No Driver Ratings for CTSC in 2015

Photo: IMSA

The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge will remain without the enforcement of driver ratings for 2015, IMSA confirmed on Friday.

While there had been considerations to enforce Pro-Am driver restrictions in either the GS and/or ST classes, no changes will be made until 2016 at the earliest, according to Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Sr. Technical Manager Jeff Mishtawy.

“There are some very strong opinions on both sides of that,” Mishtawy told Sportscar365. “There are some real upsides to that and there are some complications that it would bring in. It is a current discussion and may be something that gets rolled out for 2016, if it happens.”

Mishtawy said multiple options are being explored for the future, most importantly, to protect its young crop of drivers working their way up the IMSA ladder.

“Continental [Tire Challenge] is supposed to be a series that younger drivers that are looking to become full professionals can come into and make a name for themselves,” he said. “If we look at this as a GT ladder system, they should start in ST, go to GS and then to GTD or GTLM.

“We have to protect those guys a little bit. That’s one way of doing it. If it does [end up] going in, I would guess it would be a unique system for Continental and not the [FIA] medallion system.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John