A new sprint championship for LMP3 and GT4 will be launched by IMSA from 2023
Friday, July 1, 2022 by Julie Bouchard
A new LMP3 and GT4-only sprint racing series will debut in 2023 as officials from the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) today unveiled the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
The series will feature the currently homologated Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) and Grand Touring 4 (GT4) in 45-minute sprint races with one driver per car. These events will be contested in support of 5 events in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series.
The new names of the classes in action in this championship will be LMP3 and GSX respectively. To be able to drive in either class, all drivers will need to have an FIA Bronze or Silver driver’s licence, which therefore excludes drivers categorized as 100% Professional (Platinum and Gold). 10 races divided into 5 events are planned for this series which will replace the current IMSA Prototype Challenge series (photo above), reserved for LMP3 cars only.
For its part, the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge will continue in its traditional endurance format, with the Grand Sport (GT4) and Touring Car (TCR) categories competing on a 10-race schedule.
« We are grateful to our long-time partners at VP Racing Fuels for expanding their relationship with us to bring a new and different series to IMSA racing fans, » said IMSA President John Doonan. “The LMP3 and GT4 cars, drivers and teams have delivered fantastic competition over the years. Bringing them together in a sprint race format is a novel approach which we hope will be popular with fans and competitors alike.”
Each weekend of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge event will include a qualifying session in which the fastest timed lap will determine the starting grid for the first race. Each car’s second fastest qualifying lap will determine its position on the starting grid for the second race of the weekend. There will be no pit stops during the races and all cars will be running on Michelin tyres.
