Speed World Challenge
 |
|
| Category | Grand Touring, Grand Touring Sport, Touring Car, Touring Car B-Spec |
|---|---|
| Country |
 United States Canada
|
| Inaugural season | 1990 |
| Tire suppliers | Pirelli P Zero |
| Drivers' champion | GT: Alvaro Parente GTA: Martin Fuentes GT Cup: Alec Udell GTS: Brett Sandberg TC: Toby Grahovec TCA: Elivan Goulart TCB: Tom O'Gorman |
| Teams' champion | GT: K-PAX Racing GT Cup: GMG Racing GTS: Roush Performance Road Racing TC:Classic BMW Motorsports TCA: S.A.C. Racing TCB: Hale Motorsports |
| Makes' champion | GT: McLaren Automotive GTS: Ford TC: Mazda TCA: Mazda |
| Official website | World-Challenge.com |
 Current season
|
|
The Pirelli World Challenge is a North American auto racing series that is managed by WC Vision and sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC). The World Challenge series was born in 1990, and celebrated its 25th anniversary season in 2014. The series consists of seven driver classifications and six classes of vehicles: Grand Touring (GT), GT Cup (starting in 2017, fields Porsche 991 GT3 Cup, Lamborghini Super Trofeo, and Ferrari Challenge), GTS, Touring Car (TC), "Touring Car B-spec" (TCB) since 2012, and "Touring Car A" (TCA) since 2014. In 2014, a GTA driver classification was established for professional drivers that do not make their living primarily from racing. In 2016, The series frequently races alongside the IndyCar Series on race event weekends.
The SCCA created a "showroom stock" class for amateur club racing in 1972. In 1984, following the success of the Longest Day of Nelson and another 24-hour race at Mid-Ohio, the SCCA combined existing races into a manufacturer's championship. For 1985, the series became a 6-race professional championship with sponsorship from Playboy magazine. Escort radar detectors sponsored the series from 1986 until 1991.
In 1990, the series was officially named World Challenge and was restructured to adopt rules similar to the European Group A for homologated production cars. The higher-cost "sports" classes were dropped after 1996, leaving the class format as it would stand until 2010. Speed TV network began sponsoring the series in 1999. With fields growing, the series began separate races for the GT and Touring classes in 2000, which would remain until 2010. In 2010, the series moved away from the partnership with SPEED, and signed a broadcast partnership with Versus (now NBCSN) for coverage. The series moved existing touring cars into a new GTS class, while changing the rules for the touring car class to reduce costs and keep cars closer to stock.
...
Wikipedia