New IMSA App Launches in Partnership with Microsoft

The viewing experience for fans of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and other series sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) will be enhanced greatly beginning with this weekend’s Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda via the new IMSA mobile app.

Developed in partnership with Microsoft, the free app is available now for phones and tablets using iOS, Android or Windows operating systems and features expanded content and experiences for users.

A base experience includes series news, videos and team and driver bios. By registering for the app, users may also unlock a free “premium” experience featuring live streaming video and IMSA Radio audio as well as complete live timing and scoring data. Live offerings include:

***TUDOR Championship – Streaming video of races (where available), in-car cameras and qualifying. IMSA Radio and live timing and scoring coverage for all official sessions.

***Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge – Streaming video of races. IMSA Radio and live timing and scoring for all official sessions.

***Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama – Streaming video and IMSA Radio of races. Live timing and scoring of practice and qualifying.

***Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America – Streaming video and IMSA Radio of races. Live timing and scoring of practice and qualifying.

***Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda – IMSA Radio race coverage and live timing and scoring for all official sessions.

Premium registrants also have the opportunity to customize their experience by selecting their favorite participating TUDOR Championship manufacturer including BMW, Chevrolet and Porsche.

“Our strategy has been to develop the best possible digital products for our fans,” said David Pettit, IMSA vice president, marketing. “Our partners at Microsoft worked with us to create an intuitive, easy-to-use and content rich app. We are confident our fans will quickly identify this as an indispensable asset while with us at the track or as a second-screen experience they must have at their fingertips whether they are watching at home or elsewhere.”

The state-of-the-art app was created by Microsoft and its development partner, InterKnowlogy, using Microsoft Visual Studio and Xamarin software and Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform. It will be featured in the keynote speech in a pair of upcoming Microsoft developer and technology conferences, the BUILD 2015 conference in San Francisco beginning today and running through Friday, May 1 and the IGNITE conference in Chicago on May 4-8.

“Microsoft Visual Studio was pleased to partner with IMSA to deliver a completely new app experience for race fans,” said Matt Nunn, Microsoft director, developer tools product marketing. “The combination of Visual Studio, Xamarin and Azure enabled us to deliver a full set of apps covering all of the major platforms in a very short timeframe. We were able to reuse about 80 percent of our code across all of the apps which allowed us to gain the efficiency we needed to cross the finish line while Azure provides the infrastructure we need to scale for race day fan demand.”

Next up for IMSA and the TUDOR United Championship is the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday, May 3. The two-hour and 40-minute race featuring all four TUDOR Championship classes will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 at 4 p.m. ET.