The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will return to racing with a sprint round at Daytona International Speedway in July, as part of a revised schedule released by the sanctioning body on Friday.

Set for July 3-4, the two-hour and 40-minute contest will be followed by an additional race at Sebring International Raceway on July 17-18.

Both races will be run behind closed doors without spectators and to a two-day format that includes unload in the morning of the first day.

The event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park has been canceled for this year, with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen rescheduled to Oct. 1-4 and Lime Rock Park to Oct. 30-31.

It will mark the first IMSA-sanctioned Daytona sprint race since 2009 when it was known as the Paul Revere 250 that was run by Grand-Am.

WeatherTech has been confirmed as the Daytona event’s sponsor, with the two Florida races also serving as rounds of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup for GT Daytona class teams.

The revised Watkins Glen date, meanwhile, clashes with the Indianapolis 8 Hour Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli round and GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season finale.

IMSA President John Doonan explained that its return to racing plan will follow safety protocols established by NASCAR, with a focus on medical screenings, social distancing and use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

“We’re very fortunate to be able to open our ‘Back to Racing’ plan at two facilities which are in the IMSA properties family,” said Doonan.

“This will allow us to follow the event protocols that we’ve developed in unison with our colleagues at NASCAR as well as do so at two facilities which we’re very familiar with in order to continue the rest of the season under new strict guidelines.”

It’s unclear when such rules could be relaxed although Doonan said they will continue to follow guidelines laid out by the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The first race in IMSA’s resumption will be known as the WeatherTech 240 at Daytona, rekindling a summertime staple at the world-famous speedway.

The July 3-4 event will return after a ten-year hiatus with the new name featuring the entitlement sponsor of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship along with a patriotic logo design.

Created in honor of Independence Day, the logo features red, white and blue colors and a bald eagle.

The race is set to take the green on Sat. July 4 at 6:05 p.m. ET.

“We were thrilled a couple of weeks ago to announce IMSA’s homecoming to Daytona International Speedway in July, to bring back a tradition,” said track president Chip Wile.

“And, now to be able to welcome WeatherTech as the entitlement partner for this anticipated IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event to restart the series’ season, it’s icing on the cake. The new logo screams America’s Independence Day, and the race is going to be a huge celebration of it.”

“As a proud American manufacturer and sponsor of the IMSA WeatherTech Championship, it was natural for us to extend our motorsport footprint with naming rights for the July 4 race,” said David MacNeil, founder and CEO of WeatherTech.

“We are all ready to see sports cars back on the track and racing. I think that the IMSA staff and the Speedway have done a great job to pivot on the schedule so we can get back to on-track competition.”

The 2 hour 40-minute race will consist of three of the four WeatherTech Championship classes, with LMP2 cars not in attendance.

IMSA, under Grand-Am sanction, previously held summer events at Daytona from 2002-2010.

The winning team for the 2010 event consisted of co-drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, in a BMW Riley DP. Known at one point in time as the Paul Revere 250, midsummer sports car races also were held at Daytona from 1967-1985. There also was a summer IMSA race at Daytona in 2000.

Parnelli Jones won the inaugural race in 1967 before other notable drivers like Al Holbert, Peter Gregg, Hurley Haywood, ***** T. Ribbs, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Wayne Taylor and many others went to Gatorade Victory Lane at Daytona.

Taylor, incidentally, as an owner, won his fourth Rolex 24 championship at Daytona this past January.

We wanted to celebrate IMSA’s return to racing with a little different look for the WeatherTech Racing Ferrari 488 Evo,” Cooper MacNeil said. “WeatherTech is sponsoring the race and wanted to take it one step further and give our Ferrari a little different look from when we raced there five months ago at the 24 hour.

A total of 26 cars are set to take part in IMSA’s return to racing with the WeatherTech 240 at Daytona.

The entry list for the second round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, released on Wednesday, features a largely unchanged grid in the DPi and GT Le Mans classes, with eight and six entries, respectively, although a number of changes have occurred in GT Daytona since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Twelve GTD entires are set for the two-hour and 40-minute race on July 4, with notable omissions including points leaders Paul Miller Racing, leading Porsche customer squad Pfaff Motorsports and The Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Wright Motorsports, meanwhile, is down to a single entry after plans to enter a second Porsche for the WeatherTech Sprint Cup, which also kicks off next weekend.

The Sprint Cup, however, has boosted the grid in the form of Compass Racing’s McLaren 720S GT3 of Paul Holton and Corey Fergus and the Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo, which will be driven by Marc Miller and Till Bechtolsheimer.

Team Hardpoint, which reportedly purchased an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo from Rick Ware Racing, will make its WeatherTech Championship debut with Spencer Pumpelly and Rob Ferriol.

As previously reported by Sportscar365, GEAR Racing’s split with Grasser Racing Team has resulted in the absence of the No. 19 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, despite efforts from the Austrian squad to fill the seats.

It reduces Grasser’s presence to a single Lamborghini entered under GRT Magnus, along with the pair of Meyer Shank Racing-entered Acuras, Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 and Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

Announced earlier on Wednesday, Aaron Telitz will replace Parker Chase at the wheel of AIM Vasser Sullivan’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3, as part of the team’s continued two-car effort.

Plans for both RWR and PPM to field cars in the Sprint Cup appear to not have materialized.

There have been no lineup changes in DPi or GTLM, other than the confirmed continuation of Tristan Vautier and Chris Miller in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Renger van der Zande and Ryan Briscoe of Wayne Taylor Racing head in as the DPi championship leaders following their victory in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, with BMW Team RLL’s John Edwards and Jesse Krohn leading the way in GTLM.

Of note, the Daytona race will mark the first outing for Mazda’s RT24-Ps under the Multimatic banner after the elapsing of Joest’s contract in March.

As planned, LMP2 cars will rejoin the WeatherTech Championship in the next round at Sebring on July 17-18.

The July 3-4 event at Daytona International Speedway, which will be open to 5,000 spectators, kicks off with an evening practice session next Friday, followed by practice and qualifying on Saturday and the race at 6:05 p.m. ET with live coverage on NBCSN.

Harry Tincknell has signed a multi-year contract extension with Multimatic Motorsports.

The 28-year-old Englishman, who was first signed to Multimatic in 2016 for the factory Ford GT program in the FIA World Endurance Championship, will continue his relationship with the expanding motorsports firm.

Tincknell’s primary focus this year is again on Mazda’s factory DPi program, which Multimatic has fully taken over from Joest as operational partners beginning with next weekend’s WeatherTech 240 at Daytona.

In addition to his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship commitments, Tincknell has been loaned out to Aston Martin Racing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“Multimatic took a leap of faith when they signed me up to race the Ford GT in 2016,” Tincknell said. I had done a fair bit in sports cars at that point but never raced a GT car before.

“I grabbed that opportunity with both hands and it soon turned into a full-time, four year, factory drive, which I loved every moment of.

“My role with Multimatic then led me to the Mazda DPi drive in the US, which is a fantastic program and taking Mazda’s first win in seven years at Watkins Glen last year, alongside Jonathan [Bomarito] and Olivier [Pla] was a big highlight.

“I’m really excited about what the future holds. Considering Multimatic is such a huge, successful company it still feels like a family firm.

“The Ford GT program really thrust Multimatic Motorsports as a race team into the spotlight, highlighting what they can do and I hope to be a part of that team for a long time to come.”

Tincknell is among a number of drivers who are Multimatic-contracted, including Andy and Sebastian Priaulx, Dirk Mueller and Harrison Newey.

“Harry has become deeply integrated into our global motorsports program and he played a key role in getting the Mazda DPi turned in the right direction,” said Multimatic’s Larry Holt.

“He rightly won the car’s first race at Watkins Glen last year, in his own inimitable style, making a bold move on Montoya up into corner eight, ten seconds after I had instructed him to get it done.

“As Multimatic’s racing activities grow so does our driving talent pool; having Harry on-board for the next few years significantly enhances our ability to take on the best in the world.”

Both the Acura ARX-05 and Acura NSX GT3 Evos have been among the cars to receive performance breaks for next weekend’s WeatherTech 240 at Daytona International Speedway.

Released in a Balance of Performance update on Thursday, the Acura Team Penske DPis have been given increased boost levels at the mid-to-high range, equating to roughly a 7 horsepower increase compared to the configuration it ran in January’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

No other performance-related changes have been made to the DPi class, other than adjusted fuel capacities and aero configurations for the Acura DPi as well as the Cadillac DPi-V.R and Mazda RT24-P....

The nearly four-month downtime due to the COVID-19 virus has put Mazda in “better shape” during the organization’s transition from Joest to Multimatic, according to its drivers.

The factory IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi squad, which was initially due to switch program operators in a four-week window between the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, has now been afforded the luxury of more time than a typical racing off-season to prepare under the new leadership.

While the majority of the key personnel have remained unchanged during the transition, the pair of Mazda RT24-Ps are now being serviced in Multimatic’s shop in Mooresville, N.C., where all four of the program’s full-season drivers recently visited with the multi-national crew to prepare for IMSA’s return to racing this weekend at Daytona.

“They’ve done a really exceptional job. The facilities there are really impressive,” said Oliver Jarvis. “They’re not taking this move lightly having put a lot of resources into it.

“It’s never easy. It would’ve been nice to have had two or three test days before moving to a new team but this is the scenario we’re faced with.

“But I’m pretty confident it’s going be a seamless transition.

“I think it helps that we proved at Daytona that we have a very good package. The car stays exactly the same and the mechanics have worked on it before.

“They are also the guys involved in developing and building the chassis themselves, so there’s a lot of knowledge within the team.”

Multimatic’s significant presence in the engineering of the cars over the last two years has made the move even more seamless according to Jonathan Bomarito, who along with Harry Tincknell and Michelin Endurance Cup driver Olivier Pla gave the Mazda DPi its maiden win at Watkins Glen one year ago.

The operation, now under the overall command of Multimatic chief technical officer Larry Holt, has retained its engineering staff led by Vince Libertucci (No. 55) and Leena Gade (No. 77) along with the same data engineers as well as some former U.S.-based crew that had been employed by Joest last year and in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“From that structure down, not a lot has changed,” Bomarito said. “Some of the Joest mechanics have made the transition.

“I had met a lot of the Multimatic guys that are coming over to run the program from doing the Ford [GT program], so for me [there’s] a lot of familiar faces.

“It’s been pretty seamless through all of this COVID-19 and thus being out of racing for the last four months, it’s really given them more time to get settled in and getting all those little details and processes lined up.”

Tincknell added: “In some respects with the changeover from Joest to Multimatic, having this extra bit of time hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing in terms of being able to get the new shop up and running and get the trucks already and stuff like that.

“Of course it has been operated on maybe 10 percent of the workforce that usually would be, but it’s just meant that while everyone’s doing Zoom meetings and working from home, we arrive at Daytona for this weekend in maybe even better shape in terms of organization.

“Even though a lot of people have stayed the same, I think it’s actually in some ways the extra time we’ve had to prepare will stand us in good stead.

“We’ve made the most of the bad (COVID-19) situation."

Mazda Motorsports has been forced to make adjustments to its driver change procedure for this weekend’s WeatherTech 240 at Daytona due to IMSA’s limitation of crew members for its return to racing.

Both of the Multimatic-run Mazda RT24-Ps will be without its usual ‘driver helpers’ during the pit stops, which will now result in the exiting driver assisting his co-driver into the cockpit, including tightening his belts.

This is due to IMSA’s restriction to 15 essential personnel per car for Saturday’s race, which is set to be impacted by extreme heat and humidity, adding to driver fatigue.

All four of the Mazda drivers recently practiced the revised procedure during a visit to the team’s new base in Mooresville, N.C., and according to Oliver Jarvis, there are no concerns about getting the change done within the refueling time.

“We’re going to be doing the driver changes between us,” said Jarvis. “This is something we’ve never done before due to the limit of personnel.

“We were testing and we were well within the limit of tires and fuel. But that’s us having sat in the car for ten seconds, jumping out fresh.

“If we did a double [stint] for example, which is 1 hour and 10 minutes of 1 hour and 15 minutes, you are dehydrated and exhausted, the first thing that goes is concentration.

“Within driver changes, you have to be calm and methodical. There’s no point in rushing.

“If you make a mistake, it’s very easy to panic.”

Jarvis predicts that teams that take a similar approach could be more prone for mistakes in the two-hour and 40-minute race, which could see more than one driver change.

Sportscar365 understands that both Acura Team Penske and Wayne Taylor Racing will utilize a ‘driver helper’ as normal, having worked that crew member into its essential personnel list.

It’s unclear if any other DPi teams will be forced to use a similar approach to Mazda.

“I guarantee you those teams that use the drivers there will be one or two mistakes during the race,” Jarvis added.

“It puts you both under pressure. If I make a mistake getting out, that’s on me because I now have to do the belts up quicker. It’s really important we get every little detail correct.

“It’s about taking your time to do everything correct. When we get out, placing the shoulder strap in the right place, because otherwise there’s a risk it falls and that can cost you five, six seconds.

“Slow and methodical is better than rushing.”

Mazda Drivers Training in Florida Heat

Jarvis and Harry Tincknell have been staying in Florida over the past two weeks with teammate Tristan Nunez to help prepare themselves for what’s likely to be the hottest race of the season.

“Definitely being a Florida boy it’s going to have its benefits but at the end of the day there’s nothing you can do,” Nunez said.

“You can’t run outside long enough to the stimulate what it’s going be like, temperature-wise, in the car. I think that’s something that we’ve been concerned with from the from the get-go is the the cockpit temperatures.

“But I’ve had Olly here; he’s been quarantining with me for the past couple of weeks and we’ve been training together getting acclimated to the Florida heat.

“I think it’s a little bit hotter more humid down here in South Florida but I think it’s been good training to get ready for this two-hour and 40-minute sprint race.”

Pipo Derani believes this weekend’s IMSA sprint race at Daytona will require a “very different” approach compared to the Rolex 24 that was held at the same track in January.

After five months without any competition because of the coronavirus pandemic, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is returning to the site of its season-opening round but will be holding a two-hour, 40-minute race rather than a 24-hour enduro.

Derani told reporters in a group video call that teams will need to attack right from the start of the two-day WeatherTech 240 at Daytona event, rather than building up momentum over the course of the Rolex 24 test and race week.

The 2016 Rolex 24 winner suggested that this difference could lead to some teams making crucial errors.

“I think it’s going to be very different, especially because we’re used to coming to Daytona thinking about keeping the car clean for 24 hours and then going for it in the last hour,” said Derani, who shares the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R with Felipe Nasr.

“Now we’re going to see ourselves in a completely different position where we’re going to have to attack from the beginning. Qualifying is now going to be quite important.

“I think the most important thing is that everyone within the team is ready to go. With so many months away from the racetrack, it’s going to be normal that people take a bit longer to do pit stops as quick as they used to.

“That’s going to be something that could dictate the race. We’ve had so much time away from real racing, that when we get going I think that’s going to make a difference in the end.”

Derani said that he and Nasr have been able to do some limited training together in Miami to prepare for the season restart.

Both Action Express Racing drivers were forced to make hasty journeys to the United States from their family residences in Brazil last month, to beat a travel ban that was imposed on arrivals from South America’s largest country.

“The guys at the shop are making sure that within the right environment we can keep working and training, so that we are ready when we are back,” said Derani.

“Felipe and myself last week managed to get a few laps on a kart to get our heads back into the rhythm.

“Five months is a lot of time. When we talk about the normal holiday, when we come back to jump in at Daytona for the first race of the year, it’s already a shock.

“But imagine now, being months away from a race car. We’re trying to make ourselves look a little less like rookies when we come back! I think that’s going to make a difference.”

Nasr added that both drivers have been in constant dialogue with their team throughout the pandemic and that this will enable them to hit the ground running at Daytona.

“Once you have that connection with the team and you’re going from weekend to weekend, that naturally happens,” said the 2018 IMSA DPi champion.

“But in all these months that I’ve been away, I’ve been in close contact with the team.

“They’ve been showing us what’s been happening at the shop. There are so many things that have kept going, to keep the communication going.

“At the beginning, I was wondering how it’s going to be when we go back racing. I don’t have to think about it anymore because we kept a constant conversation going, and we know exactly what to do when we go back there.

“Everybody has to do the same job and take it step by step. It’s racing, it’s in the system. It’s been such a long wait and I’m just happy that we’re going back.”

Action Express Racing has confirmed that its driver Felipe Nasr will miss this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech 240 at Daytona after testing positive for COVID-19.

The 2018 IMSA prototype champion was due to drive the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R. with Pipo Derani, but will now head back to his residence in Miami to quarantine following the test result.

Former IndyCar racer Gabby Chaves has been drafted in to replace Nasr at Daytona.

Chaves is familiar to the Action Express squad having driven one of its Cadillac DPi cars in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Motul Petit Le Mans in 2018.

“All of us at Action Express were stunned when we heard that our friend and teammate, Felipe Nasr, has tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday,” said team manager Gary Nelson.

“We are certainly going to miss having him competing in our Whelen Cadillac DPi-V.R on Saturday at Daytona.

“But, more importantly, he is a great friend to us all and we know he will fight hard to beat this virus the same way he fights for trophies on the racetracks. We wish him a speedy recovery.

“Felipe has not been to the track and will avoid any contact with the public until he has been cleared by his medical team.

“We made the quick decision to bring in Gabby Chaves who is familiar with our team to partner with Pipo Derani this weekend. We will get Felipe ready to hopefully join us again at Sebring in 15 days.”

Nasr explained that he got tested for COVID-19 after feeling unwell on the drive to Daytona for the first IMSA round since the Rolex 24 at the same track in January.

Both Nasr and Derani were based in Miami throughout June following their movements to the United States to beat the country’s travel ban on arrivals from Brazil, while Derani said last week that the pair trained together during their spell in Florida.

It’s unclear if Derani has been tested for the virus.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this weekend to get back to racing,” said Nasr, who with Derani finished second to Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya in the 2019 championship.

“I felt I had been doing everything correctly. I have been in Miami for about a month, staying away from anyone in racing.

“Yesterday as I was driving to Daytona, I wasn’t feeling just right. So, before I went to the track or met with my team or anyone in motorsports, I went and got tested and, unfortunately, I tested positive.

“I want to keep everyone on the Whelen Engineering/Action Express team and those around the series safe.

“I am going back to Miami to quarantine. Hopefully, I will recover quickly, and my doctors can clear me to return to racing soon.

“For now, I will follow all instructions, guidelines and recommendations from my medical team, my race team, and the IMSA Officials.”

Harry Tincknell, meanwhile, put the No. 55 Multimatic-run Mazda RT24-P third on the time charts, with Ricky Taylor fourth in the No. 7 Penske Acura DPi.

Chris Miller completed the top-five in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi.

Only seven of the eight DPis turned laps as engine-related issues prevented the No. 77 Mazda DPi from setting a time.