The 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was the 51st racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) which traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. This was also the eighth United SportsCar Championship season and sixth under the IMSA SportsCar Championship name. The series began on January 30 with the 24 Hours of Daytona, and ended on November 13 with the Petit Le Mans after 12 races.

Classes Daytona Prototype international (DPi) Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) GT Le Mans (GTLM) GT Daytona (GTD)

For the 2021 season, a new class is set to join the class hierarchy: Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), in an attempt to bolster the number of entries across each race. It is a new addition to the structure of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, having previously been the main class in one of the championships' feeder series, the IMSA Prototype Challenge.

Rule changes Sporting regulations On September 9, 2020, IMSA announced a revamp of their points system. For the 2021 season onward, the existing points system would be used for the results of qualifying, with the same points system being multiplied by 10 for the main race. In addition, the existing amateur-based classes (LMP2 and GTD) would have a revised qualifying structure, with the session being split into two halves, with both halves requiring a different driver and set of tires to be used for qualifying. This format would be applied to the incoming LMP3 class as well.

Schedule The provisional schedule was released on September 9, 2020, and featured 12 rounds. The schedule was pending, however, because of COVID-19 regulations that may still be in effect.

On December 3, 2020, IMSA announced the addition of the "Motul Pole Award 100", a qualifying race run in conjunction with the "Roar Before the Rolex 24" preseason test. The 100-minute event awards qualifying points and sets the starting order for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Two drivers must compete in each car, however points are awarded to all drivers on the entry list for each car. This effectively made participation in the Roar Before the 24 test mandatory for all teams planning to race in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

On December 17, 2020, IMSA announced an adjustment to the schedule due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, shifting the "West Coast Swing" rounds at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the Long Beach street circuit from April to September.

On March 4, 2021, IMSA announced a further change to the schedule, again because of the pandemic, because the 24 Heures du Mans was rescheduled to August 21–22. The round at VIR, which clashed with the rescheduled Le Mans date, was moved from August 22 to October 9, while the season-ending Petit Le Mans shifted from October 9 to November 13.

In a related change on March 25, 2021, the Detroit round, initially scheduled for June 5 with the classes not at Le Mans attending, was moved back after the date shift for Le Mans, with the round shifted to June 12 and becoming a single meeting with INDYCAR. The LMP2 class was dropped from the event, with a replacement venue to be announced at a later date. The GTLM class was added, but will not score points towards the championship.

In a fourth pandemic-related change on April 7, 2021, IMSA announced the cancellation of the event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park because of Canadian quarantine restrictions, replacing it with a standard-distance (three hour race, 2 hours, 40 minutes of racing format) at Watkins Glen International on Friday, July 2, dubbed the "WeatherTech 240 at The Glen." The race used the format intended for Mosport, with all classes competing; however the GTD class scored points only towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Race Length Classes Circuit Location Date Motul Pole Award 100 1 hour, 40 minutes All Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida January 24 1 Rolex 24 at Daytona 24 hours All January 30–31 2 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring 12 hours All Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida March 20 3 Acura Sports Car Challenge 2 hours, 40 minutes DPi, LMP3, GTD Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio May 16 4 Detroit Grand Prix 1 hour, 40 minutes DPi, GTLM, GTD The Raceway on Belle Isle Detroit, Michigan June 12 5 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen 6 hours All Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York June 27 6 WeatherTech 240 at the Glen 2 hours, 40 minutes All Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York July 2 7 Northeast Grand Prix 2 hours, 40 minutes GTLM, GTD Lime Rock Park Lakeville, Connecticut July 17 8 IMSA Sports Car Weekend 2 hours, 40 minutes All Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 8 9 Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship 2 hours, 40 minutes DPi, LMP2, GTLM, GTD WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California September 12 10 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach 1 hour, 40 minutes DPi, GTLM, GTD Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California September 25 11 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR 2 hours, 40 minutes GTLM, GTD Virginia International Raceway Alton, Virginia October 9 12 Motul Petit Le Mans 10 hours All Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia November 13

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Entries

Daytona Prototype international (DPi) Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac LT4 5.5 L V8 01 Renger van der Zande All Kevin Magnussen 1–10 Scott Dixon 1–2, 12 Earl Bamber 12 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac LT4 5.5 L V8 5 Loïc Duval All Tristan Vautier All Sébastien Bourdais 1–2, 5, 12 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Acura ARX-05 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 10 Filipe Albuquerque All Ricky Taylor All Alexander Rossi 1–2, 5, 12 Hélio Castroneves 1 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac LT4 5.5 L V8 31 Pipo Derani All Felipe Nasr All Mike Conway 1–2, 5, 12 Chase Elliott 1 Ally Cadillac Racing 48 Jimmie Johnson 1–2, 5, 12 Kamui Kobayashi 1–2, 5, 12 Simon Pagenaud 1–2, 5, 12 Mike Rockenfeller 1 Mazda Motorsports Mazda RT24-P Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 55 Oliver Jarvis All Harry Tincknell All Jonathan Bomarito 1–2, 5, 12 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-05 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 60 Dane Cameron All Olivier Pla 1–6, 8–10 Juan Pablo Montoya 1–2, 12 A. J. Allmendinger 1 Hélio Castroneves 12

Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) In accordance with the 2017 LMP2 regulations, all cars in the LMP2 class use the Gibson GK428 V8 engine. Team Chassis Drivers Rounds Tower Motorsport by Starworks Oreca 07 8 Gabriel Aubry All John Farano All Timothé Buret 1–2 Matthieu Vaxivière 1 James French 5, 12 WIN Autosport Oreca 07 11 Tristan Nunez All Steven Thomas All Thomas Merrill 1–2, 5, 12 Matthew Bell 1 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 18 Ryan Dalziel 1–2, 5, 8–9, 12 Dwight Merriman 1–2, 5, 8–9, 12 Kyle Tilley 1–2, 5, 12 Paul-Loup Chatin 1 High Class Racing Oreca 07 20 Dennis Andersen 1 Anders Fjordbach 1 Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen 1 Robert Kubica 1 United Autosports Oreca 07 22 Wayne Boyd 2, 5, 12 James McGuire 2, 5, 12 Guy Smith 2, 5, 12 Racing Team Nederland Oreca 07 29 Frits van Eerd 1 Giedo van der Garde 1 Charles Milesi 1 Job van Uitert 1 Cetilar Racing Dallara P217 47 Andrea Belicchi 1 Antonio Fuoco 1 Roberto Lacorte 1 Giorgio Sernagiotto 1 RWR Eurasia Ligier JS P217 51 Austin Dillon 1 Sven Müller 1 Cody Ware 1 Salih Yoluç 1 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 52 Mikkel Jensen All Ben Keating All Scott Huffaker 1–2, 5, 12 Nicolas Lapierre 1 DragonSpeed USA Oreca 07 81 Garett Grist 1 Ben Hanley 1 Rob Hodes 1 Rinus VeeKay 1 82 Devlin DeFrancesco 1 Eric Lux 1 Christopher Mies 1 Fabian Schiller 1

Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) In accordance with the 2020 LMP3 regulations, all cars in the LMP3 class use the Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8 engine. Team Chassis Drivers Rounds United Autosports Ligier JS P320 2 Niklas Krütten 5, 12 Edouard Cauhaupé 5 Austin McCusker 5 Andy Meyrick 12 Tom Gamble 12 Mühlner Motorsports America Duqueine M30 - D08 6 Laurents Hörr 1 Kenton Koch 1 Moritz Kranz 1 Stevan McAleer 1 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine M30 - D08 7 Mark Kvamme 1, 12 Gabby Chaves 1 Trenton Estep 1 Ryan Norman 1 Oliver Askew 2 Stevan McAleer 2 Austin McCusker 2 Rodrigo Pflucker 12 Stefan Rzadzinski 12 Jr III Motorsports Ligier JS P320 30 Theodor Olsen 8 Mike Skeen 8 Ari Balogh 12 Garett Grist 12 Spencer Pigot 12 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P320 33 João Barbosa 1–3 Lance Willsey 1–3 Yann Clairay 1–2 Wayne Boyd 1 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 36 Jarett Andretti 3, 5–6, 8, 12 Oliver Askew 3, 5–6, 8, 12 Marco Andretti 5 Josh Burdon 12 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 38 Rasmus Lindh All Mateo Llarena 1–2, 5–6 Cameron Cassels 1 Ayrton Ori 1 Dan Goldburg 2–3, 5, 8, 12 Malthe Jakobsen 12 FastMD Racing Duqueine M30 - D08 40 Todd Archer 12 Max Hanratty 12 James Vance 12 CORE Autosport Ligier JS P320 54 Jon Bennett All Colin Braun All George Kurtz 1–2, 5, 12 Matt McMurry 1 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 74 Gar Robinson All Scott Andrews 1–2, 5, 12 Spencer Pigot 1–2 Oliver Askew 1 Felipe Fraga 3, 5–6, 8, 12 91 Jim Cox All Dylan Murry All Jeroen Bleekemolen 1–2, 5, 12 Austin McCusker 1 Wulver Motorsports Ligier JS P320 61 Tõnis Kasemets 8 Augie Pabst 8 WIN Autosport Duqueine M30 - D08 83 Matthew Bell 2, 12 Niklas Krütten 2 Rodrigo Sales 2 Naveen Rao 12 Josh Skelton 12 D3+ Transformers-Dawson Racing Ligier JS P320 84 Dominic Cicero 5–6 Theodor Olsen 5–6 Ben Devlin 5

GT Le Mans (GTLM) Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R Chevrolet LT6.R 5.5 L V8 3 Antonio García All Jordan Taylor All Nicky Catsburg 1–2, 12 4 Tommy Milner All Nick Tandy All Alexander Sims 1–2, 12 BMW Team RLLBMW confirms reduced IMSA program- John Dagys, Sportscar365, January 19, 2021 BMW M8 GTE BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8 24 John Edwards 1–2, 5, 12 Augusto Farfus 1–2, 5, 12 Jesse Krohn 1–2, 5, 12 Marco Wittmann 1 25 Connor De Phillippi 1–2, 5, 12 Philipp Eng 1–2, 5, 12 Bruno Spengler 1–2, 5, 12 Timo Glock 1 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE Evo Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 62 James Calado 1 Jules Gounon 1 Alessandro Pier Guidi 1 Davide Rigon 1 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche M97/80 4.2 L Flat-6 79 Cooper MacNeil All Kévin Estre 1, 11 Gianmaria Bruni 1 Richard Lietz 1 Matt Campbell 2, 5–6, 8–9, 12 Mathieu Jaminet 2, 5, 7, 10, 12 97 Frédéric Makowiecki 12 Kévin Estre 12 Michael Christensen 12

GT Daytona (GTD)