically, their operating range is between 200°C and 700°C, but they are designed and tested to maintain braking performance even at higher temperatures, enduring 24 hours of continuous stress.