Yahoo Autos HSR reveals 2024 calendar
A return to Virginia International Raceway for the first time since 2016 and a new endurance race championship for the LMP3 division are among the highlight additions to the 2024 Historic Sportscar Racing calendar that was announced today as part of IMSA’s schedule unveiling Friday at Road America.
The 2024 schedule once again begins and ends at Sebring International Raceway and, along with VIR, includes Daytona International Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Friday’s announcement was the first time HSR, which was acquired by IMSA in early 2022, was included in IMSA’s annual schedule unveiling at Road America, and next year’s HSR calendar itself includes several additional firsts.
Next August at VIR on the IMSA Michelin GT Challenge weekend, HSR will run for the first time as a support series for IMSA’s premier WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The HSR race will showcase select cars from HSR Group 3 (Small-Bore Historic Production cars), Group 5 (Big-Bore Historic Production and GT cars) and Group 7 (Historic Prototype and Sports Racers) representative of sports car endurance racing machines from the previous century. The mix should attract a wide variety of cars such as early Porsche 911 and RS models and Jaguar XKEs to Lola T70s and Ford GT40s.
Another all-new development is the four-race endurance championship for LMP3 cars which have been eligible and a popular choice of competitors in recent years in modern prototype HSR run groups. The championship begins with an LMP3 feature race on the Saturday night of April’s 46th running of the HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The Road Atlanta opener will be followed by LMP3 races at HSR’s remaining blockbuster events, the “HSR Classics” at Watkins Glen, Daytona and Sebring. True multi-class endurance races, the LMP3 rounds at all three events will see competitors race in the same run groups they have in recent years, sharing the track with other modern prototype and GT Modern (GTM) divisions while batting for their own class honors and championship points.
The new LMP3 series joins a familiar lineup of returning sprint and endurance race championships that are the high-speed foundation of every HSR race weekend. The lineup includes Sasco Sports International/American Challenge, Stoner Car Care Global GT, the Classic RS Cup, the B.R.M. Endurance Challenge and the WeatherTech Sprint Series, which typically includes a pair of sprint races for all Run Groups on each race weekend.
“This is our second schedule announcement since HSR came under IMSA ownership and once again our members, teams, competitors and fans can easily see the incredible benefits of being part of the IMSA family,” said HSR President David Hinton. “It is also easy to see that John Doonan has the same passion for HSR that he does for all of IMSA’s other series and properties, and we have to thank him and the hard-working team at IMSA for all of the hard and behind-the-scenes work. We look forward to the remainder of 2023, but next year also can’t get here fast enough.”
It all begins for the sixth-straight year with the season-opening HSR Spring Fling at Sebring, March 8-10, which will see HSR headline a weekend edition of the event for the first time in several seasons. The Spring Fling sets the stage for the 72nd running of the iconic 12 Hours of Sebring IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race the following weekend.
The Sebring Spring Fling opener is followed by the 46th HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 25-28, which is one of the longest-running historic and vintage races in the U.S. and HSR’s first blockbuster race of the season.
The first of HSR’s “triple threat” of HSR Classics races will be the perfect follow up to The Mitty with the second running of the HSR Classic 6 Hour of The Glen, June 6- 9.
The VIR Michelin GT Challenge weekend support race is next up, August 23-25, before the annual return visit to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the HSR Fall Historics, September 19-22. The perfect complementary event to each April’s HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway, the Fall Classic has developed an appeal and popularity of its own and is the first of two return visits to tracks on the 2024 HSR calendar.
Set for its milestone 10th running in 2024, the HSR Classic Daytona presented by IMSA, returns to the “World Center of Racing” October 30-November 3. The HSR Classic Daytona is once again followed next year by the season-ending HSR Classic 12 Hour at Sebring, Pistons and Props, presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network. The ninth-annual running of the HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour next year will be held on the legendary Sebring airport circuit, December 4-8.
The HSR Classics events at The Glen, Daytona and Sebring share the card each weekend, respectively, with the Watkins Glen Historics, the Daytona Historics and the Sebring Historics races that are all key rounds of the season-long HSR series championships.
More information on all HSR event weekends and additional spectator and competitor information can be found at http://www.HSRRace.com.
2024 Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Race-Event Schedule*
March 8 – 10: HSR Sebring Spring Fling – Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida
April 25 – April 28: 46th HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta – Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia
June 6 – 9: HSR Classic Six Hours of Watkins Glen – Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York
August 23 – 25: IMSA Michelin GT Challenge Support Race – VIRginia International Raceway, Alton, Virginia
September 19 – 22: HSR Atlanta Fall Historics – Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia
October 30 – November 3: HSR Classic Daytona presented by IMSA and the HSR Daytona Historics – Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
December 4 – 8: HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour, Pistons and Props, presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network, and the HSR Sebring Historic Races – Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida
*Event schedule subject to change and additions
