ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Consistency is often the key to success in motor racing, and the 2020 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge schedule announced Friday night at IMSA’s annual State of the Series presentation has set the series on course for another successful season.
The Michelin Pilot Challenge – which includes the Grand Sport class utilizing sports cars built to international GT4 technical regulations and the global-spec TCR class – will return to the same 10 events and venues that have hosted the series since 2018. All 10 events once again will run as a companion to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, generally as the headline event on the second day of each three-day race weekend.
“The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge has seen a significant amount of evolution over the past several years, from the adoption of international technical regulations to the introduction of a new tire and series entitlement partner,” said IMSA President Scott Atherton. “Those core elements provided us with a new foundation and have gotten us to where we are now, with a full grid of terrific sports cars, teams and drivers participating in one of the most competitive, stable and professional championships in North America.”
The 2020 schedule kicks off, as it has for the past several years, with a four-hour race at Daytona Int’l Speedway on Friday, Jan. 24 as part of the Rolex 24 At Daytona weekend. After a brief respite, the Michelin Pilot Challenge stays in Florida for a two-hour battle at Sebring International Raceway on Friday, March 20 as part of the Super Sebring weekend that again will include both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the WeatherTech Championship Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts.
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course hosts round three on Saturday, May 2, followed by second and final four-hour race of the season at Watkins Glen International on Saturday, June 27. Like its WeatherTech Championship brethren, the Michelin Pilot Challenge makes its lone visit to Canada with a two-hour race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario on Saturday, July 4.
Lime Rock Park kicks off the second half of the 10-race season on Saturday, July 18 for two hours of Michelin Pilot Challenge action, followed by a return to Road America for another two-hour battle on Saturday, Aug. 1. Virginia Int’l Raceway hosts round eight of the season on Saturday, Aug. 22.
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California represents the series’ only west coast trip for the penultimate round of the season, a two-hour race on Saturday, Sept. 12. The 2020 season will conclude on Friday, Oct. 9 with two hours of racing at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
NBCSN will have television coverage of all 2020 Michelin Pilot Challenge races, with live streaming of every event also available on IMSA.tv and the IMSA app. The Michelin Pilot Challenge also will be part of the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 At Daytona three-day test session on the weekend of Jan. 3-5, 2020.