Michelin Pilot Challenge
Category | Grand touring Touring car |
---|---|
Country | United States Canada |
Inaugural season | 1997 |
Drivers' champion | GS: Kyle Marcelli GS: Nate Stacy TCR: Gabby Chaves TCR: Ryan Norman |
Makes' champion | GS: Aston Martin TCR: Hyundai |
Teams' champion | GS: #60 KohR Motorsports TCR: #33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian |
Official website | michelinpilotchallenge.imsa.com |
Current season |
The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a
The Continental Challenge was the support series for Grand-Am's premier offering, the
Races
In traditional sports car racing format, the races are often run with both GS and ST classes on track simultaneously, which is known as a "combined" race. Occasionally the races will be run in "split classes", with separate races for both classes. This is especially common for shorter venues such as Lime Rock Park. Currently the races are 2 hours 30 minutes in length with a required driver change.
Telecasts
- Until 2013, broadcasts were to Speed Channel. All telecasts are uploaded to the series website after their initial airing.
- From 2019 season, NBC Sports telecast Delayed-Race and IMSA TV has telecast live via Peacock.
- In some countries, NASCAR Holdings (which owns IMSA) feature the Michelin Pilot Challenge is included in NASCAR's media rights deals in Mexico and Brazil that includes NASCAR's three national series, IMSA's two major series, and American Flat Track, all of which have broadcasts produced by NASCAR.
- IMSA TV, which is controlled by NASCAR Productions, has international rights in selected countries.
Vehicles
The series uses two classes in each race. Originally, these were:
- The Grand Sport (GS) class features large-displacement 6-cylinder, 8-cylinder, 10-cylinder or 12-cylinder sports cars as well as small displacement 4-cylinder forced induction sports cars.
- The Street Tuner (ST) class is for smaller 4-cylinder, 5-cylinder or 6-cylinder sedans, hatchbacks, coupes or convertibles.
From 2017, IMSA allowed cars built by "mainstream automotive manufacturers" to SRO GT4 regulations to compete, with a complete phase out of the original Grand-Am GS class the next year. Also in 2018, IMSA introduced TCR Touring Cars as a third class, with the intention of it replacing the Street Tuners as the second class, which happened the following year.[2]
The original format was reminiscent of the original
Champions
Notes
- ^ Compass360Civic of Thilenius and Aschenbach finished the 2010 season tied in ST points. As both teams had the same number of wins and second-place finishes, Thilenius and Aschenbach won the title by virtue of having more third-place finishes.
- ^ a b Matt Plumb was victorious in the final race and was the presumed champion, but upon official review he was determined to have been illegally entered in multiple cars, and thus received no points, handing the championship to Farano and Empringham.
References
- ^ "Michelin Pilot Challenge Revealed; Two Classes in 2019 – Sportscar365". Retrieved 2018-10-14.
- ^ "IMSA Finalizes Racing Platform Innovations | IMSA". www.imsa.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-18.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-10. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Michelin Pilot Challenge: Home".
- ^ "Michelin Pilot Challenge: Home".
- ^ "Michelin Pilot Challenge: Home".