The 2015 United SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2015 Tudor United SportsCar Championship) was the second season of the International Motor Sports Association's United SportsCar Championship and the last to be held under that name. It was also the 45th overall season of the IMSA GT championship tracing its lineage to the 1971 IMSA season. It began on January 24 with the 24 Hours of Daytona. and ended on October 3 at Petit Le Mans.
Classes The class structure remained largely unchanged from 2014.
Prototype (P) (DP and LMP2) Prototype Challenge (PC) GT Le Mans (GTLM) GT Daytona (GTD)
2015 will see the introduction of two awards for the top-finishing Pro-Am drivers in Prototype (P) and GT Le Mans (GTLM). The Jim Trueman Award will be given to the top finishing Pro-Am pairing in Prototype, while the Bob Akin Award will be given to the top GTLM pairing. The top Pro-Am pairings from these classes at the end of the year will be given automatic entries to the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the Trueman award winner eligible for the LMP2 class, while the Akin Award winner would be for the LM GTE Am class. To be eligible for these awards, the drivers must at a minimum contest the North American Endurance Cup events.
Schedule
Race schedule
The 2015 schedule was released on August 10, 2014 and featured twelve rounds. One major change to the rules for 2015 was a slight reduction of race time to fit television constraints. Two and three hour races, which were 15 minutes shorter than their times, will have their race times reduced five more minutes, so that they would be 1:40 and 2:40, respectively, instead of 1:45 and 2:45, as was the case in the previous years. The races set for 6, 10, 12, and 24 hours will remain at the respective lengths.
Rnd Race Length Classes Circuit Location Date 1 Rolex 24 at Daytona 24 hours All Daytona International Speedway Daytona, Florida January 24–25 2 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring 12 hours All Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida March 21 3 Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase 1 hour 40 minutes P, GTLM Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California April 18 4 Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix 2 hours 40 minutes All Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California May 3 5 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic 1 hour 40 minutes P, PC, GTD The Raceway on Belle Isle Detroit, Michigan May 30 6 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen 6 hours All Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York June 28 7 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix 2 hours 40 minutes P, PC, GTLM Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Bowmanville, Ontario July 12 8 Northeast Grand Prix 2 hours 40 minutes PC, GTD Lime Rock Park Lakeville, Connecticut July 25 9 Continental Tire Road Race Showcase 2 hours 40 minutes All Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 9 10 Oak Tree Grand Prix 2 hours 40 minutes GTLM, GTD Virginia International Raceway Alton, Virginia August 23 11 Lone Star Le Mans 2 hours 40 minutes All Circuit of the Americas Austin, Texas September 19 12 Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda 10 hoursRace shortened to 7 hours 49 minutes due to heavy rain. All Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia October 3
Calendar changes
The events at Kansas Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been discontinued. A round at Lime Rock Park was added for PC and GTD. The round at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park will see PC replace GTD alongside P and GTLM. The IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge support series follows the same schedule as above in 2015 except for the street circuits of Long Beach and Detroit Belle Isle for a ten-round season. On October 31, 2014, the calendar was modified removing PC from the Virginia International Raceway round and adding the class to the round at Detroit Belle Isle alongside P and GTD. The Monterey round would feature all four classes in a single event.
Entries
Prototype
Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone DeltaWing DWC13 Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L Turbo I4 0 Katherine Legge 1–4, 6–7, 9, 11–12 Memo Rojas 1–4, 6–7, 9, 11–12 Andy Meyrick 1–2, 12 Gabby Chaves 1 Tequila Patrón ESM HPD ARX-04b HPD ARX-03b Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 1 Scott Sharp 1–2 Ryan Dalziel 1–2 David Heinemeier Hansson 1–2 2 Ed Brown 1–2 Jon Fogarty 1–2 Johannes van Overbeek 1–2 Action Express Racing Coyote Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 5 João Barbosa All Christian Fittipaldi All Sébastien Bourdais 1–2, 12 Max Papis 6 31 Dane Cameron All Eric Curran All Max Papis 1–2, 6, 12 Phil Keen 1 Starworks Motorsport Riley Mk XXVI DP Dinan (BMW) 5.0 L V8 7 Rubens Barrichello 1 Tor Graves 1 Brendon Hartley 1 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1 Scott Mayer 1 Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 10 Jordan Taylor All Ricky Taylor All Max Angelelli 1–2, 6, 12 Fifty Plus Racing (Highway to Help) Riley Mk XXVI DP Dinan (BMW) 5.0 L V8 50 Byron DeFoor 1–2 David Hinton 1–2 Jim Pace 1–2 Dorsey Schroeder 1–2 Doug Smith 1 Krohn Racing Ligier JS P2 Judd HK 3.6 L V8 57 Tracy Krohn 1–2 Niclas Jönsson 1–2 Olivier Pla 1–2 Alex Brundle 1 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Ligier JS P2 Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 60 Oswaldo Negri Jr. All John Pew All Matt McMurry 1, 12 A. J. Allmendinger 1 Justin Wilson 2 RG Racing Riley Mk XXVI DP Dinan (BMW) 5.0 L V8 66 David Cheng 1 Robert Gewirtz 1 Mark Kvamme 1 Shane Lewis 1 SpeedSource Lola B12/80 Mazda Mazda SKYACTIV-D (SH-VPTS) 2.2 L Turbo I4 (diesel) 70 Jonathan Bomarito 1–4, 11–12 Tristan Nunez 1–4, 11–12 Sylvain Tremblay 1–2, 12 James Hinchcliffe 1 07 Tom Long All Joel Miller All Ben Devlin 1–2, 6 Sylvain Tremblay 1–2 VisitFlorida.com Racing Coyote Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 90 Michael Valiante All Richard Westbrook All Mike Rockenfeller 1–2, 12 Guy Cosmo 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost Riley DP Ford Ecoboost D35 3.5 L Turbo V6 01 Joey Hand All Scott Pruett All Sage Karam 1 Charlie Kimball 1 Scott Dixon 2, 12 02 Scott Dixon 1 Tony Kanaan 1 Kyle Larson 1 Jamie McMurray 1
Prototype Challenge All entries use an Oreca FLM09 chassis powered by a Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8.
Team Drivers Rounds Starworks Motorsport 8 Renger van der Zande All Mirco Schultis 1–2, 4–5, 7–9, 12 Alex Popow 1–2, 6, 12 Mike Hedlund 1, 6, 11–12 Filipe Albuquerque 1 88 Alex Popow 11–12 Sean Rayhall 11–12 John Falb 12 RSR Racing 11 Chris Cumming All Bruno Junqueira All Gustavo Menezes 1–2, 12 Jack Hawksworth 1, 12 BAR1 Motorsports 16 Tomy Drissi 1–2, 12 Martin Plowman 1–2, 6 Johnny Mowlem 1, 12 Brian Alder 1 Tom Papadopoulos 1 Marc Drumwright 2, 12 David Cheng 2 John Falb 4, 7, 11 Todd Slusher 4, 8, 11 Daniel Burkett 6, 9 Matt McMurry 6, 9 Sean Rayhall 7–8 Don Yount 12 61 Shelby Blackstock 1 Ivo Breukers 1 Marc Drumwright 1 Martin Plowman 1 Remo Ruscitti 1 Ryan Lewis 11 Don Yount 11 Performance Tech Motorsports 38 James French All Jerome Mee 1–2, 6, 12 James Vance 1, 5 Sean Johnston 1 Conor Daly 2, 6–9, 11–12 Mike Hedlund 4 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 52 Mike Guasch All Tom Kimber-Smith All Andrew Palmer 1–2, 6, 12 Andrew Novich 1 CORE Autosport 54 Jon Bennett All Colin Braun All James Gue 1–2, 6 Mark Wilkins 1 Anthony Lazzaro 12 JDC-Miller MotorSports 85 Mikhail Goikhberg All Chris Miller 1–2, 6, 9, 12 Rusty Mitchell 1–2, 6, 12 Stephen Simpson 1, 5, 8 Tristan Vautier 1 Gerry Kraut 2 Zach Veach 4 Matt McMurry 7, 11
GT Le Mans
Team Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers Rounds Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet LT5.5R 5.5 L V8 3 Antonio García All Jan Magnussen All Ryan Briscoe 1–2, 12 4 Oliver Gavin All Tommy Milner All Simon Pagenaud 1–2 Ryan Briscoe 12 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 17 Wolf Henzler All Bryan Sellers All Patrick Long 1–2, 12 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTE BMW P65B44 4.4 L V8 24 John Edwards All Lucas Luhr All Jens Klingmann 1–2, 12 Graham Rahal 1 25 Bill Auberlen All Dirk Werner All Augusto Farfus 1–2, 12 Bruno Spengler 1 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 51 Gianmaria Bruni 1 Emmanuel Collard 1 François Perrodo 1 Toni Vilander 1 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 62 Giancarlo Fisichella All Pierre Kaffer All Olivier Beretta 1 Davide Rigon 1 Andrea Bertolini 2 Toni Vilander 12 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin AM05 4.5 L V8 98 Paul Dalla Lana 1–2 Pedro Lamy 1–2 Mathias Lauda 1–2 Darren Turner 1–2 Stefan Mücke 1 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 911 Patrick Pilet All Nick Tandy 1–2, 6–7, 9–12 Michael Christensen 1, 4 Marc Lieb 1 Earl Bamber 2, 6 Richard Lietz 2, 12 Frédéric Makowiecki 3 912 Jörg Bergmeister All Earl Bamber 1–2, 6–7, 9–12 Frédéric Makowiecki 1–2, 12 Michael Christensen 1, 4 Nick Tandy 2, 6 Richard Lietz 3
GT Daytona
Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Mühlner Motorsports America Porsche 911 GT America Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 18 Marc Basseng 1 Matteo Beretta 1 Connor De Phillippi 1 Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof 1 Darryl O'Young 1 19 Connor De Phillippi 1 Ricardo Flores Jr. 1 Michael Lira 1 Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof 1 Jim Michaelian 1 Alex Job Racing#22 entered as Alex Job Racing and #23 entered as Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing. Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 22 Leh Keen All Cooper MacNeil All Andrew Davis 1–2, 6, 12 Shane van Gisbergen 1 23 Mario Farnbacher All Ian James All Alex Riberas 1–2, 12 Konrad Motorsport Porsche 911 GT America Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 28 Klaus Bachler 1 Christian Engelhart 1 Rolf Ineichen 1 Lance Willsey 1 Christopher Zöchling 1 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-R Dodge 8.3 L V10 33 Jeroen Bleekemolen All Ben Keating All Sebastiaan Bleekemolen 1–2, 12 Al Carter 1 Marc Goossens 1 93 Al Carter 1–2, 6, 12 Cameron Lawrence 1–2, 6, 12 Ben Keating 1–2 Dominik Farnbacher 1 Kuno Wittmer 1 Marc Goossens 2, 6, 12 Marc Miller 4 Jeff Mosing 4 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 44 Andy Lally All John Potter All Marco Seefried 1–2, 6 Martin Ragginger 1 Robert Renauer 12 Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS ultra Audi 5.2 L V10 45 Robert Thorne 1–2, 12 Tomonobu Fujii 1 Satoshi Hoshino 1 Markus Winkelhock 1 Colin Thompson 2, 12 Marco Holzer 2 Guy Cosmo 4, 12 Patrick Byrne 4 Jason Hart 11 Mike Vess 11 Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra Audi 5.2 L V10 48 Christopher Haase All Dion von Moltke All Bryce Miller 1–2, 6, 12 René Rast 1 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 49 Rui Águas 1–2 Matt Griffin 1 Pasin Lathouras 1 Michele Rugolo 1 Marco Cioci 2 Piergiuseppe Perazzini 2 Enzo Potolicchio 2 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 58 Jan Heylen 1–2, 5–6 Madison Snow 1–2, 5–6 Patrick Dempsey 1 Philipp Eng 1 Emilio Valverde 2 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 63 Townsend Bell All Bill Sweedler All Anthony Lazzaro 1–2 Jeff Segal 1, 12 Jeff Westphal 1 64 Daniel Serra 1, 12 Andrea Bertolini 1 Marcos Gomes 1 Francisco Longo 1 Matteo Cressoni 12 Jeff Westphal 12 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 73 Patrick Lindsey All Spencer Pumpelly All Jim Norman 1–2 Nelson Canache Jr. 1 Kévin Estre 1 Madison Snow 12 Compass360 Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra Audi 5.2 L V10 76 Pierre Kleinubing 8–11 Ray Mason 8–11 Lone Star Racing Dodge Viper GT3-R Dodge 8.3 L V10 80 Marc Goossens 11 Dan Knox 11 GB Autosport Porsche 911 GT America Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 81 Michael Avenatti 1–2 Damien Faulkner 1–2 Kuba Giermaziak 1–2 Mike Skeen 1–2 Rory Butcher 1 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 BMW P65B44 4.4 L V8 97 Michael Marsal All Markus Palttala 1–2, 4–6, 9–12 Andy Priaulx 1–2, 12 Boris Said 1–2 Dane Cameron 8 Billy Johnson 12 TRG-AMR North America Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 Aston Martin 6.0 L V12 007 Christina Nielsen All James Davison 1–2, 4–5 Brandon Davis 1–2, 12 Christoffer Nygaard 1 Kuno Wittmer 6, 8–12 009 Brandon Davis 1 Derek DeBoer 1 Max Riddle 1 Eliseo Salazar 1 Kris Wilson 1
Results Bold indicates overall winner.