Organisers of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship have announced a 12-date calendar for the series that will combine the American Le Mans Series and the Grand-Am Rolex Series into a single series for the 2014 season.
Though there are 12 events on the calendar, with three events hosting only a selection of the series’ four classes the championship will be decided on the strength of 11 races during the season.
“Our event line-up underscores the cooperative spirit of the merger between the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron,” Ed Bennett, CEO of IMSA, the sanctioning body behind the new series. “The ‘best of both worlds’ approach, our shared guidepost throughout the merger process, is certainly evident when you look at the 2014 schedule.”
The 2014 season begins with the mouth-watering combination of the 52nd Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, America’s two premier endurance races in the same series for the first time since 1998.
The third event on the calendar – an April 12 date on the streets of Long Beach – is the first to only feature some of the series’ classes with the only the Prototype class (comprised of LMP2, Daytona Prototype and DeltaWing designs) and GT Le Mans classes racing. The following month the GT Le Mans class sits out the event in Detroit while the Prototype class will skip the event at Virginia International Raceway.
For current Rolex Series teams the season will add Long Beach, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and VIR to their itinerary as well as Sebring. ALMS team will have their first visits to Watkins Glen and Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the Sahlens Six Hours of The Gen and Brickyard Grand Prix races are carried over from the current Grand-Am schedule.
Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta retains its name and its now traditional place in the ALMS calendar as the final round of the season.
“This is, without a doubt, the best sports car schedule in the history of North America,” said IMSA president and COO Scott Atherton. “When we announced the merger plans last year, we immediately envisioned a dream schedule, one that our industry and, most importantly, our fans would embrace. Although it wasn’t easy, we feel like we have arrived at just that.”
“This lineup will have it all – historic road courses, major market street circuits and two of the most spectacular superspeedways in the world, Daytona and Indy. And it also will have the continent’s new jewel – Circuit of the Americas. Overall, a dream schedule, indeed.”
2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship calendar
January 25-26 – Rolex 24 at Daytona
March 15 – Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring
April 12 – Long Beach
May 4 – Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
May 31 – Detroit Belle Isle
June 29 – Watkins Glen
July 13 – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
July 25 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
August 10 – Road America
August 24 – Virginia International Raceway
September 20 – Circuit of the Americas
October 4 – Road Atlanta