IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Expands to Include GT3 Cars in 2025; Six-Event, 12-Race Schedule Unveiled

The IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will sport a new look again in 2025 with the addition of GT3 cars alongside the existing two classes in a six-event, 12-race season announced today for the IMSA-sanctioned sprint racing series.

The new class – to be named Grand Touring Daytona X (GTDX) – will utilize currently homologated FIA GT3 specification car models that have participated in the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“The introduction of GT3 cars into the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge creates new opportunities for drivers and teams to participate in IMSA,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “Over the past few years, we have received more entries than we have been able to accept in the WeatherTech Championship – particularly in the GTD ranks – and this will enable us to accommodate more competitors who wish to race in IMSA.

“A number of teams, drivers and manufacturers have expressed an interest in participating in an IMSA-sanctioned, GT3-based sprint format. The market has spoken again and GTDX is IMSA’s response.”

A baseline Balance of Performance (BoP) for the 2025 GTDX season will be established from IMSA’s 2024 GTD category data and performance, with Success Ballast applied to top-finishing individual race cars following each event weekend in GTDX only. GTDX cars will use a variant of the 2024 GTD technical regulations and electronics package and will not use torque sensors.

All three classes – Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3), GTDX and Grand Sport X (GSX) – will utilize a single driver per car, per event. All drivers must have an FIA categorization of either Bronze or Silver.

The weekend format for the series will continue to include two 45-minute sprint races without pit stops, with one 15-minute qualifying session for P3 and a 15-minute combined qualifying session for GTDX and GSX.

The fastest lap time achieved by each car during a qualifying session sets its position for Race #1. Starting positions for Race #2 will be set by either the second-fastest time achieved by each car during the qualifying session, or the fastest lap achieved during Race #1, whichever is faster. Each event weekend also will include two, 40-minute practice sessions, an increase in track time from the pair of 30-minute practice sessions for the series in 2024.

2025 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Schedule Unveiled

The three-class format will make its debut in January at Daytona International Speedway, kicking off a six-event, 12-race schedule.

The season-opening races for the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will once again kick off the overall IMSA racing season at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 17-19. The following month, the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge visits a new venue for the series – Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas – as a companion to that weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event in the Lone Star State Capitol on the weekend of Feb. 28-March 1.

The series returns to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and reaches its halfway point of the season with Rounds 5 and 6 on June 6-8 on a weekend headlined by the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. From there, it’s a trip north of the border to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park as part of the WeatherTech Championship race weekend on July 11-13.

VIRginia International Raceway hosts the penultimate event weekend of the season as part of the Michelin GT Challenge event on Aug. 22-24. And Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta will once again wrap up the 2025 campaign on Oct. 8-11 headlined by the WeatherTech Championship Motul Petit Le Mans.

Live streaming of VP Racing SportsCar Challenge races will continue in the United States via Peacock, with international live streaming available on IMSA’s official YouTube channel.