The 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was the 53rd racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association, which traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. It was also the tenth season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship since the merger between the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014, and the eighth under the sponsorship of WeatherTech. The 2023 season marked an overhaul season for the championship, with a change in class structure and a new race on the season calendar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The championship began with the 24 Hours of Daytona on January 28 and concluded with the Petit Le Mans on October 14 after 11 races.
Classes Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) (LMDh and LMH) Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) GT Daytona Pro (GTD Pro) GT Daytona (GTD)
At the end of the 2022 season, IMSA retired the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, which was the premier racing class in the WeatherTech Championship from 2017 until 2022, spanning six seasons. IMSA replaced it with a new class called GTP, named in tribute to the GTP class from the IMSA GT Championship in the 1980s.
GTP is the new flagship class of the championship and consists of two sister technical regulations: Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh), and Le Mans Hypercar (LMH). LMDh allows choosing from a base chassis, of which there are four choices, from Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic, and Oreca, as well as a specification hybrid system on all cars, with freedom on aerodynamics, bodywork, and engine configuration. The LMH regulation allows bespoke hybrid designs and offers more mechanical design freedom in exchange for elevated development costs. As with the DPi class, GTP is regulated by a Balance of Performance (BoP) system to keep the performance range of each of the cars close together and regulate spending.
The GTP class consists of the same framework as the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. A collaborative alliance between IMSA and the French racing organizers, ACO, resulted in the convergence of the two organizers' top-class regulations.
After initially announcing discontinuing the sub-championship entirely on August 5, IMSA later declared on September 1 that they would continue the WeatherTech Sprint Cup, a championship comprising only sprint rounds for the GT Daytona (GTD) class. The only difference was that there would be no Sprint Cup-only rounds for 2023, to combat situations such as the record-low six-car GTD entry at the 2022 Chevrolet Grand Prix.
Schedule
The provisional schedule was released on August 5, 2022, and featured 11 rounds.
Race Length Classes Circuit Location Date 1 Rolex 24 at Daytona 24 hours All Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida January 28–29 2 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring 12 hours All Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida March 18 3 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach 1 hour, 40 minutes GTP, GTD Pro, GTD Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California April 15 4 Motul Course de Monterey 2 hours, 40 minutes GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro, GTD WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California May 14 5 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen 6 hours All Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York June 25 6 Chevrolet Grand Prix 2 hours, 40 minutes GTP, LMP3, GTD Pro, GTD Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Bowmanville, Ontario July 9 7 FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix 2 hours, 40 minutes GTD Pro, GTD Lime Rock Park Lakeville, Connecticut July 22 8 IMSA SportsCar Weekend 2 hours, 40 minutes All Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 6 9 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR 2 hours, 40 minutes GTD Pro, GTD Virginia International Raceway Alton, Virginia August 27 10 IMSA Battle on the Bricks 2 hours, 40 minutes All Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana September 17 11 Motul Petit Le Mans 10 hours All Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia October 14
Notes:
Calendar changes
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was dropped from the calendar. The track had been a part of the championship since 2018. The event was replaced with a sprint race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, marking IMS' return to the championship for the first time since the series' inaugural season in 2014. It was also originally supposed to have Chicago Street Course in the 2023 schedule, but it got canceled. So Road America went back to the schedule.The Raceway on Belle Isle was also dropped from the calendar as a result of the Belle Isle circuit being replaced in favor of the Detroit street circuit. The track was a part of the championship for every season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship since its inception in 2014, except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 1, 2022, it was announced that the Rolex 24 Qualifying Race had been canceled for 2023, with the race reverting to a traditional qualifying format. Qualifying will take place on January 22, the final day of the "Roar Before the Rolex 24" preseason test.
Rule changes
In response to the 2022 Six Hours of The Glen which saw several cars penalized for drive-time infringements as a result of a red flag for inclement weather, IMSA will now reduce the required drive time by a ratio of 2:1 corresponding to a percentage of the race time lost, rather than 1:1 as had been the rule previously. For example: If a race is shortened by 10 percent due to a red flag condition, each driver's minimum required drive time would be reduced by 20 percent. The minimum sprint race drive time for bronze-categorized drivers in the GTD Class has been reduced from 45 minutes to 35 minutes. As an incentive for bronze-categorized drivers to participate in qualifying in the GTD Class, teams whose qualifying time is set by a bronze-categorized driver will be permitted to change tires for the start of the race, while teams utilizing drivers of any other categorization must start the race on the tires used in qualifying. For drivers competing in more than one car during a race, the cumulative maximum drive time no longer applies to races under 6 hours in length.
Entries Grand Touring Prototype (GTP)
Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-LMDh Cadillac V-Series.R Cadillac LMC55R 5.5 L V8 01 Sébastien Bourdais All Renger van der Zande All Scott Dixon 1–2, 11 02 Earl Bamber 1 Alex Lynn 1 Richard Westbrook 1 JDC–Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 5 Tijmen van der Helm 4–6, 8, 10–11 Mike Rockenfeller 4–6, 8, 10–11 Jenson Button 11 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 6 Mathieu Jaminet All Nick Tandy All Dane Cameron 1–2 Laurens Vanthoor 11 7 Matt Campbell All Felipe Nasr All Michael Christensen 1–2 Josef Newgarden 11 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 Acura AR24e 2.4 L Turbo V6 10 Filipe Albuquerque All Ricky Taylor All Louis Delétraz 1–2, 5, 11 Brendon Hartley 1 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 BMW P66/3 4.0 L Turbo V8 24 Philipp Eng All Augusto Farfus All Marco Wittmann 1–2, 11 Colton Herta 1 25 Connor De Phillippi All Nick Yelloly All Sheldon van der Linde 1–2, 11 Colton Herta 1 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac V-LMDh Cadillac V-Series.R Cadillac LMC55R 5.5 L V8 31 Pipo Derani All Alexander Sims All Jack Aitken 1–2, 5, 11 Proton Competition Porsche 963 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 59 Gianmaria Bruni 8, 10–11 Harry Tincknell 8, 10–11 Neel Jani 11 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 Acura AR24e 2.4 L Turbo V6 60 Tom Blomqvist All Colin Braun All Hélio Castroneves 1–2, 11 Simon Pagenaud 1
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 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 04 Ben Hanley All George Kurtz All Nolan Siegel 2, 5, 11 Esteban Gutiérrez 1 Matt McMurry 1 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07 8 Kyffin Simpson 1–2, 5, 11 John Farano 1–2, 4 Scott McLaughlin 1–2, 11 Louis Delétraz 4, 8, 10 Josef Newgarden 1 Will Stevens 5 Salih Yoluç 5 Rodrigo Sales 8 Dan Goldburg 10 Ari Balogh 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 11 Mikkel Jensen All Steven Thomas All Scott Huffaker 1–2, 5, 11 Rinus VeeKay 1 35 Giedo van der Garde All Josh Pierson 1–2, 5, 11 François Hériau 1–2, 4 John Falb 5, 8, 11 Job van Uitert 1 Rodrigo Sales 10 Era Motorsport Oreca 07 18 Ryan Dalziel All Dwight Merriman All Christian Rasmussen 1–2, 5, 11 Oliver Jarvis 1 High Class Racing Oreca 07 20 Ed Jones All Dennis Andersen 1–2, 4, 8, 10–11 Anders Fjordbach 1–2, 5, 11 Raffaele Marciello 1 Mark Kvamme 5 Rick Ware Racing Oreca 07 51 Eric Lux 1–2, 4–5 Devlin DeFrancesco 1–2, 5 Pietro Fittipaldi 1–2, 5 Austin Cindric 1 Juan Pablo Montoya 4 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 52 Paul-Loup Chatin All Ben Keating All Alex Quinn 1–2, 5, 11 Nicolas Lapierre 1 Proton Competition Oreca 07 55 James Allen 1 Gianmaria Bruni 1 Francesco Pizzi 1 Fred Poordad 1 AF Corse Oreca 07 88 Nicklas Nielsen 1, 5 François Perrodo 1, 11 Matthieu Vaxivière 1, 11 Julien Canal 1 Luis Pérez Companc 5 Lilou Wadoux 5 Emmanuel Collard 11
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 Ave Motorsports Ligier JS P320 4 Tõnis Kasemets 2, 5, 8 Seth Lucas 2, 5, 8 Trenton Estep 2, 5 Antoine Comeau 6 George Staikos 6 Kevin Conway 10 John Geesbreght 10 AWA Duqueine M30 - D08 13 Matt Bell All Orey Fidani All Lars Kern 1–2, 5, 11 Moritz Kranz 1 17 Wayne Boyd All Anthony Mantella All Nicolás Varrone 1–2, 5, 11 Thomas Merrill 1 Jr III Motorsports Ligier JS P320 29 Bijoy Garg 8, 10 Colin Noble 8 Guilherme Oliveira 10 30 Garett Grist 2, 5–6, 8, 10–11 Ari Balogh 2, 5–6, 8 Dakota Dickerson 2, 5, 11 Dylan Murry 5 Nolan Siegel 10 Bijoy Garg 11 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P320 33 João Barbosa 1–2, 5–6, 8, 10 Lance Willsey 1–2, 5–6, 10 Nico Pino 1–2, 5, 8 Nolan Siegel 1 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 36 Jarett Andretti 1–2, 5, 11 Gabby Chaves 1–2, 5, 11 Glenn van Berlo 2, 5, 11 Dakota Dickerson 1 Rasmus Lindh 1 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 38 Connor Bloum 1, 5, 10 Christopher Allen 1–2, 5 Cameron Shields 1, 11 John De Angelis 1 Robert Mau 2 Tristan Nunez 2 Alex Kirby 5 Alexander Koreiba 10 Brian Thienes 11 Jonathan Woolridge 11 MRS GT-Racing Ligier JS P320 43 Sebastián Álvarez 1 James French 1 Danial Frost 1 Guilherme Oliveira 1 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P320 54 Jason Rabe 5, 10 Stevan McAleer 5 Andrew Pinkerton 5 Dakota Dickerson 10 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 74 Gar Robinson All Felipe Fraga 1–2, 5–6, 10–11 Josh Burdon 1–2, 5, 8, 11 Glenn van Berlo 1 JDC–Miller MotorSports Duqueine M30 - D08 85 Till Bechtolsheimer 1–2, 5, 11 Dan Goldburg 2, 5, 11 Tijmen van der Helm 1–2 Rasmus Lindh 5, 11 Mason Filippi 1 Luca Mars 1 Scott Andrews 8 Gerry Kraut 8 FastMD Racing Duqueine M30 - D08 87 Nick Boulle 1 Yu Kanamaru 1 Antonio Serravalle 1 James Vance 1
GT Daytona (GTD Pro / GTD)