PWC Confirms Gill, 2016 Schedule, Other Updates at State of the Series

The Pirelli World Challenge has made several formal reveals during Tuesday’s State of the Series presentation at the SEMA Show, including its finalized schedule for the full championship, more SprintX details, and additional series confirmations.

The series has formally installed Greg Gill, who had served as interim President and CEO of WC Vision since the season finale Sunday at Mazda Raceway, as the new President and CEO of the company. Additional series staff announcements will follow.

Meanwhile, the schedule remains intact with two events finalized from the provisional calendar released in September.

The track formerly known as Miller Motorsports Park will again host a round of the season, August 26-28. The race is listed as Utah Motorsports Campus, owing to the track’s new ownership.

Lastly, the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca date has been confirmed, now set for Oct. 7-9.

It falls a week after Petit Le Mans, and a week before the FIA World Endurance Championship round in Fuji.

With the Mazda Road to Indy series now running at Mazda Raceway on Sept. 9-11, it also confirms World Challenge as the sole headliner for its own weekend, whereas this year both series crowned their championships on the same weekend.

SprintX weekends will occur at CTMP, Utah and Mazda Raceway.

The full schedule is below:

2016 Pirelli World Challenge Schedule:
March 3-6 — Circuit of the Americas
March 11-13 — Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
April 15-17 — Grand Prix of Long Beach
April 22-24 — Barber Motorsport Park
May 19-22 — Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (SprintX)
May 27-28 — Lime Rock Park
June 23-26 — Road America
July 29-30 — Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
August 26-28 — Utah Motorsports Campus (SprintX)
September 16-18 — Sonoma Raceway
October 7-9 — Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (SprintX)

Technical and other competition details were revealed as well. WC Vision competition director Marcus Haselgrove said GTS will have more GT4 homologated cars next year, such as the KTM X-Bow, among others.

Meanwhile GT3 and GT Cup cars will have rolling starts, rather than standing starts, in 2016.

“We have streamlined the 2016 Rule book, worked closely with teams and manufacturers since the checkered flag at Mazda Raceway in mid-September and we will be adding to our competition and technical team in the coming weeks,” Haselgrove said.