Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Sports car racing is one of the main types of circuit auto racing, alongside open-wheel racing, touring car racing and stock car racing. Sports car races are often, though not always, endurance races that are run over particularly long distances or large amounts of time, resulting in a larger emphasis on the reliability and efficiency of the car and its drivers as opposed to outright car performance or driver skills. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an example of one of the best known sports car racing series.
Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility in the southeastern United States, located near Sebring, Florida.
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive director of SCCA, and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France Sr. of NASCAR. Beginning in 2014, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier series resulting from the merger of Grand-Am Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series. IMSA is owned by NASCAR, as a division of the company.
The Porsche 962 is a sports prototype racing car designed and built by Porsche. Created to replace the Porsche 956, 962 was introduced at the end of 1984 and replaced the 956 in the IMSA's GTP class in 1985 due to regulation changes obsoleting the 956. It was also introduced in the World Sportscar Championship's Group C category in 1984. Over its decade-long career, the car in its Group C form won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, with a derivative of the car, the Dauer 962 Le Mans, winning a further title in 1994. In total, the 962 scored nineteen total constructor's championships across various series. The 962's successor was the Porsche WSC-95, introduced for the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans, but did not receive factory backing or support.
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid to a professional racing series where the world's largest automakers spent millions of dollars per year.
Rothmans International PLC was a British tobacco manufacturer. Its brands included Rothmans, Player's and Dunhill. Its international headquarters were in Hill Street, London and its international operations were run from Denham Place in Denham Village, Buckinghamshire.
Courage Compétition was a racing team and chassis constructor company now owned by Oreca, based in Le Mans, France, near the Circuit de la Sarthe. It was founded by Yves Courage, a French race driver who ran hillclimbs before founding the company. Following the purchase of Courage by Oreca in 2007, Yves Courage has refounded the company as Courage Technology in 2010, attempting to develop electric racing cars.
Max Welti is a former Swiss racing driver, Sauber's first team manager and thus double winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as two-time sports car world champion with Sauber Mercedes. Five years later, he wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans for a second time with Porsche as the responsible race director. He then returns to Sauber as overall manager of the Sauber Formula One operation. In 2000 Welti becomes CEO of the European silhouette touring car racing series "V8STAR" before becoming team owner of A1 A1 Team Switzerland in 2005. As an international motorsport strategist and consultant, Welti nowadays works for OEMs, promoters and organisers.
Konrad Motorsport is an auto racing team initially from Austria, but now based in Germany. Founded by Austrian racer Franz Konrad in 1976, the team has mostly run Porsches, although they have also run Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Saleens over their existence.
Joest Racing is a German sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany.
The BMW V12 LM was a racing car built for sports car racing in 1998. The car was built using a combination of WilliamsF1 chassis engineering and construction and a BMW powerplant. The car was a predecessor to the BMW V12 LMR, which debuted in 1999.
The BPR Global GT Series was a grand tourer-based sports car racing series which ran from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the FIA GT Championship in 1997. The series was founded by Jürgen Barth, Patrick Peter, and Stéphane Ratel as an international endurance racing series to replace the World Sportscar Championship which had ended in 1992.
The Lola B2K/10 was a Le Mans Prototype developed in 2000 by Lola Cars International for use in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, American Le Mans Series, Grand American Road Racing Championship, and Sports Racing World Cup. It was a replacement for the previous Lola B98/10 and shared some elements with its smaller variant, the Lola B2K/40.
Earl Anderson Bamber is a New Zealand professional racing driver and racing team owner who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Racing. He is a factory driver for Corvette Racing, having previously driven in a factory capacity for Porsche.
Darren Law is an American racing driver.
John Schneider is a former American sports car racing driver.
Robin Donovan is a British former racing driver. He is best known for competing in 14 editions of the Le Mans 24 hours race; his best result there being 6th overall, 3rd in class (LMP1) and 1st privateer home driving with 5 x Le Mans winner Derek Bell MBE and Daytona 24 hours winner Jurgen Lassig in 1994 with the Gulf Racing entered and sponsored Kremer Porsche K8.
Matthew Campbell is an Australian racing car driver, specialising in sports car racing. He is a Porsche factory driver, having formerly been a junior then young professional. Campbell won the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship in the GTD Pro class and is now a full-time driver of the #5 Porsche 963 for Porsche Penske Motorsport in the World Endurance Championship in the Hypercar class. Campbell won the 2016 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia driving for McElrea Racing. Campbell moved to Germany in 2017 and was third in the 2017 Porsche Supercup. He has a victorie in the LMGTE Am Class at the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. Campbell also won overall the Bathurst 12 Hour in 2019 and 2024, driving a Porsche 911 GT3 R for Earl Bamber Motorsport and Manthey Racing respectively.
Zacharie Richard Robichon is a Canadian sportscar racer, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Heart of Racing and in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Proton Competition.
