2019 IWSC Schedule Released

Photo: Scott LePage/IMSA

IMSA has released the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule, featuring a largely unchanged calendar of 12 events with several minor date changes.

Announced during IMSA President Scott Atherton’s ‘State of the Series’ address Friday evening at Road America, the season will again feature ten races for prototypes, which have been split into DPi and LMP2 classes, 11 rounds for GT Le Mans and a reduced ten-round season in GT Daytona.

GTD, however, will be bolstered with the launch of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup, a new seven-round championship that incorporates the to-be-confirmed event at Belle Isle, which has been dropped from the overall GTD calendar.

Eight of the 12 events will include all four classes, including the four Michelin Endurance Cup rounds at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta.

The races at Virginia International Raceway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, meanwhile, have both been moved back by one week, in the only date changes.

Belle Isle, which is listed on the calendar for May 31-June 1, remains to-be-confirmed pending local government approval.

“As we head to the conclusion of the 2018 season, our promoter partners have enjoyed record, or near-record attendance for WeatherTech Championship events, and our 2019 schedule will enable those same promoters to build on that momentum,” Atherton said.

“IMSA has been fortunate for the past several years to have a schedule that includes the very best road courses and road racing events in North America, and we are thrilled to confirm our return to these same venues in 2019.

“We have often said that one of the most valuable elements of the merger is the event schedule that resulted – and our 2019 schedule is another reflection of that.”

2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Schedule:
Jan. 4-6 — Roar Before Rolex 24
Jan. 24-27 — Rolex 24 at Daytona
March 13-16 — Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
April 12-13 — Long Beach (no GTD)
May 3-5 — Mid-Ohio
May 31-June 1 — Belle Isle (no GTLM; GTD Sprint Cup only)*
June 28-30 — Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen
July 5-7 — Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
July 19-20 — Lime Rock Park (GTLM/GTD only)
Aug. 2-4 — Road America
Aug. 23-25 — Virginia International Raceway (GTLM/GTD only)
Sept. 13-15 — WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
Oct. 10-12 — Motul Petit Le Mans

*Subject to final local government approval

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