IMSA WeatherTech Series announces 2022 schedule

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series announced its 2022 schedule, which will include 12 venues and events.

Kicking off the season will be the 60th running of the Rolex 24 of Daytona on January 29-30 with all five classes competing. NBC will once again carry the event and a complete programing schedule will be announced later, but the start and finish will be live on the main channel with hour-and-a-half of coverage on Saturday and the final two hours broadcast on Sunday.

The 2021 Rolex 24 was a record-setting event for IMSA on NBC and NBCSN with nearly 1.1 million viewers during portions of the twice around the clock classic. That made it the most-watched IMSA race since the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona.

Also returning in 2022, the Roar Before the Rolex 24 will run on January 21-23, one week prior to the big show. It will include the popular 100-minute qualifying race to set the grid for the Rolex 24.

“We are on the cusp of an amazing new era for IMSA and sports car racing worldwide,” said IMSA President John Doonan in a release. “The 2022 season reinforces one of IMSA’s biggest strengths, which is our tremendous collection of events, facilities and promoters.”

The Rolex 24 will once again be part of a four-race Michelin Endurance Cup featuring the series’ longest events. Following Daytona, the Twelve Hours of Sebring will run on Saturday, March 19, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, June 26 and the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Saturday, October 1.

Five of the races, the four Endurance Cup events and a 2-hour, 40-minute race at Road America in August, will include all five IMSA classes.

Three other events will feature four of the five classes, including a return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 3 as the series once more races there for the first time since 2019 and the interruption caused by COVID-19.

An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series announces 2022 schedule

IndyCar disappointed by delay of video game but aiming to launch at start of 2024

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