n a news conference this morning at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) President Scott Atherton and Mid-Ohio President Craig Rust jointly announced the return of IMSA racing to the historic, 2.258-mile road course on the weekend of May 4-6, 2018.

The event weekend will be headlined by the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which will compete at Mid-Ohio for the first time. In addition, the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge will return for the first time since 2013.

“Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has a long and storied history of hosting world-class sports car races in front of a loyal and knowledgeable fanbase,” said Atherton. “We will build on that legacy next May with a field of Prototype and GT race cars that represent the pinnacle of the sport. Many of our stakeholders have long been supportive and quite vocal regarding a return to Mid-Ohio and we are pleased that we can finally say ‘We’re back.’”

The most recent top-level IMSA race to be held at Mid-Ohio was a GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series event on June 15, 2013 won overall by Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, who went on to win back-to-back WeatherTech Championship Prototype titles in 2014 and 2015. The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) raced at Mid-Ohio for the final time on Aug. 5, 2012 won overall by co-drivers Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf.

There were a total of 13 GRAND-AM races and 11 ALMS events at Mid-Ohio. GRAND-AM and the ALMS merged following the 2013 season to form the WeatherTech Championship, which began operation in 2014.

“We are thrilled to announce that the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be joining our schedule in 2018.  It is a great way to kick off our season,” said Rust.  “We have a tremendous following of sports car fans, and they ask us every year when we might be able to bring the IMSA series to Mid-Ohio.  We are very proud that we were able to work with Scott Atherton and his team to get this done for them, for us – and most importantly for our fans.”

As part of the announcement, it also was confirmed that IMSA will not be returning to Circuit of The Americas in 2018. IMSA and Circuit of The Americas mutually agreed on the decision and the two companies continue to have a positive, healthy relationship. Both are open to working together again in the future.

Entire 2018 schedules for the WeatherTech Championship and Continental Tire Challenge will be announced next Friday, Aug. 4 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Most of the teams and drivers from the CREVENTIC SERIES are currently enjoying a well-deserved summer break, but there is a lot of action to look forward to once the season resumes.

Three new venues are still on the calendar for this year, one of which even in North-America, a continent that the CREVENTIC SERIES  hasn’t visited before. There is still everything to play for in the 24H SERIES and the 24H TCE SERIES, with 1.5 times the regular points being attributed during the season finale of both series.

The inaugural 24H PROTO SERIES season will get underway with a total of five races after the summer break. Meanwhile, classes have been added for the event at Spa-Francorchamps (6-8 October, 2017) so that teams from all three series will be able to race at the legendary circuit in the Belgian Ardennes. 

In the 24H SERIES, four of this season’s five rounds have been completed and the showdown is coming up with the inaugural 24H PORTIMAO (25-27 August, 2017). The event in the Algarve will be CREVENTIC’s first race in Portugal and 1.5 times the regular points are at stake, so an exciting decision in the battle for the various titles can be expected.

In the overall GT teams’ standings, Hofor-Racing and PROsport performance are jointly in the lead, tied at 92 points, while Herberth Motorsport is in second place, only two points down. In the overall touring car teams’ standings, the situation is a little bit more clear with the two Team Altran Peugeot entries in first and second place with 82 and 76 points respectively, followed by Cadspeed Racing with 65 points.

The points tables in the overall drivers’ standings reflect these situations while Chantal Kroll is clearly leading the Ladies’ Cup standings and Max Edelhoff is on top in the rookie standings.

Inaugural 24H COTA counts towards Championship of the Continents

The Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, Texas, will be hosting the inaugural 24H COTA (10-12 November, 2017). The first-ever CREVENTIC event to be held in the United States is a non-championship round of the 24H SERIES, but the event does count towards the new-for-2017 Championship of the Continents. Here, the highest accumulated number of points scored in the Asian round (24H DUBAI), the best score from one of the European rounds and the North-American round (24H COTA) will be rewarded.

Two more rounds with over 50 pre-registrations each in 24H TCE SERIES

In the 24H TOURING CAR ENDURANCE (TCE) SERIES, there are two more rounds to go: the 24H BARCELONA (1-3 September) and the inaugural 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (6-7 October, 2017). Barcelona is a well-known fixture for most teams and drivers, having been a part of the calendar of the CREVENTIC SERIES for many years. Spa, on the other hand, is a new venue.

At Spa, 1.5 times the regular number of points will be attributed as well. In the overall 24H TCE SERIES teams’ standings, the first three teams, QSR, Monlau Competicion and CWS, are separated by only eight points. In the drivers’ standings, the situation is similar. In the rookie standings, Alba Cano Ramirez and Patrik Matthiesen are only two points apart while Alba Cano Ramirez is leading the Ladies’ Cup standings. For the rounds at Barcelona and Spa, over 50 pre-registrations have been received already.

24H PROTO SERIES with five races, GT cars admitted at Paul Ricard and Spa

The inaugural season of the 24H PROTO SERIES includes five races: three races of four hours each will be held at Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France (18-19 August, 2017) while the circuit of Spa-Francorchamps in the Belgian Ardennes will be hosting two races of six hours each (6-8 October, 2017). Each race will have a separate classification and a prize-giving ceremony, with 1.5 times the regular number of points being attributed after the second race at Spa. For the event at Paul Ricard, GT cars from the A6 class will be admitted as well.

At Spa-Francorchamps, the classes A6, SPX, 991 and SP2 will be combined with the prototypes. This means that at Spa, all cars from the CREVENTIC SERIES will be able to race: the touring cars in the races of the 24H TCE SERIES and the GTs and prototypes in the races of the 24H PROTO SERIES

Race teams and drivers looking to compete in the 2018 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge now have yet another option to consider.

As part of the build up to this weekend’s 24-hour race at the famed Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, Mercedes-AMG officially unveiled the new Mercedes-AMG GT4 race car, which is based on the Mercedes-AMG GT R road car. Built to international GT4 technical regulations, the car is eligible to compete in the Continental Tire Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class.

“The GT4 segment is getting more and more popular,” said Tobias Moers, Chairman of the Board of Management for Mercedes-AMG GmbH. “The production-based concept is an important factor, especially when you want to get started in motorsport as a team or as a driver.

“For some teams, the GT4 category also serves as a sensible addition to their existing involvement in GT3, for instance, to support young drivers. For us as a manufacturer, GT4 competition is a logical next step to extend our Customer Racing Program. After the achievements in GT3 racing, the Mercedes-AMG GT4 is opening another valuable platform for us to prove our competence as a globally successful sports car and performance brand.”

The Mercedes-AMG GT3 race car is in its first year of competition in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class and has three victories this season. Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen won the Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown at Circuit of The Americas in May and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida in March with Mario Farnbacher also part of the Sebring driver lineup in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports-Team AMG entry.

Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeannette won the BUBBA burger SportsCar Grand Prix at Long Beach in April in the No. 50 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

“Our customers have high expectations when we are presenting a new car,” said Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing. “And rightfully so: the SLS AMG GT3 and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 were capable of winning from their very first lap of racing onwards and were able to prove it in an impressive way.

“That also is the benchmark for the new Mercedes-AMG GT4. Therefore, we have taken the time that was necessary for development and testing to be able to offer a perfect product in the end. We aren’t entering a new segment to finish second.”

Mercedes-AMG plans to deliver its first GT4 cars to customer teams at the end of this year. The 2018 Continental Tire Challenge season kicks off in January at Daytona International Speedway.

One of the most successful teams in endurance sports car racing is returning to IMSA competition in a big way next season.

In a surprise announcement this morning, Mazda Motorsports announced the creation of “Mazda Team Joest” to become its new factory Mazda Prototype team in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship beginning with the 2018 Rolex 24 At Daytona.

The announcement brings Joest Racing – which has amassed 16 victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 10 victories in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, six Motul Petit Le Mans victories and two Rolex 24 At Daytona wins – back to top-level endurance sports car racing. The team created in 1978 by Reinhold Joest most recently operated the Audi factory prototype team from 1999 through 2016.

“If ever there were a benchmark example of a top-level prototype endurance sports car racing team, on a global scale, Joest Racing is it,” said IMSA President Scott Atherton. “We are thrilled to welcome what now will be known as, ‘Mazda Team Joest’ back to North American sports car competition.

“The Joest organization has had considerable success in North America in the past and we have every reason to expect that to continue with this new alliance with the Mazda DPi program. On behalf of IMSA, we offer our congratulations to all involved.”

Mazda Team Joest will begin an aggressive testing program in August on racetracks in Europe and North America, utilizing the four current Mazda Prototype drivers:  Jonathan Bomarito, Tristan Nunez, Joel Miller and Tom Long. The driver lineup for 2018 is expected to be confirmed before the end of the 2017 WeatherTech Championship season.

“This is an important moment in Mazda Motorsports history as we align our brand’s top-level sports car racing program with one of the best sports car teams of all time,” said John Doonan, director of motorsports for Mazda North American Operations. “What Mr. Joest, Ralf Jüttner (Joest Racing managing director) and the entire Joest Racing organization has accomplished is not likely to ever be matched.

“We are very excited to work with them to put Mazda in victory lane and to strive for more championship trophies, adding to the substantial Mazda and Joest Racing legacies in the years ahead.

The team will work closely with Multimatic Motorsports to refine and improve the Mazda RT24-P Daytona Prototype international (DPi) chassis, which will continue to be powered by the 600-horsepower, turbocharged four-cylinder, 2.0-liter inline Mazda MZ-2.0T engine developed by Advanced Engine Research (AER). Joest Racing is based in Wald-Michelbach, Germany, but plans to establish North American headquarters in the Atlanta area later this fall.

“We are excited and proud about this new opportunity with Mazda,” said Jüttner. “Mazda has such a long tradition in motorsport and, especially in America, has created a huge platform for racing enthusiasts. For us, this is not only a return to American racing, which we have always enjoyed, but also great news to the big group of our Japanese fans, who have always warmly embraced us.”

The aggressive testing and development program means that Mazda will forego the remaining three rounds of the 2017 WeatherTech Championship to prepare for the 2018 season.

“I want to thank our long-time partners at SpeedSource Race Engineering and owner, Sylvain Tremblay,” said Doonan. “We accomplished a great deal with their organization at all levels of the sport for more than two decades.

“They are a perfect example of a team that has grown through our Mazda system: from grassroots club racing, to Rolex 24 race-winning efforts in GT and then on to the Prototype program. Friendships in our sport run deep and we certainly don’t see that changing.”