2019 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship
The highest level of endurance sports car racing in North America is the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
Google/iCal Calendar links: ICAL -or- HTML
For more championships including IMSA support series click here.
*As at 19 January 2018*
2019 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship
| Date | Race | Duration | Classes |
| 24-27 Jan | 24 Hours of Daytona | 24hr | All |
| 17 Mar | Sebring 12 Hours | 12hr | All |
| 14 Apr | Long Beach | 100min | DPi, GTLM |
| 6 May | Mid-Ohio | 2h40m | All |
| 1 Jun | Detroit Belle Isle | 100min | DPi, GTD |
| 30 Jun | 6 Hours of Watkins Glen | 6hr | All |
| 7 Jul | Mosport CTMP | 2h40m | All |
| 20 Jul | Lime Rock | 2h40m | GTLM, GTD |
| 4 Aug | Road America | 2h40m | All |
| 25 Aug | VIR | 2h40m | GTLM, GTD |
| 15 Sep | Laguna Seca | 2h40m | All |
| 12 Oct | Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta | 10hr | All |
The Championship has four classes of car competing within the same race:
- DPi: Daytona Prototype International. Upgraded LMP2 cars with bespoke engines from manufacturers such as Cadillac, Mazda, Nissan and Acura (Honda). Pro drivers.
- LMP2: Equivalent to WEC or ELMS LMP2 which race at Le Mans. Must have one non-Pro driver;
- GTLM: GT Le Mans. Renamed from the WEC’s GTE Pro class, featuring Porsche, Corvette, Ford, BMW, Ferrari. Pro drivers;
- GTD: GT Daytona. Renamed GT3 class like those in Blancpain GT. Includes Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi, BMW, Lexus, the Acura NSX. Entries must have at least one non-Pro driver;
There are multiple marquee events which means considerable track time but also a high budget to compete. I’ve heard it said it costs the same to send a car around the world to do WEC as it does to do IMSA.
Marquee races include the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, Petit Le Mans and a host of shorter races at such iconic tracks as Long Beach, Road America and Laguna Seca.
IMSA is a very consistent series with a lot of date equity in each round. Very rarely is a change made from year to year. After adding back Mid-Ohio last time, no changes are made for 2019.
The only difference is the LMP2 cars, for cost reasons, will not be attending Long Beach or Detroit.
The racing in this series is phenomenal, I’d place it as the best sports car series in the world in 2019. Three of the classes are stacked with the highest talent including many of the best GT drivers in the world.
LMP2 is weak but hopefully will improve, the only reason it is weak is because LMP2 teams were attracted into DPi to race up front.
IMSA Weathertech Championship also includes the Endurance Cup which is scored as a separate competition made up of the four longest races.
A new addition this year is a GTD Sprint Cup, a competition scored just for the non-endurance races and just in the GTD class.
Support series include IMSA Prototype Challenge for LMP3 cars and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge for GT4 and TCR cars. I provide separate calendars for these series which can be found here.
I Watch Too Much Racing 