At Road America Friday (Aug. 4), IMSA revealed the 2024 schedules for their three biggest series, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. The five single-make series that IMSA will sanction in 2024 will release their schedules at a later date.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
For the headlining WeatherTech Championship, there will be 11 rounds, the same as in 2023. The big change is the re-introduction of a Detroit round to the calendar. The Detroit Grand Prix will see the GTP and GTD Pro classes race for 100 minutes on the new course on the streets of Downtown Detroit that debuted earlier this year.
WeatherTech was part of the Detroit Grand Prix when it was still at Belle Isle Park. For this year, IMSA took a wait-and-see approach and held a 100-minute Pilot Challenge race instead.
The original plan was for the Detroit event to not replace anything. Unfortunately, that is not in the cards. Due to scheduling issues, Lime Rock Park is not on the schedule. They do plan to return in 2025.
It is unclear what these schedule conflicts are. While there may not be a major touring series racing at Lime Rock Park during the weekend that IMSA wanted to race there, there are a number of different entities that can book time on the Bullring.
The Michelin Endurance Cup expands from four races to five in 2024. The race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which will be a 160-minute sprint race this year, is being expanded to a six-hour event.
Expected car count in 2024 is expected to be quite substantial in WeatherTech, even with the LMP3 class being eliminated. Most of the teams that are currently in the class will be on the grid in some way, such as Andrew Wojteczko Autosport (AWA), which is switching to the GTD class next season.
As a result, there are some class lineup changes at certain races. The biggest change is that the GTP teams will not compete at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. That race will have the LMP2 teams replace the LMP3 cars and race for the overall victory.
Long Beach will return to being a GTP and GTD Pro-only race in 2024, a setup similar to when it was a DPi and GTLM race in the immediate post-merger years. The reasoning for the move is a lack of paddock space in Long Beach.
With Lime Rock falling off the schedule, the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR will be the only GT-only race of the season.
2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Schedule
| Dates | Event | Track | Classes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 19-21 | ROAR Before the 24 | Daytona International Speedway | All |
| Jan. 25-28 | Rolex 24 at Daytona | Daytona International Speedway | All |
| March 14-16 | Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring | Sebring International Raceway | All |
| April 19-20 | Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach | Streets of Long Beach | GTP, GTD |
| May 10-12 | N/A | WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca | GTP, GTD Pro, GTD |
| May 31-June 1 | Detroit Grand Prix | Streets of Detroit | GTP, GTD Pro |
| June 21-23 | Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen | Watkins Glen International | All |
| July 12-14 | N/A | Canadian Tire Motorsport Park | LMP2, GTD Pro, GTD |
| Aug. 2-4 | N/A | Road America | All |
| Aug. 23-25 | Michelin GT Challenge at VIR | VIRginia International Raceway | GTD Pro, GTD |
| Sept. 20-22 | N/A | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | All |
| Oct. 10-12 | Motul Petit Le Mans | Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta | All |
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
Michelin Pilot Challenge teams will have a 10-race schedule in 2024. Unlike this season, there will be no split weekends. The series will not return to Detroit, which hosted a Grand Sport-only race. The TCR-only race at Lime Rock is also off the schedule.
The big news for the series in 2024 is that Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will return to the schedule after being off the schedule this year. Michelin Pilot Challenge will serve as the headlining division on the 2.258-mile road course. As the headlining class at Mid-Ohio, the weekend will include the second four-hour race of the season, replacing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in that role.
2024 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Schedule
| Dates | Event | Track |
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 19-21 | ROAR Before the 24 | Daytona International Speedway |
| Jan. 24-26 | BMW M Endurance Challenge | Daytona International Speedway |
| March 13-15 | Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 | Sebring International Raceway |
| May 10-12 | WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 | WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca |
| June 7-9 | Mid-Ohio 240 | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course |
| June 20-22 | Sahlen's 120 | Watkins Glen International |
| July 12-14 | Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 120 | Canadian Tire Motorsport Park |
| Aug. 2-4 | Road America 120 | Road America |
| Aug. 23-25 | Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix | VIRginia International Raceway |
| Sept. 20-21 | N/A | Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
| Oct. 9-11 | FOX Factory 120 | Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta |
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge
The new-for-2023 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will continue with six race weekends for 2024, two 45-minute races per weekend. It will also be the only place where LMP3 cars will race in IMSA competition.
The big change here was partially created by the FIA World Endurance Championship. They are not returning to Sebring in 2024, instead choosing to start their season in Qatar.
This year, VP Racing SportsCar Challenge raced during the WEC Prologue weekend in Sebring, a setup that was a carryover from the former IMSA Prototype Challenge. With that weekend eliminated, the series will now replace SRO America’s GT America powered by AWS as part of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg weekend. GT America chose to leave St. Petersburg mainly due to the race being too early in the year.
The SRO has a yearly homologation test for new cars in early March. The St. Petersburg event has been held before the test for the past couple of years. That has forced SRO America to institute rules allowing everyone in GT America to drop races in the point standings because any non-homologated car that competes would not be in their regular classes, but in an Invitational class.
With Lime Rock not returning to the schedule, that weekend will be replaced with Mid-Ohio, where they will race on the undercard to Michelin Pilot Challenge.
The season will once again start at Daytona International Speedway as part of the ROAR Before the 24 test weekend. All 12 races will be streamed live on Peacock.
2024 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Schedule
| Date | Race | Track |
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 20 | ROAR Before the 24 Race No. 1 | Daytona International Speedway |
| Jan. 21 | ROAR Before the 24 Race No. 2 | Daytona International Speedway |
| March 9 | St. Petersburg Race No. 1 | Streets of St. Petersburg |
| March 10 | St. Petersburg Race No. 2 | Streets of St. Petersburg |
| June 8 | Mid-Ohio Race No. 1 | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course |
| June 9 | Mid-Ohio Race No. 2 | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course |
| July 13 | CTMP Race No. 1 | Canadian Tire Motorsport Park |
| July 14 | CTMP Race No. 2 | Canadian Tire Motorsport Park |
| Aug. 24 | VIR Race No. 1 | VIRginia International Raceway |
| Aug. 25 | VIR Race No. 2 | VIRginia International Raceway |
| Oct. 10 | Road Atlanta Race No. 1 | Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta |
| Oct. 11 | Road Atlanta Race No. 2 | Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta |
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.