A return to Virginia Worldwide Raceway (VIR) for the primary time since 2016 and a brand new endurance race championship for the already in style LMP3 division are among the many spotlight additions to the 2024 Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) calendar that was introduced at the moment as a part of IMSA’s annual schedule unveiling Friday on the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Highway America.
The 2024 schedule as soon as once more begins and ends at Sebring Worldwide Raceway and, together with VIR, consists of the equally legendary American racing venues Daytona Worldwide Speedway, Watkins Glen Worldwide and Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta.
Friday’s announcement was the primary time HSR, which was acquired by IMSA in early 2022, was included in IMSA’s annual schedule unveiling at Highway America, and subsequent yr’s HSR calendar itself consists of a number of extra “firsts.”
Subsequent August at VIR on the IMSA Michelin GT Problem weekend, HSR will run for the primary time as a help collection for IMSA’s premier WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The HSR race will showcase choose automobiles from HSR Group 3 (Small-Bore Historic Manufacturing automobiles), Group 5 (Massive-Bore Historic Manufacturing and GT automobiles) and Group 7 (Historic Prototype and Sports activities Racers) consultant of sports activities automobile endurance racing machines from the earlier century. The combination ought to appeal to all kinds of automobiles akin to early Porsche 911 and RS fashions and Jaguar XKEs to Lola T70s and Ford GT40s.
One other all-new growth is the four-race endurance championship for LMP3 automobiles which have been eligible and a well-liked selection of opponents in recent times in fashionable prototype HSR run teams. The championship begins with an LMP3 function race on the Saturday evening of April’s forty sixth working of the HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta.
The Highway Atlanta opener shall be adopted by LMP3 races at HSR’s remaining blockbuster occasions, the “HSR Classics” at Watkins Glen, Daytona and Sebring. True multi-class endurance races, the LMP3 rounds in any respect three occasions will see opponents race in the identical run teams they’ve in recent times, sharing the observe with different fashionable prototype and GT Fashionable (GTM) divisions whereas batting for their very own class honors and championship factors.
The brand new LMP3 collection joins a well-recognized lineup of returning dash and endurance race championships which can be the high-speed basis of each HSR race weekend. The lineup consists of Sasco Sports activities Worldwide/American Problem, Stoner Automotive Care World GT, the Basic RS Cup, the B.R.M. Endurance Problem and the WeatherTech Dash Collection, which generally features a pair of dash races for all Run Teams on every race weekend.
“That is our second schedule announcement since HSR got here below IMSA possession and as soon as once more our members, groups, opponents and followers can simply see the unbelievable advantages of being a part of the IMSA household,” mentioned HSR President David Hinton. “It is usually straightforward to see that John Doonan has the identical ardour for HSR that he does for all of IMSA’s different collection and properties, and we’ve to thank him and the hard-working group at IMSA for all the laborious and behind-the-scenes work. We look ahead to the rest of 2023, however subsequent yr can also’t get right here quick sufficient.”
All of it begins for the sixth-straight yr with the season-opening HSR Spring Fling at Sebring, March 8 – 10, which is able to see HSR headline a weekend version of the occasion for the primary time in a number of seasons. The Spring Fling units the stage for the 72nd working of the enduring 12 Hours of Sebring IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race the next weekend.
The Sebring Spring Fling opener is adopted by the forty sixth HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta, April 25 – 28, which is without doubt one of the longest-running historic and classic races within the U.S. and HSR’s first blockbuster race of the season.
The primary of HSR’s “triple risk” of HSR Classics races would be the excellent comply with as much as The Mitty with the second working of the HSR Basic 6 Hour of The Glen, June 6 – 9.
The VIR Michelin GT Problem weekend help race is subsequent up, August 23 – 25, earlier than the annual return go to to Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta for the HSR Fall Historics, September 19 – 22. The right complementary occasion to every April’s HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway, the Fall Basic has developed an attraction and recognition of its personal and is the primary of two return visits to tracks on the 2024 HSR calendar.
Set for its milestone tenth working in 2024, the HSR Basic Daytona offered by IMSA, returns to the “World Middle of Racing” October 30 – November 3. The HSR Basic Daytona is as soon as once more adopted subsequent yr by the season-ending HSR Basic 12 Hour at Sebring, Pistons and Props, offered by the Alan Jay Automotive Community. The ninth-annual working of the HSR Basic Sebring 12 Hour subsequent yr shall be held on the legendary Sebring airport circuit, December 4 – 8.
The HSR Classics occasions at The Glen, Daytona and Sebring share the cardboard every weekend, respectively, with the Watkins Glen Historics, the Daytona Historics and the Sebring Historics races which can be all key rounds of the season-long HSR collection championships.
Extra info on all HSR occasion weekends and extra spectator and competitor info may be discovered HERE.
2024 Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Race-Occasion Schedule*
March 8 – 10: HSR Sebring Spring Fling – Sebring Worldwide Raceway, Sebring, Florida
April 25 – April 28: forty sixth HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta – Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia
June 6 – 9: HSR Basic Six Hours of Watkins Glen – Watkins Glen Worldwide, Watkins Glen, New York
August 23 – 25: IMSA Michelin GT Problem Assist Race – VIRginia Worldwide Raceway, Alton, Virginia
September 19 – 22: HSR Atlanta Fall Historics – Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia
October 30 – November 3: HSR Basic Daytona offered by IMSA and the HSR Daytona Historics – Daytona Worldwide Speedway, Daytona Seashore, Florida
December 4 – 8: HSR Basic Sebring 12 Hour, Pistons and Props, offered by the Alan Jay Automotive Community, and the HSR Sebring Historic Races – Sebring Worldwide Raceway, Sebring, Florida
*Occasion schedule topic to vary and additions
