The 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was the third season of the United SportsCar Championship and first to be under the name as the IMSA SportsCar Championship organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). It was the 46th season of IMSA-sanctioned GT Championship sportscar racing tracing its lineage to the 1971 IMSA Camel GT season. It began on January 30 with the 24 Hours of Daytona and ended on October 1 at Petit Le Mans.
Classes The class structure remained largely unchanged from 2015, with the major change coming in GTD which was now run full GT3 spec machinery.
Prototype (P) (DP and LMP2) Prototype Challenge (PC) GT Le Mans (GTLM) GT Daytona (GTD)
Schedule
Race schedule
The 2016 schedule was released on August 8, 2015 and featured twelve rounds.
There were also two test sessions before the beginning of the season. They were held on November 17–18 at Daytona International Speedway, as well as The Roar Before the 24, also at Daytona, January 8–10.
Rnd Race Length Classes Circuit Location Date 1 Rolex 24 at Daytona 24 hours All Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida January 30–31 2 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring 12 hours All Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida March 19 3 BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach 1 hour 40 minutes P, PC, GTLM Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California April 16 4 Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix 2 hours P, GTLM Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California May 1 PC, GTD 5 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic 1 hour 40 minutes P, PC, GTD The Raceway on Belle Isle Detroit, Michigan June 4 6 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen 6 hours All Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York July 3 7 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix 2 hours 40 minutes All Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Bowmanville, Ontario July 10 8 Northeast Grand Prix 2 hours 40 minutes PC, GTLM, GTD Lime Rock Park Lakeville, Connecticut July 23 9 Continental Tire Road Race Showcase 2 hours 40 minutes All Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 7 10 Michelin GT Challenge 2 hours 40 minutes GTLM, GTD Virginia International Raceway Alton, Virginia August 28 11 Lone Star Le Mans 2 hours 40 minutes All Circuit of the Americas Austin, Texas September 17 12 Petit Le Mans presented by Harrah's Cherokee 10 hours All Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia October 1
NOTE: Because of a high car count for the Mazda Raceway event, there will be two separate two-hour races with two categories racing in each race.
Calendar changes
PC has been added to the lineup at Long Beach. GTD has been added to the lineup at the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, having the race feature all four classes. The round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will return to a split race format because of field size. GTLM will join PC and GTD at Lime Rock Park.
Entries
Prototype
Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Panoz DeltaWing Racing DeltaWing DWC13 Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L Turbo I4 0 Katherine Legge 1–4, 6–7, 9, 11–12 Andy Meyrick 1–3, 12 Sean Rayhall 1–2, 4, 6–7, 9, 11–12 Andreas Wirth 1 Gabby Chaves 6 Tequila Patrón ESMLigier JS P2 Honda HR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 2 Pipo Derani 1–2, 6, 12 Scott Sharp 1–2, 6, 12 Johannes van Overbeek 1–2, 6, 12 Ed Brown 1–2 Action Express Racing Coyote Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 5 João Barbosa All Christian Fittipaldi All Filipe Albuquerque 1–2, 6, 12 Scott Pruett 1–2 31 Dane Cameron All Eric Curran All Simon Pagenaud 1, 12 Jonathan Adam 1 Scott Pruett 2 Filipe Albuquerque 6 Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 10 Jordan Taylor All Ricky Taylor All Max Angelelli 1–2, 6, 12 Rubens Barrichello 1–2 Alegra Motorsports Riley Mk XXVI DP Dinan (BMW) 5.0 L V8 24 Dominik Farnbacher 2 Cameron Lawrence 2 Daniel Morad 2 Carlos de Quesada 2 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR01 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 37 Mikhail Aleshin 1 Kirill Ladygin 1 Maurizio Mediani 1 Nicolas Minassian 1 Fifty Plus Racing (Highway to Help) Riley Mk XXVI DP Dinan (BMW) 5.0 L V8 50 Byron DeFoor 1–2, 6 Jim Pace 1–2, 6 Dorsey Schroeder 1–2, 6 David Hinton 1–2 Thomas Gruber 1 Mazda Motorsports Lola B12/80 Mazda Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 55 Jonathan Bomarito All Tristan Nunez All Spencer Pigot 1–2, 6, 12 70 Tom Long All Joel Miller All Ben Devlin 1–2, 6 Keiko Ihara 2 Spencer Pigot 12 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ligier JS P2 Honda HR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 60 Oswaldo Negri Jr. All John Pew 1–4, 6–7, 9, 11–12 Olivier Pla 1–2, 6, 12 A. J. Allmendinger 1 Katherine Legge 5 DragonSpeed Oreca 05 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 81 Henrik Hedman 2 Nicolas Lapierre 2 Nicolas Minassian 2 VisitFlorida Racing Coyote Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 90 Marc Goossens All Ryan Dalziel 1–2, 4–7, 9, 11–12 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1–3, 12 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost Riley DP Ford EcoBoost D35 3.5 L Turbo V6 01 Brendon Hartley 1 Andy Priaulx 1 Lance Stroll 1 Alexander Wurz 1 02 Scott Dixon 1 Tony Kanaan 1 Kyle Larson 1 Jamie McMurray 1
Prototype Challenge All entries use an Oreca FLM09 chassis powered by a Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8.
Team Drivers Rounds Starworks Motorsport 7 José Gutiérrez 8–9, 11 Sean Rayhall 8 Gustavo Yacamán 9, 11 Stefano Coletti 12 James Dayson 12 Quinlan Lall 12 8 Alex Popow All Renger van der Zande All Chris Cumming 1 Jack Hawksworth 1 David Heinemeier Hansson 2, 12 88 Maro Engel 1–2 Sean Johnston 1–2 Mark Kvamme 1, 3–9, 11–12 Felix Rosenqvist 1 Michael Lyons 2 Ashley Freiberg 3–5 Richard Bradley 6–7, 9, 11–12 Remo Ruscitti 6, 8 Max Hanratty 12 BAR1 Motorsports 20 Johnny Mowlem 1–8, 12 Marc Drumwright 1–2 Tomy Drissi 1, 3, 5, 12 Brendan Gaughan 1 Ricardo Vera 1 Don Yount 2, 6, 12 Ryan Lewis 2 Matt McMurry 4, 6–9, 11 Bruno Junqueira 9, 11 26 Don Yount 1, 9, 11 John Falb 1, 11 Ryan Eversley 1 Ryan Lewis 1 Adam Merzon 1 Johnny Mowlem 9 Performance Tech Motorsports 38 James French All Kyle Marcelli 1–9, 12 Josh Norman 1–2 Brandon Gdovic 1 Jim Norman 1 Kenton Koch 6, 12 Nicholas Boulle 11 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 52 Robert Alon All Tom Kimber-Smith All José Gutiérrez 1–2, 6, 12 Nicholas Boulle 1 CORE Autosport 54 Jon Bennett 1–9 Colin Braun 1–9 Mark Wilkins 1–2, 6 Martin Plowman 1 JDC-Miller MotorSports 85 Mikhail Goikhberg All Stephen Simpson All Chris Miller 1–2, 6, 12 Kenton Koch 1–2
GT Le Mans
Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet LT5.5R 5.5 L V8 3 Antonio García All Jan Magnussen All Mike Rockenfeller 1–2, 12 4 Oliver Gavin All Tommy Milner All Marcel Fässler 1–2, 12 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM BMW S63 4.4 L Turbo V8 25 Bill Auberlen All Dirk Werner All Bruno Spengler 1–2 Augusto Farfus 1, 12 100 John Edwards All Lucas Luhr All Kuno Wittmer 1–2, 12 Graham Rahal 1 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 62 Giancarlo Fisichella All Toni Vilander All Davide Rigon 1–2 Olivier Beretta 1 James Calado 12 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT Ford EcoBoost D35 3.5 L Turbo V6 66 Joey Hand All Dirk Müller All Sébastien Bourdais 1–2, 12 67 Ryan Briscoe All Richard Westbrook All Stefan Mücke 1 Scott Dixon 2, 12 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GTE Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 68 Daniel Serra 1–4, 6, 12 Alessandro Pier Guidi 1–2, 4, 6, 12 Alexandre Prémat 1 Memo Rojas 1 Andrea Bertolini 2, 12 Alessandro Balzan 3 SMP Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 72 Andrea Bertolini 1 Gianmaria Bruni 1 James Calado 1 Viktor Shaitar 1 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 911 Patrick Pilet All Nick Tandy All Kévin Estre 1–2 Richard Lietz 12 912 Earl Bamber All Frédéric Makowiecki All Michael Christensen 1–2, 12
GT Daytona
Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS Audi DAR 5.2 L V10 6 Andrew Davis All Robin Liddell All Lawson Aschenbach 1 Matt Bell 1 Connor De Phillippi 2 Mike Skeen 12 9 Dion von Moltke 1–2, 12 Kenny Habul 1 Boris Said 1 Tristan Vautier 1 Lawson Aschenbach 2, 4–12 Matt Bell 2, 4–12 O'Gara Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Lamborghini DGF 5.2 L V10 11 Richard Antinucci 1 Townsend Bell 1 Edoardo Piscopo 1 Bill Sweedler 1 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Lamborghini DGF 5.2 L V10 11 Townsend Bell 2, 4 Bill Sweedler 2, 4 Richard Antinucci 2 16 Corey Lewis All Spencer Pumpelly All Kaz Grala 1 Justin Marks 1 Al Carter 2 Richard Antinucci 12 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Lamborghini DGF 5.2 L V10 21 Emanuele Busnelli 1 Jim Michaelian 1 Joseph Toussaint 1 Lance Willsey 1 Pierre Ehret 2 Jürgen Krebs 2 Christopher Zöchling 2 28 Franz Konrad 1–2 Fabio Babini 1 Marc Basseng 1 Rolf Ineichen 1 Lance Willsey 1 Terry Borcheller 2 Christopher Brück 2 Josh Webster 2 Alex Job Racing#22 and #77 entered as Alex Job Racing and #23 entered as Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing. Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 22 Cooper MacNeil 1–2, 4–9 Leh Keen 1–2, 4–8 Gunnar Jeannette 1–2, 6 David MacNeil 1 Shane van Gisbergen 1 Sven Müller 9 23 Mario Farnbacher All Alex Riberas All Ian James 1–2, 6, 12 Wolf Henzler 1 77 Gunnar Jeannette 9 David MacNeil 9 Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Lamborghini DGF 5.2 L V10 27 Cédric Sbirrazzuoli 2, 4–10, 12 Luca Persiani 2, 6, 9–12 Fabio Babini 2, 7 Paolo Ruberti 2, 11–12 Lawrence DeGeorge 4–6, 8 Frikadelli Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 30 Klaus Abbelen 1 Patrick Huisman 1 Sven Müller 1 Sabine Schmitz 1 Frank Stippler 1 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-R Dodge 8.3 L V10 33 Jeroen Bleekemolen All Ben Keating All Marc Miller 1–2, 12 Dominik Farnbacher 1 93 Damien Faulkner 1 Eric Foss 1 Ben Keating 1 Jeff Mosing 1 Gar Robinson 1 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS Audi DAR 5.2 L V10 44 Andy Lally All John Potter All Marco Seefried 1–2, 12 René Rast 1 Dion von Moltke 6 Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS ultra Audi DAR 5.2 L V10 45 Niclas Jönsson 1–2 Pierre Kaffer 1–2 Tracy Krohn 1–2 Christopher Haase 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Lamborghini DGF 5.2 L V10 48 Bryan Sellers All Madison Snow All Bryce Miller 1–2, 6, 12 Mirko Bortolotti 1 Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 51 Matteo Cressoni 1–2 Raffaele Giammaria 1–2 Peter Mann 1–2 Marco Cioci 1 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 Ferrari 488 GT3 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 63 Alessandro Balzan All Christina Nielsen All Jeff Segal 1–2, 6, 12 Robert Renauer 1 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 73 Jörg Bergmeister 1–2, 4–9, 11–12 Patrick Lindsey 1–2, 4–9, 11–12 Matt McMurry 1–2, 6, 12 Norbert Siedler 1 Jan Heylen 2 Lone Star Racing Dodge Viper GT3-R Dodge 8.3 L V10 80 Dan Knox 4, 9–11 Mike Skeen 4, 9–11 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 BMW S63 4.4 L Turbo V8 96 Bret Curtis All Jens Klingmann All Ashley Freiberg 1–2, 12 Marco Wittmann 1 97 Michael Marsal All Markus Palttala All Jesse Krohn 1–2 Maxime Martin 1 Cameron Lawrence 12 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 Aston Martin 6.0 L V12 98 Paul Dalla Lana 1–2 Pedro Lamy 1–2 Mathias Lauda 1–2 Richie Stanaway 1–2 TRG-AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 Aston Martin 6.0 L V12 007 James Davison 1, 4 Santiago Creel 1 Antonio Pérez 1 Ricardo Pérez de Lara 1 Lars Viljoen 1 Brandon Davis 4 Ben Barker 11 David Calvert-Jones 11 Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 540 Tim Pappas 1–2, 4, 6, 8 Nick Catsburg 1–2, 4, 6 Andy Pilgrim 1–2, 6, 8 Patrick Long 1–2
Team changes After 8 years sported the higher E85 Ethanol blend, Corvette Racing officially switched to traditional E20 Ethanol 20% blend as it was announced on October 13, 2015.
Race results Bold indicates overall winner.