The 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was the third season of the United SportsCar Championship and first to be under the name as the
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...
organized by the
International Motor Sports Association
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...
(IMSA). It was the 46th season of IMSA-sanctioned GT Championship sportscar racing tracing its lineage to the 1971 IMSA Camel GT season. It began on January 30 with the
24 Hours of Daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...
.
and ended on October 1 at
Petit Le Mans
The Petit Le Mans ( French for ''little Le Mans'') is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, USA. It uses the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which a ...
.
Classes
The class structure remained largely unchanged from 2015, with the major change coming in GTD which will now run full GT3 spec machinery.
*Prototype (P)
*Prototype Challenge (PC)
*GT Le Mans (GTLM)
*GT Daytona (GTD)
Schedule
Race schedule
The 2016 schedule was released on August 8, 2015 and features twelve rounds.
There were also two test sessions before the beginning of the season. They were held on November 17-18 at Daytona International Speedway, as well as The Roar Before the 24, also at Daytona, January 8-10.
''NOTE: Because of a high car count for the Mazda Raceway event, there will be two separate two-hour races with two categories racing in each race.''
Calendar changes
*PC has been added to the lineup at
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
.
*GTD has been added to the lineup at the
Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix
The Chevrolet Grand Prix is an annual IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race held every July at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The race originated in 1975 and is currently a two hour and forty minute race in ...
, having the race feature all four classes.
*The round at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and M ...
will return to a split race format because of field size.
*GTLM will join PC and GTD at
Lime Rock Park
Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously ope ...
.
Entries
Prototype
Prototype Challenge
All entries use an
Oreca FLM09
The Le Mans Prototype Challenge (shortened to LMP Challenge or LMPC) was a spec racing, spec sports prototype formula created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and sports car racing, sports car constr ...
chassis powered by a
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
LS3 6.2 L
V8.
GT Le Mans
GT Daytona
Team changes
*After 8 years sported the higher
E85 Ethanol blend,
Corvette Racing
Corvette Racing is an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and Pratt & Miller for the purposes of competing in sports car racing internationally. Corvette Racing is an official racing program for General Motors and th ...
officially switched to traditional
E20 Ethanol 20% blend as it was announced on October 13, 2015.
Race results
Bold indicates overall winner.
Championship standings
Points systems
Championship points are awarded in each class at the finish of each event. Points are awarded based on finishing positions as shown in the chart below.
[IMSA 101: Understanding the Points System](_blank)
/ref>
Drivers points
Points are awarded in each class at the finish of each event. Drivers must complete a minimum driving time (outlined to teams prior to each event) in order to score points. A driver does not score points if the minimum drive time is not met.
In addition, for each car credited with a race start, each driver nominated in that car also receives one additional “starting point.”
Team points
Team points are calculated in exactly the same way as driver points, using the point distribution chart and “starting points.” Each car entered is considered its own “team” regardless if it is a single entry or part of a two-car team.
Manufacturer points
There are also a number of manufacturer championships which utilize the same season-long point distribution chart, minus the “starting points” used for the driver and team championships. (The “starting point” is not used in manufacturer championship points.) The manufacturer championships recognized by IMSA are as follows:
:Prototype (P): Engine Manufacturer
:GT Le Mans (GTLM): Car Manufacturer
:GT Daytona (GTD): Car Manufacturer
Each manufacturer receives finishing points for its highest finishing car in each class. The positions of subsequent finishing cars from the same manufacturer are not taken into consideration, and all other manufacturers move up in the order.
:Example: Manufacturer A finishes 1st and 2nd at an event, and Manufacturer B finishes 3rd. Manufacturer A receives 35 first-place points while Manufacturer B would earn 32 second-place points.
The points system for the 2016 season is the same as in 2015.
North American Endurance Cup
The points system for the North American Endurance Cup is different from the normal points system. Points are awarded on a 5-4-3-2 basis for drivers, teams and manufacturers. The first finishing position at each interval earns five points, four points for second position, three points for third, with two points awarded for fourth and each subsequent finishing position.
At Daytona (24 hour race), points are awarded at six hours, 12 hours, 18 hours and at the finish. At the Sebring (12 hour race), points are awarded at four hours, eight hours and at the finish. At Watkins Glen (6 hour race), points are awarded at three hours and at the finish. At Road Atlanta (10 hour race), points are awarded at four hours, eight hours and at the finish.
Like the season-long team championship, North American Endurance Cup team points are awarded for each car and drivers get points in any car that they drive, in which they are entered for points. The manufacturer points go to the highest placed car from that manufacturer (the others from that manufacturer not being counted), just like the season-long manufacturer championship.
For example: in any particular segment manufacturer A finishes 1st and 2nd and manufacturer B finishes 3rd. Manufacturer A only receives first-place points for that segment. Manufacturer B receives the second-place points.
Drivers' championships
Prototype
;Notes:
*Drivers denoted by † did not complete sufficient laps in order to score points.
Prototype Challenge
;Notes:
*1 – Jack Hawksworth
Jack W. Hawksworth (born 28 February 1991) is a British professional racing driver from Bradford, West Yorkshire. , he competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for AIM Vasser Sullivan.
He has also raced in the Star Mazda Championsh ...
did not drive any laps during the race and therefore did not receive the one "starting point".
*Drivers denoted by † did not complete sufficient laps in order to score points.
GT Le Mans
GT Daytona
;Notes:
*1 – All drivers using Lamborghini Huracán GT3-cars were penalized with five minutes added to their total time due to BoP-regulations.
*2 – Bret Curtis, Ashley Freiberg, Jens Klingmann
Jens Klingmann (born 16 July 1990 in Heidelberg) is a German racing driver.
Career
Formula BMW
In 2006, Klingmann moved up to Formula BMW ADAC with Eifelland Racing. He finished his first FBMW campaign fourth in the Drivers' Championship with ...
and Marco Wittmann
Marco Wittmann (born 24 November 1989) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver.
He currently resides in Markt Erlbach. Wittmann has competed in such series as Formula Three Euroseries
The Formula 3 Euro Series wa ...
were put to the back of their class for exceeding the maximum drive-time limitation.
*3 – Andy Lally
Andrew J. Lally (born February 11, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the Audi R8 for Magnus Racing and previously part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, dr ...
, John Potter and Marco Seefried were put to second to last in their class for a minimum drive-time violation.
*4 – Jörg Bergmeister
Jörg Bergmeister (born 13 February 1976, in Leverkusen) is a former racing driver from Germany and an ambassador of Porsche.
His late father, Willi Bergmeister, owned a workshop and dealership where Michael Schumacher learned his trade as a ...
, Patrick Lindsey
Patrick Lindsey (born April 22, 1982) is an American racing driver, team owner and businessman. Outside racing, he serves as president of the air transport company Mira Vista Aviation.
Career
Lindsey's started his motorsport career in Bakersf ...
and Matt McMurry
Matthew Merrill McMurry (born November 24, 1997) is an American racing driver from Phoenix, Arizona, United States. In 2014 he became the first junior development driver for Dyson Racing and a few months later at the age of 16 years and 202 days o ...
were put to last in their class for a minimum drive-time violation.
*Drivers denoted by † did not complete sufficient laps in order to score points.
Teams' championships
Prototype
Prototype Challenge
GT Le Mans
GT Daytona
;Notes:
*1 – All teams using Lamborghini Huracán GT3-cars were penalized with five minutes added to their total time due to BoP-regulations.
*2 – Car No. 96 of Turner Motorsport
Turner Motorsport (Also known as TMS Racing or Turner racing ) is a professional sports car racing team located in Newton, NH, and is the second most prolific BMW privateer racing team in the world, second only to Schnitzer Motorsport, who sto ...
was put to the back of its class for exceeding the maximum drive-time limitation.
*3 – Car No. 44 of Magnus Racing
Magnus Racing is an automobile racing team based in Tooele, Utah, currently competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The team was established in 2010 by John Potter and runs Acura NSX GT3 car in the series.
History
The team fin ...
was put to second to last in its class for a minimum drive-time violation.
*4 – Car No. 73 of Park Place Motorsports was put to last in its class for a minimum drive-time violation.
Manufacturers' championships
Prototype
GT Le Mans
GT Daytona
;Notes:
*1 – Lamborghini
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi.
Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...
was unable to score at Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it.
Daytona may also refer to:
Locations
* Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
* South Daytona, Florida
* The Daytona Beach metropolitan area
* Halifax area, also known as Da ...
as they were penalized due to BoP-regulations.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{IMSA GT Championships
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship seasons
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...