The 2014 United SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2014 Tudor United SportsCar Championship) was the inaugural season of the International Motor Sports Association's new series created out of a merger of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series and the first to be held under the name as the United SportsCar Championship. It began with the 24 Hours of Daytona, the first time since the 1997 IMSA GT Championship season that IMSA sanctioned an event at Daytona International Speedway on 25 January and ended on 4 October at Petit Le Mans. It was the 44th overall season of IMSA GT championship racing tracing its lineage to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship.
Classes
The class structures were revealed on March 14 and are as follows:
Prototype (P) – a merger of the RSCS Daytona Prototypes, the ALMS LMP2 prototypes, and the experimental DeltaWing. The ALMS LMP1 class was discontinued. Prototype Challenge (PC) – the ALMS spec Corvette-engined Oreca prototypes. GT Le Mans (GTLM) – grand touring cars from the ALMS. GT Daytona (GTD) – a merger of GT and GX cars from the RSCS and the ALMS GT Challenge Porsche GT3s.
Car capacities
Due to the expectation of a large number of entries for the series, IMSA announced preliminary car capacities for each class on October 11, 2013. They noted, however, that they are subject to change based on factors such as the number of full-season entries in each class.
Prototype – Limited to 19 entries with the exceptions of Sebring, Long Beach, Laguna Seca, Detroit, and Indianapolis, wherein 20 entries would be allowed. Prototype Challenge – Limited to 10 entries for all events except Kansas and Virginia International, wherein 19 entries will be permitted. GT Le Mans – Limited to 19 entries at Virginia International, 16 at Long Beach, 14 at Sebring and Indianapolis, and 12 entries at all other events. GT Daytona – Limited to 19 entries at all events with the exception of Detroit, where 21 entries would be allowed to compete.
Driver limits and classifications
Teams will be limited to utilizing a maximum of three drivers per car for events less than 6 hours in length. This capacity increases to four drivers for races from 6 hours up to 12 hours in length, and five drivers for the 24 Hours of Daytona.
The series will utilize a driver classification system, rating each driver as platinum, gold, silver, or bronze based on numerous factors regarding their competition history. Platinum and gold rated drivers are considered "pro" drivers, while silver and bronze rated drivers will be considered "amateur" or "gentleman" drivers.
In PC and GTD, a maximum of one Platinum or Gold-rated driver is permitted for two or three driver team combinations, with it being increased to two for Daytona and Sebring, should they utilize four or five-driver squads, however should a car utilize two platinum or gold-rated drivers, it must also utilize at least two silver or bronze-rated drivers, each meeting the minimum required driving time. Should this requirement go unfulfilled the team may be penalized at the discretion of the stewards, up to and including exclusion from the race results.
There are no driver classification restrictions in the P and GTLM classes.
A driver will be allowed to drive up to two cars in a single event, given that all minimum and maximum drive time limits are adhered to.
Drive time limits
The minimum and maximum allowable driving time for an individual driver vary by race and class as specified in the table below. No driver may drive for more than 4 hours of any 6 hour period at any time and that a minimum of two drivers must be used in each race. An exception are Prototype Challenge races with a two 45-minute segment format. These require a silver or bronze-rated driver for the first segment. Teams may use another driver with any rating in the second segment, but are not required to do so.
Series development
On July 31, 2013, a tire partnership was announced, with Continental Tire serving as the exclusive tire supplier for the Prototype, Prototype Challenge and GT Daytona classes. Continental was previously the specification tire of the Rolex Sports Car Series, as well as the Prototype Challenge class in the American Le Mans Series.
On December 11, 2013, Michelin announced that they will supply tires for the GT Le Mans Class Teams Corvette Racing, BMW Team RLL, Risi Competizione, SRT Motorsports, Aston Martin Racing and the new Porsche North America team. Michelin previously supplied tires for LMP1, LMP2 and GT Classes of American Le Mans Series, and was the spec-tire of PC class from 2010 to 2012.