IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship set to Return to World Center of Racing, July 3-4

IMSA sports cars, a summertime staple at Daytona International Speedway for many years, are returning July 3-4, after a 10-year hiatus, with a new name – the IMSA WeatherTech 240 At DAYTONA – and a unique, patriotic logo design.

 

Created in honor of Independence Day, the logo for the IMSA WeatherTech 240 At DAYTONA is a work of art, featuring red, white and blue (as well as black) colors, inspiring stars and stripes, and a bald eagle. The evening race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on the 3.56-mile high-banked tri-oval/infield road course is set to take the green flag at 6:05 pm ET on Saturday, July 4.

 

“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 Speedway 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.” 

 

The IMSA WeatherTech 240 At DAYTONA will mark the return of the WeatherTech Championship that consists of a revised 2020 schedule (www.imsa.com/weathertech).

 

“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 IMSA WeatherTech 240 At DAYTONA will consist of three WeatherTech Championship classes – Daytona Prototype (DPi), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD). IMSA 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. Known at one point in time as the Paul Revere 250, midsummer IMSA/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, Willy 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.

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Adam Sinclair