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.
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layout, a 3.56-mile (5.73 km) combined road course that uses most of the tri-oval plus an infield road course. Held on the last weekend of January or first weekend of February as part of Speedweeks, it is the first major automobile race of the year in North America. The race is sanctioned by IMSA and is the first race of the season for the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The technical requirements for an LMP include bodywork covering all mechanical elements of the car. As of 2023, there are two classes within Le Mans Prototypes, designated LMP2 and LMP3.
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents including Asia and South America. At the end of 2009, the championship was replaced by the FIA GT1 World Championship, which morphed into the FIA GT Series for 2013.
Krohn Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Houston, Texas. The team competes in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype class, and has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup GTE-Amateur class; the American Le Mans Series GT2 class; and the Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype class.
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national and regional Porsche Carrera Cup and GT3 Cup Challenge series, as well as the international Porsche Supercup supporting the FIA F1 World Championship.
The 1998 Petit Le Mans was the seventh race for the 1998 IMSA GT Championship season, then known as the Professional SportsCar Racing series. It also served as a prelude to the first American Le Mans Series race held at Sebring in 1999. Don Panoz's American Le Mans Series was developed with the backing of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the ruling body of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It took place on October 11, 1998.
Larbre Compétition is a French auto racing team founded in 1988 by Jack Leconte. Based at the Circuit du Val de Vienne in Le Vigeant, Larbre has had considerable success in the Porsche Carrera Cup, French GT Championship, and international FIA GT Championship. Previously working with major automobile manufacturers like Porsche, Ferrari, and Chrysler, Larbre ran one of the factory Aston Martin squads in the Le Mans Series where they won the 2006 GT1 class championship.
The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercontinental Le Mans Cup which began in 2010 and is the first endurance series of world championship status since the demise of the World Sportscar Championship at the end of 1992. The World Endurance Championship name was previously used by the FIA from 1981 to 1985.
Proton Competition is a German auto racing team is based in Ummendorf, Baden-Württemberg. It was founded by Gerold Ried, and is currently owned by his son Christian Ried. The team currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a customer Porsche 963 and a factory-supported Ford Mustang GT3. It also competes in the European Le Mans Series with the Oreca 07 and the Porsche 911.
The 60th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was a 12-hour automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each fielding sports prototype and grand touring cars held on March 17, 2012 at the Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida before more than 90,000 spectators. It was the 60th 12 Hours of Sebring and the first round of both the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 2012 American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Prototype Challenge (LMPC), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE), and Grand Touring Challenge (GTC) cars competed in the race.
IMSA LS Group Performance is a French auto racing team founded by Raymond Narac. The team is based in Saint-Jean-du-Cardonnay, Upper Normandy. IMSA stands for Innovation Mécanique Service Automobile. They currently operate a Porsche 911 GT3-RSR sports car in the European Le Mans Series and International GT Open. They are currently a Porsche Factory Team
Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various auto racing series throughout the world. The GT3 category was initially created in 2005 by the SRO Group as a third rung in the ladder of grand touring motorsport, below the Group GT1 and Group GT2 categories which were utilized in the SRO's FIA GT Championship, and launched its own series in 2006 called the FIA GT3 European Championship. Since then, Group GT3 has expanded to become the de facto category for many national and international grand touring series, although some series modify the ruleset from the FIA standard. By 2013, nearly 20 automobile manufacturers have built or been represented with GT3 machines.
The 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship was the sixth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series is open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars divided into four categories. The season began at the Silverstone Circuit in April and will end at the Bahrain International Circuit in November, and include the 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. World championship titles will be awarded to the leading prototype drivers and manufacturers, while for the first time in the World Endurance Championship the leading grand touring drivers and manufacturers will also be awarded a world championship.
The 2019 24 Hours of Daytona was an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned endurance sports car race held at the Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, on January 26–27, 2019. It was the 57th running of the race, and the first of 12 races in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the first of four rounds of the 2019 Michelin Endurance Cup.
Group GT1, also known simply as GT1, was a set of regulations maintained formerly by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), for Grand Tourer racing. The category was first created in 1993, as the top class of the BPR Global GT Series, and was included in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It fell under FIA regulation from 1997, after the BPR series came under the control of the FIA, becoming known as the FIA GT Championship. The category was dissolved at the end of 2011. The category may be split into four distinctive eras, from its debut in 1993–1996, 1997–1998, 2000–2009, 2010–2011.
The Ferrari 488 GTE is a grand tourer racing car built by Ferrari's in-house Competizioni GT unit, for competition in endurance racing. It was served as a replacement for the Ferrari 458 Italia GT racing car, using the Ferrari 488 GTB as a base. The car is built in accordance with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest/FIA LM GTE regulations introduced for the 2016 season, and it formerly competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and in the GTLM class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. The car had its race debut at the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona, with the Scuderia Corsa and Risi Competizione teams.
The Porsche 911 RSR-19 is a racing car developed by Porsche to compete in the LM GTE category of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest sanctioned FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and the GTLM class, of the International Motor Sports Association's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It serves as the direct replacement for the Porsche 911 RSR (2017). The car made its racing debut at the 2019 4 Hours of Silverstone. The car was unveiled at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed, at the timing gantry of the Hillclimb circuit, just moments before its first public run, with Gianmaria Bruni at the wheel.
The Chevrolet Corvette C8.R is a grand tourer racing car built by Pratt Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing. It serves as the replacement for the Corvette C7.R, using the C8 generation Chevrolet Corvette as a base. Corvette Racing fielded the C8.R in the IMSA SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class starting with the 2020 season. The car was built to LM GTE specifications as per GTLM rules.
The Porsche 911 RSR and its predecessor GT3 RSR, GT3 RS and GT3 R were a line of GT racing cars produced by Porsche that are used in motorsport for endurance races. They are based on the currently highest class in GT racing worldwide, the GTE class from ACO. These regulations lead back to the concept of a GT3 class below the then Group GT1 and GT2 from 1998. After the discontinuation of the GT1 class, the planned GT3 class was from 1999 at the ACO as a GT class below the GTS, as well advertised by the FIA from 2000 as N-GT. After the alignment of the GT rules between FIA and ACO in 2005, this class was renamed GT2 class. When the FIA's GT2 European Championship failed and the participants in the GT1 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans dwindled, the ACO renamed the GT2 class GTE in 2011 and divided it into GTE-Pro for professionals and GTE-AM for amateurs. Over the years, Porsche was continuously represented in this class with different series of the 911.
