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2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship

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The 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be the 49th season of International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) GT Championship that traces its lineage to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship, and the sixth as the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It will begin on 26 January with the 24 Hours of Daytona, and conclude on 12 October with the Petit Le Mans.

Series News

  • NBC Sports Group will take over from Fox Sports as the series' official broadcaster.
  • Michelin is set to become the new official tire supplier of the series, following the departure of Continental Tire at the end of 2018.
  • As part of a plan to attempt to cut costs for the series' GT Daytona (GTD) class, the 2019 season will feature a new support series called the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Competition will be available to GTD cars only, featuring seven races on the calendar, six of which are in support of the main three-hour races.[1]
  • After an eleven year partnership, Tequila Patrón will end their involvement with IMSA altogether at the end of the 2018 season. They will also end their sponsorship with the Extreme Speed Motorsports prototype team. Michelin will take Patrón's place as the sponsor of the endurance cup.[2]

Classes

  • Daytona Prototype international (DPi)
  • Le Mans Prototype (LMP2)
  • GT Le Mans (GTLM)
  • GT Daytona (GTD)

At the end of the 2018 season, the "Prototype" class will be split into DPi and LMP2, the two classes of cars that comprised the former prototype class.

Schedule

Race Schedule

The 2019 schedule was released on 3 August 2019 and features twelve rounds.[3]

   Race is part of the Michelin Endurance Cup
Rnd. Race Length Classes Circuit Location Date
1 Rolex 24 at Daytona 24 hours All Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida January 26-27
2 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring 12 hours All Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida March 16
3 TBA TBA DPi, LMP2, GTLM Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California April 13
4 TBA TBA All Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio May 5
5 TBA TBA DPi, LMP2, GTD [N 1] The Raceway on Belle Isle Detroit, Michigan June 1
6 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen 6 hours All Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York June 30
7 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix TBA All Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Bowmanville, Ontario July 7
8 Northeast Grand Prix TBA GTLM, GTD Lime Rock Park Lakeville, Connecticut July 20
9 TBA TBA All Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 4
10 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR TBA GTLM, GTD Virginia International Raceway Alton, Virginia August 25
11 TBA TBA All WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California September 9
12 Motul Petit Le Mans 10 hours All Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia October 12

Notes

  1. ^ GTD for participants in the WeatherTech Sprint Cup only.

References

  1. ^ Dagys, John (3 August 2018). "IMSA Launches Sprint Cup for GTD". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  2. ^ "LONGTIME SPONSOR PATRON SPIRITS LEAVING IMSA, TEQUILA PATRON ESM RACE TEAM". autoweek.com. Crain Communications Inc. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  3. ^ Dagys, John (3 August 2018). "2019 IWSC Schedule Released". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
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