IMSA Adjusts Drive Time Requirements

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

IMSA has adjusted the minimum drive time requirements for all four classes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which will see reduced times for the Pro-Am-enforced Prototype Challenge and GT Daytona classes at most rounds next year.

The minimum drive time for Bronze/Silver drivers in PC and GTD has been reduced to 45 minutes for regular-distance 2 hour and 40-minute races.

Previously, PC Am drivers were required to complete 60 minutes in those races, with GTD having had been adjusted to 45 minutes mid-season earlier this year.

The minimum drive time for the 100-minute sprint races at Long Beach and Detroit, meanwhile, has been cut from 35 to 30 minutes for both classes.

While minimum times remain unchanged for the four Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup races, the maximum drive times, no matter of their rating, has been reduced from 14 to 13 hours at Daytona, 8 to 7 hours at Sebring and from 7 to 6 hours for Petit Le Mans, for all classes.

As was the case this year, no driver may exceed four hours of drive time in a six-hour period.

IMSA has extensively detailed drive-times with a table, which also lists requirements for the Prototype and GT Le Mans classes, which now requires each driver to complete a “base drive-time.”

Each P and GTLM class driver, regardless of driver rating, must drive at least two hours at Daytona, one hour in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, 30 minutes at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and 45 minutes at Petit Le Mans in order for the car to score points.

The base drive time for a 2 hour and 40-minute race is now 10 minutes, with drivers needing to only complete five minutes in the car for the 100-minute sprint rounds.

This has been changed in the wake of Tequila Patron ESM’s victories in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Twelve Hours of Sebring, where Ed Brown completed only a handful of laps in both races and was credited for the wins.

Also as change for next year, if a team’s drivers do not meet the drive-time requirements, the car and drivers will be placed at the back of their class in the finishing order and receive the points associated with that position, subject to drive-time infraction order priority.

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