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Plans for a merger of the two major North American endurance series - Grand-Am Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) - were unveiled Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway and details have started to emerge.
According to Grand-Am founder Jim France, a name for the series has yet to be decided upon.
"We do not have a name," France declared during the press conference. "We have got some ideas of how to come up with a name for a new combined series."
Which cars will be allowed to race in 2014? The new group refused to discuss the new class structure of the series, but Don Panoz, founder of the American Le Mans Series kind of confirmed that the LMP1 prototype class would not be part of the new series.
"In our situation we are not thinking about an LMP1 class," Panoz explained. "We are thinking about prototypes, advanced prototypes. We are American based and this series we are putting together is an American sportscar series and we need to take care of our own market."
That statement from Don Panoz supports speculation that Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype category will be the top division of the new North American sportscar series from 2014.
It is understood that the new group is working on how to incorporate LMP2 cars, which are presently faster than DPs, as a secondary class.
American Le Mans series' boss Scott Atherton, who will be on the board of the new organisation, stated that the GTE class, known as GT in the ALMS, would be part of the new series.
The 2014 calendar of the new series is likely to incorporate 12 races. That number will include the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring.
According to Grand-Am founder Jim France, a name for the series has yet to be decided upon.
"We do not have a name," France declared during the press conference. "We have got some ideas of how to come up with a name for a new combined series."
Which cars will be allowed to race in 2014? The new group refused to discuss the new class structure of the series, but Don Panoz, founder of the American Le Mans Series kind of confirmed that the LMP1 prototype class would not be part of the new series.
"In our situation we are not thinking about an LMP1 class," Panoz explained. "We are thinking about prototypes, advanced prototypes. We are American based and this series we are putting together is an American sportscar series and we need to take care of our own market."
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| Ford Riley, Grand-Am. (Photo: Grand-Am.com) |
That statement from Don Panoz supports speculation that Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype category will be the top division of the new North American sportscar series from 2014.
It is understood that the new group is working on how to incorporate LMP2 cars, which are presently faster than DPs, as a secondary class.
American Le Mans series' boss Scott Atherton, who will be on the board of the new organisation, stated that the GTE class, known as GT in the ALMS, would be part of the new series.
The 2014 calendar of the new series is likely to incorporate 12 races. That number will include the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring.