IMSA WeatherTech Championship Condenses Classes to Four in 2024
- Matthew Boyce
- May 4, 2023
- 2 min read
LMP3 class will not continue in the top series of IMSA competition beginning in 2024
The IMSA WeatherTech Championship will make a predictable change to their class structure for the 2024 season as the series announced today that the LMP3 class will move back to its original assignment in the IMSA class structure. With the debut of the new hybrid GTP class this year, the resurgence of popularity of the LMP2 class and the growth of the GT classes in IMSA, the change was made to move the LMP3 class out of the top series of IMSA competition. The VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will now be the home of the LMP3 class racing alongside GT4 machinery at selects IMSA rounds.
The addition of the LMP3 class in the top series of IMSA was made in 2021 to increase the car count in the WeatherTech Championship as the series experienced a decline in entries from the then DPi class and LMP2 class. With the debut of the new hybrid GTP class this season, and with a number of entries from various manufacturers expected for the 2024 season, the change was made to accommodate the changes.
(Prescott Motorsport/Matthew Boyce)
IMSA president John Doonan stated, "The LMP3 class has contributed to the growth and success of the WeatherTech Championship since 2021. With that has come expanded fields at many events that can test the capacity limits we have at some IMSA tracks. We expect that growth trend to continue into 2024 and beyond, making it necessary to just have the GTP and LMP2 classes for prototypes with GTD-Pro and GTD classes for GT competing together going forward.
The VP Challenge, which is new for the 2023 IMSA Season, contested its second round of the season this past March at Sebring. 30 entries took the green flag on the bumpy Florida road course with 11 of them representing the LMP3 class. Driver mandates for the series are limited to silver and bronze rated drivers making the series a great starting point for IMSA competitors looking to move up in the the WeatherTech Championship.
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