Palttala Drafted In as Last-Minute Sub for Auberlen
https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/palttala-drafted-in-as-last-minute-sub-for-auberlen/
Jarvis Fastest; ESM Suffers Fire in Practice 1
https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/jarvis-fastest-esm-suffers-fire-in-practice-1/
Riley Motorsports Goes to Spare Chassis After Practice Crash
https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/riley-motorsports-moves-to-spare-chassis-after-practice-crash/
WTR Fastest on Friday at Road America
https://www.sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/wtr-fastest-on-friday-at-road-america/
Here are the key points, from the IMSA State of the Series address. Some interesting announcements will be made. Many changes coming for 2019, and stability.
- Fortunate to have five years of TV partnership with Fox Sports. On behalf of fans and the series, thank you for all you've done for sports car racing. For 2019, we start a new relationship with NBC Sports.
- Welcome, NBC Sports. IMSA joines NASCAR and IndyCar. 9 hours on NBC. Majority on NBCSN. NBC Sports is home of iMSA including the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, Challenge Series, potentially Challenge Series.
- Full live flag to flag coverage on NBC Sports app. Live flag to flag streamed on NBC.com.
- The schedule is a foundation for the rest of our coverage. Stay tuned. Here's the schedule:
January 24-27 Rolex 24 at Daytona
March 14-16 12 Hours of sebring
April 12-13 Long Beach
May 3-5 Mid-Ohio
May 31-June 1 Detroit
June 27-30 Watkins Glen
July 5-7 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
July 19-20 Lime Rock Park
August 2-4 Road America
August 23-25 VIR
September 13-15 Laguna Seca
October 10-12 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta
- VIR and WeatherTech Raceway moves ahead a week.
- Single network coverage. Go across NBC, NBCSN, and CNBC.
- Go to Twitter at 10:55AM Eastern, 9:55AM Central for a Q&A session.
- Average minutes are up on network TV, the web, and social media. The numbers go up, with each race as you the fans, watch or listen.
- The final 2018 race will be beyond Petit Le mans, the Michelin Sports Car Encore at Sebring to give select categories a chance to race. ACO LMP3, FIA GT3, SRO GT4, WSC-TCR. The date is November 9-11, 2018. Have a relaxed and yet professional race. It will be the first opportunity for teams to race on the new Michelin tires in use for 2019.
- The schedule will be compact. IMSA CEO, Ed Bennett, put the idea together. The race will be 4 hours on Sunday from Noon-4PM Eastern Time. Entries open August 21st.
- IMSA Prototype Challenge, sees the end of the two categories of car at the end of 2018. In 2019, the category will be entirely LMP3. Longer races will take place at Daytona, sebring, Mid-Ohio, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Virginia international Raceway, and Road Atlanta.
- Now, the above schedule for the IMSCC will be finalized, later. Above, it is just provisional.
- Three hour races at Daytona and CTMP, 1 hour and 45 minutes for the others.
- Lamborghini Super Trofeo is back. They will be back for their tenth straight season. Stay tuned for the LST schedule.
- Porsche Carrera Cup is also back in two championships again, in the United States and Canada. New people are in the Canada series sanctioning body, and the two championships will join together on certain weekends. New racing stars are born in the Porsche Cup series.
- Ferrari Challenge is back, even though they don't mesh with the Michelin/WeatherTech Championship. They are sanctioned by IMSA, but do their own thing.
- In Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, we are shaking hands with Continental Tire, who are leaving the series. A benchmark partner for the series, just as Fox Sports have been. The new name is the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
- Grand Sport and TCR will be the two classes. Street Tuner is discontinued. The races will be delayed a couple weeks for TV on NBCSN and will be two hours in broadcast duration. The races will be streamed live on IMSA.com.
- TCR is replacing Street Tuner.
- 2019 schedule includes two and four hour races at Daytona, Sebring, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, CTMP, Lime Rock Road America, VIR, Laguna Seca, and Road Atlanta.
- So long, to Tequila Patron. An alliance with IMSA through 14 years. They sponsored the American Le Mans Series for many years, and the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.
- The new logo and sponsor is the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Road Atlanta.
- An update on Prototype. The success has exceeded expectations. The single Prototype class will be split into two classes. DPi, and LMP2. Elevate the performance of DPi, pro drivers, factory back, professional teams. Pro Am teams for LMP2, same as in GT Daytona for the GT3 production cars. Single Platinum rated driver in LMP2. No difference between Gold and Platinum rated drivers. Work on minimum and maximum drive times for Gold and Platinum.
- Jim Trueman Award is eligible to Silver and Bronze rated drivers, for championship and an entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
- The new IMSA cars will debut in January 2022. Three years can be gotten out of the current cars being raced. No changes. Completely homologated. The FIA WEC is going into a fall/winter season into Le Mans in 2019-2020, so European teams can come and race in the second half of the season. Euro teams with LMP2 cars can come to race in the U.S.
- Four makes in GT Le Mans. Ford, Chevrolet, Porsche, BMW. There are no changes for GTLM.
- WEC introduces new GTE cars in 2019, and IMSA will introduce new cars in 2020.
- GT Daytona (GT3), more growth lately, and wonderful racing. Driver rankings is the big deal. Now, here is a change. Initial FIA ratings are evaluated on a yearly basis. Review the driver's performance via evaluation to arm Paul Walter, who is on the Driver Development Committee of the FIA.
- FIA regulation: Any series may retain the right to adjust the categorization to the specific nature of their own series. No more "Super Silvers".
- LMP2 regs have one Platinum rated driver per car, eligible for the Bob Akin Award. IMSA will balance the maximum drive time of Gold and Platinum drivers.
- Bronze/Silver drivers ONLY receive extra session time prior to qualifying
- Any participant allowed an extra set of dry tires.
- Bronze/Silver only allowed to participate in qualifying.
- Qualifying driver (bronze/silver only) MUST start the motor race.
- GTD: IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup, for 2019. there will be a meaningful opportunity to win something that doesn't require a full season or the big four endurance races. That's 40-50% of a full-season budget in the first two races.
- Seven race championship for Sprint Cup. Mid-Ohio, Detroit, CTMP, Lime Rock, Road American, VIR, WeatherTech Raceway. Belle Isle is not required unless you are in the Sprint Cup. You have the option to enter the Detroit race. This is a mirror image of the Endurance Cup. There is still a GTD Endurance Cup.
- 10 races for the WeatherTech Championship, 7 races for WeatherTech Sprint Cup, four races for Michelin Endurance Cup.
- GTLM and GTD will have two stand alone races. Dpi and LMP2 will compete with the GTLM and GTD cars at all other races.
- Some great ways to end both the Sprint GT and Endurance GT championships.
- We have the digital TV revolution for IMSA with NBC, NBCSN etc. There is an opportunity to see IMSA in the movies. In the movie of "Art of Racing In The Rain". It will be out in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2019.
- 2019 will be the 50th anniversary of IMSA. Year-long, fully integrated marketing platform. Dedicated brand identity. Dedicated brand identities, and more. A 50th Anniversary book will be launched. It is a limited edition. Get it as soon as you can when it comes out on IMSA.com. We see the official 50th Anniversary logo. It is very symbolic with the apex aero, the number 50, the gold, the black color of the shape, and the victory laurels.
- 2019 is looking at change, yet continuity and stability. The schedule is rock solid, with iconic races and there are no announcements or cancellations of races.
- A six-year contract in TV with NBC Sports.
- A new movie
- Michelin tires providing the official tires.
- The golden anniversary season.
- There is still a lot of 2018 to go. Finish 2018 as powerful and possible. Excited for 2019.
Before signing off from this news briefing, with the entire outline of the new ideas for IMSA's future, let's briefly recap, again via Sportscar365, the major headlines coming out of the press conference you have just seen the bulleted highlights of.
2019 WeatherTech Sports Car Championship Schedule Released
DPi, LMP2 Split Confirmed for 2019
IMSA launches Sprint Cup for GTD
A boatload to digest and take in. But good news and a positive direction for IMSA as they mark 50 years. See you tomorrow, with more news leading up to the Road America race on Sunday. For now, good night, everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment