No matter what race series you enjoyed in 2024, there was a good chance you were subject to some incredibly shocking — and hugely influential — news stories that promised to change the scope of the sport as you know it. As we say goodbye to 2024, we’re taking a broad look at the motorsport news stories that shocked the world. Over in the IndyCar world, the 2024 season provided news long after the year had closed — including a breaking story on 18 September that FBI agents were conducting an on-site investigation of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing garages.
Details are still sparse, but from what we currently understand, a former Andretti Global employee brought the team’s intellectual property to their new role at RLL. The 2024 IMSA season was chock-full of delayed penalties, with BMW and Ferrari stripped of their manufacturer points after the Rolex 24, while Porsche Penske and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti faced a similar fate after a September event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. What made the penalties so shocking was the fact that fans simply could not understand where they had come from.
The arcane rules of the series resulted in so much chaos that not even the competitors themselves seemed to understand what was happening. Scuderia Ferrari came home victorious at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans after rain equalized the playing field via safety car for a record amount of time. It was an impressive feat for a team that had only just renewed its prototype.