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 (now known as the IMSA SportsCar Championship) upon the merger of the Rolex Series and the American Le Mans Series.
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.
TelecastsEdit
Until 2013, broadcasts were 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 Peacock.
In some countries, NASCAR Holdings (which owns IMSA) feature the Michelin Pilot Challenge is included in NASCAR's media rights deals in Mexico and Brazil that includes NASCAR's three national series, IMSA's two major series, and American Flat Track, all of which have broadcasts produced by NASCAR.
IMSA TV, which is controlled by NASCAR Productions, has international rights in selected countries.
VehiclesEdit
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 wrapped to resemble the original Trans Am cars, such as the Boss 302 Mustangs of George Follmer and Parnelli Jones or the original Sunoco Camaro. As the Pilot Challenge consists of longer races (2-4 hours), the cars are also eligible for the United States Auto Club's Pirelli World Challenge GT4 or TCR classes, which are one-hour races.
^ abThe 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.
^ abMatt 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.
ReferencesEdit
^"Michelin Pilot Challenge Revealed; Two Classes in 2019 – Sportscar365". Retrieved 2018-10-14.
^. www.imsa.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-18.
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^(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2014-03-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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^(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-07-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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^(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2016-01-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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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 Michelin Pilot ChallengeCategoryGrand touringTouring carCountry United States CanadaInaugural season1997Drivers championGS Kyle MarcelliGS Nate StacyTCR Gabby ChavesTCR Ryan NormanMakes championGS Aston MartinTCR HyundaiTeams championGS 60 KohR MotorsportsTCR 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb AgajanianOfficial websitemichelinpilotchallenge imsa comCurrent seasonCompetitors in the KONI Challenge on a pre grid at New Jersey Motorsports Park in 2008The 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 now known as the IMSA SportsCar Championship upon the merger of the Rolex Series and the American Le Mans Series Contents 1 Races 2 Telecasts 3 Vehicles 4 Champions 5 Notes 6 References 7 External linksRaces EditIn 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 EditUntil 2013 broadcasts were 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 Peacock In some countries NASCAR Holdings which owns IMSA feature the Michelin Pilot Challenge is included in NASCAR s media rights deals in Mexico and Brazil that includes NASCAR s three national series IMSA s two major series and American Flat Track all of which have broadcasts produced by NASCAR IMSA TV which is controlled by NASCAR Productions has international rights in selected countries Vehicles EditThe 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 wrapped to resemble the original Trans Am cars such as the Boss 302 Mustangs of George Follmer and Parnelli Jones or the original Sunoco Camaro As the Pilot Challenge consists of longer races 2 4 hours the cars are also eligible for the United States Auto Club s Pirelli World Challenge GT4 or TCR classes which are one hour races Champions EditSeason GS Champion Car ST TCR Champion Car2004 3 nbsp Craig Stanton nbsp Terry Borcheller Cadillac CTS V nbsp David Haskell nbsp Sylvain Tremblay Mazda RX 82005 4 nbsp David Empringham nbsp Scott Maxwell Ford Mustang nbsp David Haskell nbsp Sylvain Tremblay Mazda RX 82006 5 nbsp Anders Hainer nbsp Boris Said BMW M3 nbsp Don Salama nbsp Will Turner BMW 330i2007 6 nbsp Jeff Segal nbsp Jep Thornton BMW M3 nbsp Trevor Hopwood nbsp Adam Burrows BMW 330i2008 7 nbsp Joe Foster nbsp Scott Maxwell Ford Mustang nbsp Jamie Holtom Chevrolet Cobalt SS2009 8 nbsp Kenny Wilden Ford Mustang nbsp Chris Miller Honda Civic Si2010 9 nbsp Charles Espenlaub nbsp Charlie Putman BMW M3 nbsp David Thilenius N 1 nbsp Lawson Aschenbach N 1 Honda Civic Si 2 2011 10 nbsp Paul Dalla Lana BMW M3 nbsp Niclas Jonsson Kia Forte Koup2012 11 nbsp John Farano N 2 nbsp David Empringham N 2 Porsche 997 nbsp Pierre Kleinubing nbsp Jason Clunie Mazdaspeed32013 12 nbsp Nick Longhi nbsp Matt Plumb Porsche 997 nbsp Terry Borcheller nbsp Mike LaMarra BMW 128i2014 13 nbsp Trent Hindman BMW M3 Coupe 5 nbsp Eric Foss BMW 328i Porsche Cayman2015 14 nbsp Andrew Davis nbsp Robin Liddell Chevrolet Camaro nbsp Stevan McAleer nbsp Chad McCumbee Mazda MX 5 4 2016 15 nbsp Billy Johnson nbsp Scott Maxwell Ford Mustang GT350R C 4 nbsp Nick Galante nbsp Spencer Pumpelly Porsche Cayman2017 16 nbsp Dillon Machavern nbsp Dylan Murcott Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR nbsp Eric Foss Porsche Cayman 3 2018 17 nbsp Hugh Plumb nbsp Owen Trinkler Mercedes AMG GT4 nbsp ST Devin Jones nbsp ST Nick Galante nbsp TCR Britt Casey Jr nbsp TCR Tom Long ST BMW 328i 5 TCR Audi RS 3 LMS2019 nbsp Tyler McQuarrie nbsp Jeff Westphal Audi R8 LMS GT4 nbsp Michael Lewis nbsp Mark Wilkins Hyundai Veloster N TCR2020 nbsp Kyle Marcelli nbsp Nate Stacy Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 nbsp Gabby Chaves nbsp Ryan Norman Hyundai Veloster N TCR2021 nbsp Jan Heylen Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport 4 nbsp Michael Lewis nbsp Taylor Hagler Hyundai Veloster N TCR2022 nbsp Alan Brynjolfsson nbsp Trent Hindman Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 2 nbsp Taylor Hagler 2 nbsp Michael Lewis 2 Hyundai Elantra N TCR 4 Notes Edit 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 Edit Michelin Pilot Challenge Revealed Two Classes in 2019 Sportscar365 Retrieved 2018 10 14 IMSA Finalizes Racing Platform Innovations IMSA www imsa com Archived from the original on 2016 08 18 Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2016 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link Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2016 04 15 Retrieved 2016 01 05 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Michelin Pilot Challenge Home Michelin Pilot Challenge Home Michelin Pilot Challenge Home External links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grand Am Cup Official website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Michelin Pilot Challenge amp oldid 1176397339, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
