Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States.
Acura is the luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. Acura sells cars in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, and Kuwait. The company has also previously sold cars in China, Hong Kong, Russia, and Ukraine. Plans to introduce Acura to the Japanese domestic market in the late 2000s did not eventuate due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008.
The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 2017.
Jeff Altenburg is a professional race car driver born in the USA. He has won sixteen national championships in both amateur and professional racing.
Emil Assentato is an American racing driver born in New York City.
Bill Auberlen is an American factory race car driver known for his affiliation with BMW, driving cars made and run by the famous German marque for a number of years. Auberlen currently competes for Turner Motorsport in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge. He is the winningest driver in IMSA history.
Boris Said III is an American semi-retired professional racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 66 Ford Mustang for MBM Motorsports and in the Trans-Am Series, driving the No. 2 Dodge for Weaver Technologies Racing.
The Nissan NX is a front wheel drive 2-door sports car produced by Nissan Motors. The NX was, loosely, an evolution of the Nissan Pulsar NX/Nissan EXA sold from 1987 to 1990 and the Nissan Sunny Coupe lines of the 1970s and 1980s, merging the Nissan B13 and N14 lineages. The NX was released in Japan in 1990.
Turner Motorsport is a professional sports car racing team located in Newton, NH, and is the second most prolific BMW privateer racing team in the world, second only to Schnitzer Motorsport, who stopped racing in 2020. As of 2023 Turner motorsport has competed in over 470 professional sport car races.
Mark Wilkins is a Canadian professional racing driver who is currently a factory driver for Hyundai Motorsport and Bryan Herta Autosport (2018-Pres.) participating in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. He previously raced for Acura in Pirelli World Challenge and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Peter "P.D." Cunningham is an American race car driver and owner of RealTime R&L, Inc., based in Saukville, Wisconsin and currently competing in the Pirelli World Challenge GT Championship. His name and his team, RealTime Racing, have become synonymous with the Honda and Acura brands. Through 2013, he has claimed 91 professional race wins across 12 different North American road racing series and holds numerous World Challenge records.
The BMW GTP was an IMSA GTP sports racing car built by BMW in 1986. Four March 86Gs were rebuilt by BMW North America into the BMW GTP, and fitted with a Formula One-derived BMW M12/14 turbocharged straight-four engine. Like the F1 cars that used the M12 engine, the BMW GTPs were fragile, and often retired from races; however, when they did complete a race, the BMW GTP was usually classified in the overall top ten. For longevity purposes in endurance races, it usually ran around 800 hp. However, in qualifying trim, 1,400 hp was feasible; combined with the aerodynamics the 220+mph top speed was limited only by gearing.
Jeffrey Segal is an American racing driver who competes in the United SportsCar Championship for Michael Shank Racing. He is a two-time Rolex Sports Car Series GT class champion and winner of the 2014 24 Hours of Daytona in GT Daytona.
Mario Farnbacher is a German racecar driver who currently competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The 2021 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was an endurance sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on June 27, 2021. This race was the fifth round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the third round of the 2021 Michelin Endurance Cup.
The 2022 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was a sports car race held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on June 26, 2022. It was the seventh round of the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the third round of the 2022 Michelin Endurance Cup. The No. 10 WTR - Konica Minolta Acura piloted by Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque took the victory in DPi. In LMP2, the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports No. 52 piloted by Ben Keating, Scott Huffaker, and Mikkel Jensen took the victory, while the No. 74 Riley Motorsports entry driven by Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, and Kay van Berlo took the victory in LMP3. In GTD Pro, the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 piloted by Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas claimed victory after the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M4 GT3 were penalized post-race. In GTD, the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 took the victory with Maxime Martin and Ian James.
GT3 is a former set of regulations used by both International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) and the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), for production-based grand touring racing, between 1998 and 1999. The rules denoted the cars must be two-wheel-drive, use a steel tube frame or unibody chassis, and have an engine displacement ranging between 2.0 L (120 cu in) and 3.8 L (230 cu in). Certain vehciles used in the SCCA World Challenge were also eligible to compete in this division. Examples of cars that competed in this division included the BMW M3, Acura NSX, Nissan 240SX, Mazda RX-7, Porsche 911 RSR, and Porsche 993. The class evolved into the then GT category for the new American Le Mans Series in 1999, while the class continued to be used in the final season of the revived United States Road Racing Championship. It is essentially an evolution and continuation of the former GTU class.
Super Grand Sport is the name of a former classification designated by Grand-Am for grand touring car Rolex Sports Car Series sports car racing championship. The class competed for a single season in 2004, and was an evolution of the former Grand Sport class. These cars were production-based, and moved up from the Grand-Am Cup series. Examples of cars that were eligible to compete included the Ferrari 360, Chevrolet Corvette, and Porsche 911 GT3.
Grand Sport (GS) is a former set of regulations for grand touring race cars, originally by the SCCA for the Canadian Motorola Cup in 1997, then formerly by Grand-Am, and then finally by IMSA, in the Michelin Pilot Challenge (formerly known as the Grand-Am Cup), between 1997 and 2017. It was the quicker of the two classes at the time; the other being the Sport Touring class. Class rules dictated that the cars weigh between 2,900 lb (1,300 kg) and 3,300 lb (1,500 kg), depending on engine displacement, and featured large displacement motors, or smaller motors with forced induction systems. Power output for the class was between about 350 hp (260 kW) and 405 hp (302 kW). The class was later superseded and replaced by more modern FIA GT4 machinery in 2018. Examples of cars that formerly competed in this class include the BMW M3, Pontiac Firebird, Ford Mustang/Mustang SVT Cobra, Nissan 350Z, and the Porsche 996.
The 2023 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was an endurance sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on June 25, 2023. The race was the fifth round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the third round of the 2023 Michelin Endurance Cup.
