Grand-Am announced its 2012 schedules for both the Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge divisions on Wednesday, nearly two months after the 2011 season finale at Mid-Ohio.
The 50th anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona kicks off the 13-race Rolex Series season as its centerpiece event, and serves not only as the season opener but the first of three races in the newly created North American Endurance championship that will encompass three Rolex races in 2012.
The other two are the six hours at Watkins Glen in July, and a new addition to the calendar with the first Rolex Series event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the track's NASCAR weekend the end of July. Indianapolis' race length is set at three hours, slightly longer than the standard two hours and 45 minutes.
Teams in both the Daytona Prototype and production-based GT classes will compete in the championship. The points structure and purse for the championship are still to be announced, while awards will be presented at dusk on the IMS podium after the race on the track's 2.605-mile road course.
“This is without doubt the strongest schedule in Grand-Am history,” said Grand-Am President Tom Bledsoe. “Highlights are everywhere you look...new races, new places – and a new three-race championship. We're going to make a lot of sports car history in 2012.”
The busiest month is June, without question. The series' makes its inaugural trip to Belle Isle Park in conjunction with IndyCar on June 2, and the next week the series shifts to Mid-Ohio, which moves from its September date in 2011. A week off follows before the series runs at Elkhart Lake's Road America, and then Watkins Glen the next weekend the end of June and race on July 1.
The Rolex Series will once again run on NASCAR weekends at Watkins Glen and Montreal in August, before the last confirmed race at Mazda Raceway in September; that shifts from a July 2011 date. The final date is a TBA listed from Sept. 28-30.
Grand-Am managing director of communications Herb Branham said the TBA date “is likely not going to be a surprise track, but we definitely don't know which track.”
May 2011 races at Virginia International Raceway and Lime Rock Park have been dropped from the 2012 calendar.
The 10-race Continental Tire schedule includes all the same dates with the exception of Belle Isle, the second Watkins Glen date and Montreal. The series has the similar TBA on Sept. 28-30.
Both schedules are below:
Grand-Am Rolex Series 2012 Schedule
Jan. 28-29 – Daytona International Speedway
Mar 30-April 1 – Barber Motorsports Park
April 27-29 – Homestead-Miami Speedway
May 11-13 – New Jersey Motorsports Park
June 2 – Detroit Belle Isle
June 8-10 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
June 22-24 – Road America
June 29-July 1 – Watkins Glen International
July 27 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Aug 10-12 – Watkins Glen International
August 17-19 – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Sept. 7-9 – Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Sept. 28-30 – TBA
Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge 2012 Schedule
Jan. 27 – Daytona International Speedway
Mar 30-April 1 – Barber Motorsports Park
April 27-29 – Homestead-Miami Speedway
May 11-13 – New Jersey Motorsports Park
June 8-10 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
June 22-24 – Road America
June 29-July 1 – Watkins Glen International
July 27 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Sept. 7-9 – Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Sept. 28-30 – TBA