...engines are really all of these things:
heavy, complex - mostly turbo-charged beasts.
require ever more filters
have been given an artificial advantage in some markets due to fuel-tax regulations (Germany, to name one where diesel fuel is sold cheaper than gas)
upsides: diesel has higher energy-density. That's why you run for longer on a full tank.
Modern diesels have been direct-injected for about 20(?) years. Taking advantage when cruising at low revs and/or low loads. Petrols are just recently starting to play catch-up on that technical aspect.
Last but not least: Because they are so lazy in producing good torque at low revs. they provide a good alternative for heavier cars and commercial vehicles that would otherwise require massive petrol engines (and their fuel bills) that would then largely remain unused in their higher revs (since what you really want is a good intermittent acceleration like 30mph to ~ 110mph in you large limousine, in a straight line (Autobahn, anyone?) rather than knife-edge, "sports"-handling and instant (=nervous) throttle-reactions that you get with high-displacement N/As.
Downside is: The good torque means the transmission needs at least the same beef as does that big gas-NA engine, thus got to be built bigger and "heavier"-duty in order not to fall apart the instant you get going.
So I say: for endurance prototype racing, sparing big gasoline-NAs against Turbo-Diesels might just make sense (& be fun). Just like the stuff that has benefitted some marques in RL racing.
My 2 cents.