IMSA has defined the regulations for the GTD Pro category for its 2022 debut season, largely bringing it in line with the existing regulations for the GTD class.
During Friday’s State of the Sport address, IMSA president John Doonan outlined the rules and regulations for the category that will replace the current GTLM formula next season.
Previous plans to separate the Balance of Performance parameters for the two classes have notably been reversed.
As a result, both categories will now share the same Balance of Performance, although the series states it ‘will retain the right to maintain competitive equivalency between cars within each class and between classes if necessary.’
The two categories will also share the same tyre compound and allocation, with both GTD and GTD Pro utilizing Michelin’s S9M tyre compound and having the same tyre allocation per event.
The two classes will share a single qualifying session starting from 2022. GTD teams will still have to use their Bronze- or Silver-rated drivers for the qualifying session, while GTD Pro features no such requirements and leaves teams free to choose any driver from its line-up.
Notably, the GTD-only separate qualifying session for points will be scrapped after a single season, although qualifying points will continue to be awarded.
Cars in both GTD Pro and GTD will be required to start the race on qualifying tyres. IMSA has also decided that GTD Pro drivers will be subject to the same minimum drive time requirements as their GTD counterparts.
Finally, GTD Pro will have the same pit stop refueling times as GTD.
“We are on the cusp of an amazing new era for IMSA and sports car racing worldwide,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “The 2022 season reinforces one of IMSA’s biggest strengths, which is our tremendous collection of events, facilities and promoters.
“We will restabilize and simplify our GT platform through GTD PRO and GTD and prepare for the introduction of the new prototype category coming in 2023, while at the same time recognizing the considerable success of Daytona Prototype international (DPi) in its final season.”
