Michelin Pilot Challenge
Category | Grand touring Touring car |
---|---|
Country | United States Canada |
Inaugural season | 1997 |
Drivers' champion | GS: Kyle Marcelli GS: TCR: Gabby Chaves TCR: Ryan Norman |
Makes' champion | GS: Aston Martin TCR: Hyundai |
Teams' champion | GS: #60 KohR Motorsports TCR: #33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian |
Official website | michelinpilotchallenge.imsa.com |
Current season |
The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cup following the demise of rival IMSA's Firehawk series of similar rules in the US. KONI became series sponsor for the start of the 2007 season when the series became known as the KONI Challenge Series, before renaming once more prior to the start of the 2009 season as the KONI Sports Car Challenge. The series name was once again changed for the 2010 season to Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. In 2019, the series rebranded again after Michelin was selected to become the new official tire supplier of the series.[1]
The Continental Challenge was the support series for Grand-Am's premier offering, the Rolex Sports Car Series. In 2014, the series became the support series for the United SportsCar Championship upon the merger of the Rolex Series and the American Le Mans Series.
Races[]
In traditional sports car racing format, the races are often run with both GS and ST classes on track simultaneously, which is known as a "combined" race. Occasionally the races will be run in "split classes", with separate races for both classes. This is especially common for shorter venues such as Lime Rock Park. Currently the races are 2 hours 30 minutes in length with a required driver change.
Telecasts[]
- All telecasts are exclusive to Fox Sports 1, formerly Speed Channel. All telecasts are uploaded to the series website after their initial airing.
- From 2019 season, NBC Sports telecast Delayed-Race and IMSA TV has telecast live via website
Vehicles[]
The series uses two classes in each race. Originally, these were:
- The Grand Sport (GS) class features large-displacement 6-cylinder, 8-cylinder, 10-cylinder or 12-cylinder sports cars as well as small displacement 4-cylinder forced induction sports cars.
- The Street Tuner (ST) class is for smaller 4-cylinder, 5-cylinder or 6-cylinder sedans, hatchbacks, coupes or convertibles.
From 2017, IMSA allowed cars built by "mainstream automotive manufacturers" to SRO GT4 regulations to compete, with a complete phase out of the original Grand-Am GS class the next year. Also in 2018, IMSA introduced TCR Touring Cars as a third class, with the intention of it replacing the Street Tuners as the second class, which happened the following year. [2]
The original format was reminiscent of the original Trans-Am Series, combining conventional sports cars and touring cars, though the Trans-Am Series usually had a single driver per car, unlike the Continental Challenge, which has two drivers per car. Some vehicles in the Continental Challenge have actually been painted to resemble the original Trans Am cars, such as the Boss 302 Mustangs of George Follmer and Parnelli Jones or the original Sunoco Camaro. Several vehicles in ST have also competed in the SCCA's Pirelli World Challenge touring car class.
Champions[]
Season | GS Champion | Car | ST / TCR Champion | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|
2004[3] | Craig Stanton Terry Borcheller |
Cadillac CTS-V | David Haskell Sylvain Tremblay |
Mazda RX-8 |
2005[4] | David Empringham Scott Maxwell |
Ford Mustang | David Haskell Sylvain Tremblay |
Mazda RX-8 |
2006[5] | Anders Hainer Boris Said |
BMW M3 | Don Salama Will Turner |
BMW 330i |
2007[6] | Jeff Segal Jep Thornton |
BMW M3 | Trevor Hopwood Adam Burrows |
BMW 330i |
2008[7] | Joe Foster Scott Maxwell |
Ford Mustang | Jamie Holtom | Chevrolet Cobalt SS |
2009[8] | Kenny Wilden | Ford Mustang | Chris Miller | Honda Civic Si |
2010[9] | Charles Espenlaub Charlie Putman |
BMW M3 | David Thilenius[N 1] Lawson Aschenbach[N 1] |
Honda Civic Si |
2011[10] | Paul Dalla Lana | BMW M3 | Niclas Jönsson | Kia Forte Koup |
2012[11] | John Farano[N 2] David Empringham[N 2] |
Porsche 997 | Pierre Kleinubing Jason Clunie |
Mazdaspeed3 |
2013[12] | Nick Longhi Matt Plumb |
Porsche 997 | Terry Borcheller Mike LaMarra |
BMW 128i |
2014[13] | Trent Hindman | BMW M3 Coupe | Eric Foss | BMW 328i Porsche Cayman |
2015[14] | Andrew Davis Robin Liddell |
Chevrolet Camaro | Stevan McAleer Chad McCumbee |
Mazda MX-5 |
2016[15] | Billy Johnson Scott Maxwell |
Ford Mustang GT350R-C | Nick Galante Spencer Pumpelly |
Porsche Cayman |
2017[16] | Dillon Machavern Dylan Murcott |
Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR | Eric Foss | Porsche Cayman |
2018[17] | Hugh Plumb Owen Trinkler |
Mercedes-AMG GT4 | ST: Devin Jones ST: Nick Galante TCR: Britt Casey Jr. TCR: Tom Long |
ST: BMW 328i TCR: Audi RS 3 LMS |
2019 | Tyler McQuarrie Jeff Westphal |
Audi R8 LMS GT4 | Michael Lewis Mark Wilkins |
Hyundai Veloster N TCR |
2020 | Kyle Marcelli Nate Stacy |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 | Gabby Chaves Ryan Norman |
Hyundai Veloster N TCR |
Notes[]
- ^ a b The Bimmerworld 328i of Bill Heumann and Seth Thomas and the Compass360 Civic of Thilenius and Aschenbach finished the 2010 season tied in ST points. As both teams had the same number of wins and second-place finishes, Thilenius and Aschenbach won the title by virtue of having more third-place finishes.
- ^ a b Matt Plumb was victorious in the final race and was the presumed champion, but upon official review he was determined to have been illegally entered in multiple cars, and thus received no points, handing the championship to Farano and Empringham.
References[]
- ^ "Michelin Pilot Challenge Revealed; Two Classes in 2019 – Sportscar365". Retrieved 2018-10-14.
- ^ https://www.imsa.com/news/082016/imsa-finalizes-racing-platform-innovations
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-01-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2016-01-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-01-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2016-01-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2014-03-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-01-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2014-03-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2016-01-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-07-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-07-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-10. Retrieved 2015-07-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2016-01-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Michelin Pilot Challenge: Home".
- ^ "Michelin Pilot Challenge: Home".
- ^ "Michelin Pilot Challenge: Home".
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grand-Am Cup. |
- Michelin Pilot Challenge
- International Motor Sports Association
- Auto racing series in the United States
- Auto racing series in Canada
- Touring car racing series
- Grand-Am