IMSA

IMSA Announces 2025 Schedules for WeatherTech Championship, Michelin Pilot Challenge

IMSA
15 Mar. 2024 • 15:17
Schedules Revealed at Surprise Gathering of IMSA Stakeholders on Eve of Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac
Photo : LAT

With just one race of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the books, IMSA fans can already start making their plans for next year.

 

This morning at Sebring International Raceway – site of Saturday’s 72nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac – IMSA President John Doonan revealed the slate of races that will make up the 2025 schedules for the WeatherTech Championship and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. The announcement was made in a gathering of IMSA stakeholders at the track.

 

Showcasing the stability and consistency that IMSA fans, competitors and stakeholders have come to expect, the 2025 schedules will not differ substantially from this year’s calendar. The WeatherTech Championship once again will include an 11-race season, including five endurance events that will comprise the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.

 

The Michelin Pilot Challenge again will feature a 10-race schedule, including one standalone event in which the series is the featured race.

 

“On behalf of my teammates at IMSA, I am proud to be able to announce our schedule for 2025 at such an early date,” said Doonan. “This was made possible through a great spirit of collaboration with our promoter partners, and we are grateful to them for enabling us to make our 2025 plans known today. Putting next year’s schedule into everybody’s hands so soon allows fans, competitors and partners to get well ahead in planning for an amazing 2025 season, even with so much of our 2024 season still to come.”

 

2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

 

 

The 2025 season will open in Daytona Beach, Florida with the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona on the weekend of Jan. 23-26 as confirmed in an announcement last week from Daytona International Speedway. The Rolex 24 again kicks off both the WeatherTech Championship and Michelin Endurance Cup calendar and will be preceded by the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 on the prior weekend, Jan. 17-19.

 

From Daytona, the series shifts to Sebring International Raceway on March 12-15 for the 73rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring – which again represents the second round of both the WeatherTech Championship and Michelin Endurance Cup. The Daytona and Sebring events both will include all four WeatherTech Championship classes: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD).

 

After the pair of Florida endurance races, the WeatherTech Championship will make its traditional western trek to the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which will feature the GTP and GTD classes in a 100-minute battle on the famed streets of the Southern California city. That event weekend is scheduled for April 11-12.

 

The WeatherTech Championship stays out west for the fourth round of the season, a two-hour and 40-minute contest at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on the weekend of May 9-11. The GTP and GTD classes will be joined by GTD PRO at the picturesque circuit.

 

From there, it’s back to the streets of downtown Detroit and another 100-minute battle as part of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix for the GTP and GTD PRO classes on May 30-31.

 

Watkins Glen International in New York’s Finger Lakes region retains its familiar late-June slot on the WeatherTech Championship and Michelin Endurance Cup schedules with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on the weekend of June 26-29. The event will bring together all four WeatherTech Championship classes for the first time since Sebring.

 

Three WeatherTech Championship classes – LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD – will be showcased at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario on the weekend of July 11-13 in the series’ lone visit north of the border. All four classes return to action on the weekend of July 31-Aug. 3 for the annual WeatherTech Championship visit to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

 

VIRginia International Raceway near Danville, Virginia will be the lone GT-only race on the 2025 schedule with the GTD PRO and GTD classes stepping into the spotlight on the weekend of Aug. 22-24. Indianapolis Motor Speedway again will host the penultimate rounds of both the WeatherTech Championship and Michelin Endurance Cup with the Battle on the Bricks six-hour race scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 19-21.

 

It all culminates on the weekend of Oct. 8-11 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, where championship battles will be decided and champions will be crowned after the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans.

 

2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge

 

 

The 2025 season opens as it has traditionally with a four-hour battle at Daytona International Speedway. The BMW M Endurance Challenge will kick off the season for the Grand Sport (GS) and Touring Car (TCR) classes on Friday, Jan. 25.

 

Round 2 takes the series to Sebring International Raceway for a two-hour race on Friday, March 14 before a break in the schedule that concludes on Saturday, May 10 with two hours of racing on WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

 

The second four-hour race of the season is slated for Sunday, June 8 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course where the Michelin Pilot Challenge is the headline event for the second consecutive year. Watkins Glen International wraps up the first half of the 10-race season on Saturday, June 28 with a two-hour race.

 

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park brings the popular Michelin Pilot Challenge teams into Canada for another two-hour battle on Saturday, July 12. From there, teams will make the trek to Wisconsin for a two-hour fight on the four-mile Road America circuit on Saturday, Aug. 2.

 

VIRginia International Raceway again will host the Michelin Pilot Challenge on Saturday, Aug. 23, followed by the series’ third consecutive visit to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 20. The 2025 season will conclude at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with a two-hour race on Friday, Oct. 10.

 

As has traditionally been the case, the Michelin Pilot Challenge will be part of the Roar Before the Rolex 24 on the weekend of Jan. 17-19. Participation in the Roar is not mandatory for Michelin Pilot Challenge competitors.

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