IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship | |
---|---|
Venue | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course |
Corporate sponsor | Acura |
First race | 1963 |
First USCC race | 2018 |
Duration | 2 hours 40 minutes |
Previous names | Mid-Ohio 6 Hours Grand Prix of Ohio |
Most wins (driver) | Al Holbert (6) |
Most wins (team) | Holbert Racing (7) |
Most wins (manufacturer) | Porsche (16) |
The Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio is a sports car race held annually at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The race began in 1963 as a part of the United States Road Racing Championship. It was part of the IMSA GT Championship from 1972 until 1993, and the American Le Mans Series from 2001 to 2002 and again from 2004 to 2012. From 2007 until 2012 the race took place on the same weekend as the IndyCar Series' Honda 200 and the event was sponsored by Acura from 2007 until 2009 and again in 2018. It was announced in July 2017 that the race would return on May 4-6 2018 as part of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Laguna Seca Raceway is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and Monterey, California, United States.
The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. In the past, this race has been a round of the now defunct World Sportscar Championship, IMSA GT Championship and American Le Mans Series. In 2012, the race was the opening event of the FIA World Endurance Championship in a one off race before being returned back to the American Le Mans Series for 2013. Starting in 2014, the event became the second round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously operating road racing venue, behind Road America (1955) and Willow Springs International Motorsports Park (1953). The track is owned by Skip Barber, a former race car driver who started the Skip Barber Racing School in 1975. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
Road Atlanta is a 2.540 mi (4.088 km) road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur sports car and motorcycle races, racing and driving schools, corporate programs and testing for motorsports teams. The track has 12 turns, including the famous "esses" between turns three and five; and Turn 12, a downhill, diving turn. The track is owned by IMSA Holdings, LLC through its subsidiary Road Atlanta, LLC, and is the home to the Petit Le Mans, as well as AMA motorcycle racing, and smaller events throughout the year. Michelin acquired naming rights to the facility in 2018.
Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club of America GT World Challenge America and Trans-Am Series and the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central region of the state, from south of Sandusky to the north of Columbus. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar, IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, along with other club events such has SCCA and National Auto Sport Association.
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IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States and occasionally in Canada.
The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cup following the demise of rival IMSA's Firehawk series of similar rules in the US. KONI became series sponsor for the start of the 2007 season when the series became known as the KONI Challenge Series, before renaming once more prior to the start of the 2009 season as the KONI Sports Car Challenge. The series name was once again changed for the 2010 season to Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. In 2019, the series rebranded again after Michelin was selected to become the new official tire supplier of the series.
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The Six Hours of Watkins Glen is a sports car endurance race held annually at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. The race dates from 1948, and has been a part of the SCCA National Sports Car Championship, United States Road Racing Championship, World Sportscar Championship, IMSA GT Championship, Rolex Sports Car Series and currently the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Spirit of Daytona Racing was an auto racing team that competed last in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype Class with the No. 90 Cadillac DPi-V.R, driven by Tristan Vautier, Matt McMurry and Eddie Cheever III.
Muscle Milk Pickett Racing was a motorsports group from Indianapolis, Indiana. The team was founded in 2007 by CytoSport co-founder and former IMSA GT Championship driver Greg Pickett. Since 2007, Pickett's team has competed in the United SportsCar Championship, the American Le Mans Series, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge. The team officially closed in 2014.
The Chevrolet Grand Prix is an annual IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race held every July at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The race originated in 1975 and is currently a two hour and forty minute race in order to fit the event into a television-friendly package. Previous editions of the Grand Prix were part of the World Sportscar Championship, the American Le Mans Series and the IMSA GT Championship.
The Course de Monterey is a sports car race held annually at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The event began in 1950 as a race on the roads of Pebble Beach, California. In 1951, it was added to the new SCCA National Sports Car Championship. When Laguna Seca Raceway was built in 1957, the races moved there. The event fell dormant after the National Championship was discontinued in 1957, but was revived by the SCCA's new United States Road Racing Championship in 1963. The race fell dormant again in 1969, and was revived in 1973 with the IMSA GT Championship.
The Northeast Grand Prix is a professional sports car race held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States as part of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Previous editions of the Grand Prix belonged to the SCCA National Sports Car Championship, the IMSA GT Championship and the American Le Mans Series. The race currently has a duration of 2 hours and 40 minutes and takes place in July, previously having been held on Independence Day weekend compared to the Lime Rock Grand Prix that was held on Memorial Day weekend.
The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America is a sports car race held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The event began in 1950, and in 1951 was added to the SCCA National Sports Car Championship. Following a spectator death at the 1952 Watkins Glen Grand Prix, racing on open roads was discouraged, and the race went into hiatus until 1955, when a permanent circuit was opened. In 1963, the race shifted to the new United States Road Racing Championship, until the USRRC's demise in 1968. After an 11-year hiatus, the IMSA GT Championship revived the event in 1979. In 1988, IMSA shortened the race to 500 kilometres (310 mi), and again in 1991 to 300 kilometres (190 mi). The race was shortened to 2 hours in 1992. After a return to a 500-km distance, the race was cancelled in 1994. It was revived once again in 2000, by the Grand American Road Racing Championship, to a 500-mile distance. The race was an American Le Mans Series event from 2002 until 2013, run at varying race distances of either 2 hours and 45 minutes or 4 hours. In 2014 the race joined the schedule of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after the merger of the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series.
The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). It is a result of a merger between two existing North American sports car racing series, the American Le Mans Series and Rolex Sports Car Series. At its inception, the name was United SportsCar Championship, which subsequently changed to IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2016. Rolex SA's Tudor brand was the championship's title sponsor in 2014 and 2015, and since 2016 WeatherTech has served as title sponsor.
Ryan Norman is an American racing driver. Norman is a former motocross rider and is currently competing in the Michelin Pilot Challenge, driving for Bryan Herta Autosport and won the 2020 IMSA TCR Championship for the team. He formerly drove for Andretti Autosport in Indy Lights with multiple wins and podiums, and ran a race in the IndyCar Series in 2021 with Dale Coyne Racing.