The 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2024 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) is a planned motor racing championship, set to be the 54th racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association, which traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. It will also be the eleventh season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship since the merger between the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014, and the ninth under the sponsorship of WeatherTech. Following a change in class structure for the 2024 season, the IMSA SportsCar Championship is poised to see a major expansion of its full-time grid across all of its classes.
At the end of the 2023 season, IMSA discontinued the involvement of the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class from the main championship. The class was originally introduced in 2021 as a means of bolstering the overall grid size, which had seen a record-low 38 starting cars in the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona. IMSA cited the growth of the GTP class as a contributing factor to dropping LMP3 for 2024 onwards, in addition to growth in other classes. [1]
GTP is the flagship class of the championship, and consists of two sister technical regulations: LMDh (Le Mans Daytona hybrid), and LMH ( Le Mans Hypercar). The former regulation allows developing a bespoke design from a base chassis with a specification hybrid system on all cars, with freedom on aerodynamics and engine configuration. The latter regulation allows bespoke hybrid designs, and offers more design freedom in exchange for elevated development costs.
The GTP class is made of the same framework that comprises the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, in accordance with the collaborative alliance between IMSA and the French racing organizers ACO, which resulted in the convergence of the two organizer's top class regulations. [2]
The provisional schedule was released on August 4 2023, and features 11 rounds. [3] [4] [5]
The 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2024 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) is a planned motor racing championship, set to be the 54th racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association, which traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. It will also be the eleventh season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship since the merger between the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014, and the ninth under the sponsorship of WeatherTech. Following a change in class structure for the 2024 season, the IMSA SportsCar Championship is poised to see a major expansion of its full-time grid across all of its classes.
At the end of the 2023 season, IMSA discontinued the involvement of the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class from the main championship. The class was originally introduced in 2021 as a means of bolstering the overall grid size, which had seen a record-low 38 starting cars in the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona. IMSA cited the growth of the GTP class as a contributing factor to dropping LMP3 for 2024 onwards, in addition to growth in other classes. [1]
GTP is the flagship class of the championship, and consists of two sister technical regulations: LMDh (Le Mans Daytona hybrid), and LMH ( Le Mans Hypercar). The former regulation allows developing a bespoke design from a base chassis with a specification hybrid system on all cars, with freedom on aerodynamics and engine configuration. The latter regulation allows bespoke hybrid designs, and offers more design freedom in exchange for elevated development costs.
The GTP class is made of the same framework that comprises the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, in accordance with the collaborative alliance between IMSA and the French racing organizers ACO, which resulted in the convergence of the two organizer's top class regulations. [2]
The provisional schedule was released on August 4 2023, and features 11 rounds. [3] [4] [5]