Car Capacity Guidelines for 2014 Released

With unprecedented car counts expected for the inaugural TUDOR United SportsCar Championship in 2014, International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) officials today announced tentative car capacity guidelines for each of the TUDOR Championship’s four classes at each venue.

The maximum car capacity guidelines are based on space available at each venue. Series officials arrived at the car capacity for each class based on current projections, and the actual capacity per class may fluctuate as full-season entries are filed. IMSA will begin taking entry applications on Nov. 1.

“Based on the feedback we’ve received from our entrants, we expect full-season entries to put us at or near maximum capacity for every TUDOR Championship race next year,” said IMSA Vice President, Competition and Technical Regulations, Scot Elkins. “The issue of capacity has really come into focus since we announced our 2014 schedule last month and as our teams have begun to share their plans with us. Our projections have led us to make some additional adjustments.”

*The Prototype (P) class will have a tentative cap of 20 cars at five venues: Sebring International Raceway, Long Beach, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Detroit’s Belle Isle and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The P class will be capped at 19 cars for all other venues on the 2014 schedule.

*The Prototype Challenge (PC) class will be tentatively capped at 10 entries for all TUDOR Championship events. PC competitors will race for the overall victory in a two-class race alongside the GT Daytona (GTD) class at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 4. A separate race will be held on the same day for the P and GT Le Mans (GTLM) classes, with FOX Sports set to televise both events.

*PC will also headline an event at Kansas Speedway – which hosted its first professional sports car events in August with the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge – on Saturday, June 7. PC will conduct doubleheader sprint races alongside IMSA’s Cooper Tires Prototype Lites powered by Mazda series at Kansas and at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). The class will have a total of 10 events in the 2014 TUDOR Championship, removing Detroit and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park from the previously announced schedule for PC.

*The GTLM class will have a tentative cap of 19 cars at VIR, 16 at Long Beach, 14 at Sebring and Indianapolis and 12 at all others. GTD will be tentatively capped at 19 cars for all events except for Detroit, where the class will have capacity for approximately 21 cars.

Official test sessions for the 2014 TUDOR Championship are scheduled for Nov. 16-17 at Sebring International Raceway and Nov. 19-20 at Daytona International Speedway. The inaugural TUDOR Championship opens with the 52nd Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 25-26, 2014.

2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Schedule

Jan 25-26 Daytona International Speedway
Mar 15 Sebring International Raceway
Apr 12 Long Beach Street Circuit (P/GTLM Only)
May 4 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (Split P/GTLM and PC/GTD Events)
May 31 Detroit Belle Isle (P/GTD Only)
June 7 Kansas Speedway (PC Only)
Jun 29 Watkins Glen International
Jul 13 Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (P/GTLM/GTD Only)
Jul 25 Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Aug 10 Road America
Aug 24 Virginia International Raceway (Split PC and GTLM/GTD Events)
Sep 20 Circuit of The Americas
Oct 4 Road Atlanta