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The most significant development in the history of sports car racing in North America was announced today, with plans for a landmark merger of GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) unveiled at Daytona International Speedway.

Under terms of the merger, the following entities will combine with GRAND-AM: the American Le Mans Series; the International Motor Sports Association, which sanctions ALMS events; the Road Atlanta race track facility in Braselton, Ga.; the Chateau Elan Hotel and Conference Center in Sebring, Fla.; and Sebring International Raceway, via a reassignment of the lease agreement with the Sebring Airport Authority to operate the raceway.

Both sanctioning bodies will continue to operate separate schedules in 2013 before racing under one banner in 2014 beginning with North America’s premier sports car race, the 52nd annual Rolex 24 At Daytona.....

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The new group also refused to discuss the class structure of 2014 series, but Panoz as good as confirmed that the LMP1 prototype class would not be part of the new series.

"In our situation were are not thinking about an LMP1 class," he 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 backs up speculation that Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype class will be the top division of the new US sportscar series in 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.

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The fastest cars in ALMS are Prototype 1, and currently only two teams exist. It is expected that the P1s will be dropped. The P2 class should survive as will the current Grand-Am Daytona Prototypes. The famous DeltaWing that made history at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans will also be included in the “new” class.

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The Automobile Club de l'Ouest—the organizer of the 24 Hours of Le Mans—believes that the merger announced on Sept. 5 between Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series will make international sports-car racing stronger.

ACO president Pierre Fillon, whose organization licenses the Le Mans name to the ALMS, said the move had “become necessary to enable endurance racing to continue to evolve.” He said the merger, which will come into force in 2014, “will reinforce the presence of endurance racing on the international scene.”

A statement from the ACO read: “The ACO is delighted about this merger, which will increase the already large audience for endurance racing in North America, and at the same time boost its international impact.

“The quality of the two organizations combined is a guarantee of confidence concerning the perpetuation of the values and prestige of the Le Mans 24 Hours on the American continent.”

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