Beyond the Pirelli World Challenge championship in GT being decided in favor of Alvaro Parente, K-PAX Racing and McLaren on Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, there were several other championships and awards confirmed during Sunday night’s awards ceremony in Monterey.
Here’s a quick rundown of champions and awards confirmed over the weekend:
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2016 PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE CHAMPIONS
GT Driver’s Champion – ALVARO PARENTE, Porto, Portugal
GTA Driver’s Champion – MARTIN FUENTES, Mexico City, Mexico
GT Cup Driver’s Champion – ALEC UDELL, The Woodlands, Texas
GTS Driver’s Champion – BRETT SANDBERG, Allendale, N.J.
Touring Car Driver’s Champion – TOBY GRAHOVEC, Little Elm, Texas
Touring Car A Driver’s Champion – ELIVAN GOULART, Shelton, Conn.
Touring Car B Driver’s Champion – TOM O’GORMAN, Mason, Ohio
SprintX GT Sportsman Driver’s Champion – MICHAEL MILLS, Houston, Texas
SprintX GTS Sportsman Driver’s Champion – MAX RIDDLE, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
GT Manufacturer’s Champion – McLAREN
GTS Manufacturer’s Champion – FORD PERFORMANCE
Touring Car Manufacturer’s Champion – MAZDA
Touring Car A Manufacturer’s Champion – MAZDA
GT Team Champion – K-PAX RACING
GT Cup Team Champion – GMG MOTORSPORTS
GTS Team Champion – ROUSH PERFORMANCE ROAD RACING
Touring Car Team Champion – CLASSIC BMW MOTORSPORTS
Touring Car A Team Champion – S.A.C. RACING
Touring Car B Team Champion – HALE MOTORSPORTS
GT/GTA Crew of the Year – SCUDERIA CORSA
GT Cup Crew of the Year – CALVERT DYNAMICS
GTS Crew of the Year – ROUSH PERFORMANCE ROAD RACING
Touring Car Crew of the Year – BERG RACING
Touring Car A Crew of the Year – S.A.C. RACING
Touring Car B Crew of the Year – BLACK ARMOR HELMETS
SPECIAL AWARDS
Zimmerman Cup Crew Award – IAN WILLIS, AIM MOTORSPORTS
Jim Cook Award (Contributor to PWC) – TONY GAPLES, BLACKDOG SPEED SHOP
VP Racing Fuels Hard Charger of the Year – NATE STACY
MotorTrendonDemand.com Clean Pass of the Year – PATRICK LONG
Special Recognition Award – JERRY RUSSETT
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Doling out the awards wasn’t the only thing on PWC’s docket this week. Additionally, the series also formally confirmed Utah Motorsports Campus (August 11-13) and Sonoma Raceway (Sept. 15-17) as the expected fill-ins for the TBA rounds. The provisional 2017 schedule was released and explained in July.
PWC’s GT single-driver sprint events will occur at the five shared IndyCar weekends, with St. Petersburg, Road America, Mid-Ohio and Sonoma having double races and Long Beach a single race.
All eight PWC categories will be in action at the PWC standalone weekends.
There will also be five live TV races on CBS Sports Network, the series announced.
The Pirelli World Challenge finale again will take place at the famed Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with a unique weekend set for racers and fans on Oct. 13-15. Working in conjunction with the popular European-based SRO Blancpain GT Series, the SRO Motorsports Group Intercontinental GT Challenge will include an eight-hour GT endurance contest with GT3 machines. The PWC classes for MRLS will be announced soon.
“After a successful 2016 season including 127 entries in the season finale last weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, we are pleased with the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge schedule,” said Greg Gill, president and CEO of WC Vision. “There are a few remaining contracts and venue details to be worked out. We will work through those details in the coming days.”
The full schedule is below:
2017 Pirelli World Challenge Schedule
Date Track
March 10-12 Streets of St. Petersburg
April 7-9 Streets of Long Beach
April 28-30 Virginia International Raceway
May 19-21 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
May 26-27 Lime Rock Park
June 23-25 Road America
July 28-30 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
August 11-13 Utah Motorsports Campus
September 1-3 Circuit of the Americas (COTA)
September 15-17 Sonoma Raceway
October 13-15 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
(With SRO International GT Challenge)