The 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was a motor racing championship, which was the 54th racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association and traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. It was also 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 saw a major expansion of its full-time grid across all of its classes.
Classes Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) (LMDh and LMH) Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) GT Daytona Pro (GTD Pro) GT Daytona (GTD)
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.
GTP is the flagship class of the championship, and consists of two sister technical regulations: Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh), and Le Mans Hypercar (LMH). 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.
Unlike the other classes, LMP2 remained without BoP, even though there were two separate chassis in the class for the first time since 2021.
Schedule
The provisional schedule was released on August 4, 2023, and featured 11 rounds.
Race Length Classes Circuit Location Date 1 Rolex 24 at Daytona 24 hours All Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida January 27–28 2 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring 12 hours All Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida March 16 3 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach 1 hour, 40 minutes GTP, GTD Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California April 20 4 Motul Course de Monterey 2 hours, 40 minutes GTP, GTD Pro, GTD WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California May 12 5 Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic 1 hour, 40 minutes GTP, GTD Pro Detroit Street Circuit Detroit, Michigan June 1 6 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen 6 hours All Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York June 23 7 Chevrolet Grand Prix 2 hours, 40 minutes LMP2, GTD Pro, GTD Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Bowmanville, Ontario July 14 8 IMSA Sportscar Weekend 2 hours, 40 minutes All Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 4 9 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR 2 hours, 40 minutes GTD Pro, GTD Virginia International Raceway Alton, Virginia August 25 10 Tirerack.com Battle on the Bricks 6 hours All Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana September 22 11 Motul Petit Le Mans 10 hours All Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia October 12
Calendar changes
Lime Rock Park was dropped from the calendar. The track had been a part of the championship since 2015. The Michelin Endurance Cup expanded to 5 rounds, with the event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway transforming from a sprint race in 2023 to a six-hour endurance race for 2024. After a 1-year hiatus, Detroit returned to the IMSA calendar, with a sprint race on the Detroit Street Circuit. On September 7, 2023, the Watkins Glen date was moved one week earlier than originally announced, to avoid a clash with the 24 Hours of Spa. Canadian Tire Motorsport Park lost their GTP entries from previous seasons, with the LMP2 category becoming the headline category.
Entries Grand Touring Prototype (GTP)
Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R Cadillac LMC55R 5.5 L V8 01 Sébastien Bourdais All Renger van der Zande All Scott Dixon 1–2, 11 Álex Palou 1 Proton Competition Mustang Sampling Porsche 963 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L twin-turbo V8 5 Gianmaria Bruni All Bent Viscaal 4–6, 8, 10–11 Alessio Picariello 1–2, 10–11 Romain Dumas 1 Neel Jani 1 Julien Andlauer 2 Mike Rockenfeller 3 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L twin-turbo V8 6 Mathieu Jaminet All Nick Tandy All Kévin Estre 1, 11 Laurens Vanthoor 1 Frédéric Makowiecki 2 7 Dane Cameron All Felipe Nasr All Matt Campbell 1–2, 11 Josef Newgarden 1 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 Acura AR24e 2.4 L twin-turbo V6 10 Filipe Albuquerque All Ricky Taylor All Brendon Hartley 1–2, 11 Marcus Ericsson 1 40 Louis Delétraz All Jordan Taylor All Colton Herta 1–2, 11 Jenson Button 1 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 BMW P66/3 4.0 L twin-turbo V8 24 Philipp Eng All Jesse Krohn All Augusto Farfus 1–2, 11 Dries Vanthoor 1 25 Connor De Phillippi All Nick Yelloly All Maxime Martin 1–2, 11 René Rast 1 Whelen Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R Cadillac LMC55R 5.5 L V8 31 Jack Aitken All Pipo Derani All Tom Blomqvist 1–2, 6, 10–11 Lamborghini – Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 Lamborghini 3.8 L twin-turbo V8 63 Matteo Cairoli 2, 6, 10–11 Andrea Caldarelli 2, 6, 10–11 Romain Grosjean 2, 10–11 JDC–Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L twin-turbo V8 85 Tijmen van der Helm All Richard Westbrook All Phil Hanson 1–2, 6, 10–11 Ben Keating 1
Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2)
In accordance with the 2017 LMP2 regulations, all cars in the LMP2 class use the Gibson GK428 V8 engine. Team Chassis Drivers Rounds CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 04 Colin Braun 1–2, 6–7 George Kurtz 1–2, 6–7 Toby Sowery 1–2, 6 Malthe Jakobsen 1 United Autosports USA Oreca 07 2 Ben Hanley All Ben Keating All Nico Pino 1–2, 6, 10–11 Pato O'Ward 1 22 Dan Goldburg All Paul di Resta 1–2, 6, 8, 10–11 Bijoy Garg 1–2, 6, 10–11 Felix Rosenqvist 1 Filipe Albuquerque 7 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07 8 John Farano All Charlie Eastwood 2, 6, 8, 10 Michael Dinan 1–2, 6, 10 Ferdinand Habsburg 1 Scott McLaughlin 1 Renger van der Zande 7 Sebastián Álvarez 11 Frederik Vesti 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 11 Steven Thomas All Mikkel Jensen 1–2, 6, 8, 10–11 Hunter McElrea 1–2, 6, 10–11 Charles Milesi 1 Scott Huffaker 7 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 18 Ryan Dalziel All Dwight Merriman 1–2, 6, 10–11 Connor Zilisch 1–2, 6, 10–11 Stuart Wiltshire 7–8 Christian Rasmussen 1 MDK by High Class Racing Oreca 07 20 Dennis Andersen All Seth Lucas All Scott Huffaker 1, 6, 10–11 Laurents Hörr 1–2 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P217 33 João Barbosa 1–2, 6–8 Lance Willsey 1–2, 6–7 Jonny Edgar 1–2, 6 Nolan Siegel 1 Tõnis Kasemets 8 Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 52 Nick Boulle All Tom Dillmann All Jakub Śmiechowski 1–2, 6, 10–11 Pietro Fittipaldi 1 Riley Oreca 07 74 Felipe Fraga All Gar Robinson All Josh Burdon 1–2, 6, 10–11 Felipe Massa 1 JDC–Miller MotorSports Oreca 07 79 Scott Andrews 8 Gerry Kraut 8 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 81 Eric Lux 1, 6 Rasmus Lindh 2, 6 James Allen 1 Sebastián Álvarez 1 Kyffin Simpson 1 Henrik Hedman 2 Malthe Jakobsen 2 Nicolás Varrone 6 Richard Mille AF Corse Oreca 07 88 Luis Pérez Companc All Nicklas Nielsen 1–2, 6, 8, 10–11 Lilou Wadoux 1–2, 6, 11 Matthieu Vaxivière 1 Pipo Derani 7 Dylan Murry 10 AO Racing Oreca 07 99 P. J. Hyett All Paul-Loup Chatin 1–2, 6, 8, 10–11 Matthew Brabham 1–2, 6, 10–11 Alex Quinn 1 Louis Delétraz 7
GT Daytona (GTD Pro / GTD)