Michelin became the sole official tire supplier of the series, following the departure of Continental Tire at the end of 2018.
As part of a plan to attempt to cut costs for the series' GT Daytona class, the 2019 season featured a new support championship called the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The championship was held for the GT Daytona class at the sprint events of the calendar.
After an eleven year partnership, Tequila Patrón ended their involvement with IMSA altogether at the end of the 2018 season. They also ended their sponsorship of the Extreme Speed Motorsports prototype team, who subsequently closed down operations. Michelin took Patrón's place as the sponsor of the endurance cup.
As part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of IMSA, multiple teams adopted racing liveries created in tribute to iconic teams throughout IMSA's history, such as Brumos Porsche, Electramotive Engineering, Roush Racing, and Comptech Acura.
The DPi class is now the lead class of the championship, and features teams with full professional lineups running DPi cars. The class has its own Balance of Performance. The LMP2 class is the lower prototype class in the championship, featuring Global LMP2 cars with Pro-Am lineups. There is no BoP applied to the LMP2 class.
Le Mans Prototype 2 and GT Daytona, the Pro-Am classes of the championship, must adhere to driver rating requirements. Each car is only allowed two Platinum-rated or Gold-rated drivers for the endurance events, alongside the requirement of at least one Bronze-rated or Silver-rated driver for all sprint races. In these classes, the Bronze or Silver-rated drivers are required to start the race.
Schedule
The 2019 schedule was released on 3 August 2018 and features twelve rounds.
Championship points are awarded in each class at the finish of each event. Points are awarded based on finishing positions as shown in the chart below.
Position
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Race
35
32
30
28
26
25
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
;Drivers points Points are awarded in each class at the finish of each event. ;Team points Team points are calculated in exactly the same way as driver points, using the point distribution chart. Each car entered is considered its own "team" regardless if it is a single entry or part of a two-car team. ;Manufacturer points There are also a number of manufacturer championships which utilize the same season-long point distribution chart. The manufacturer championships recognized by IMSA are as follows: Each manufacturer receives finishing points for its highest finishing car in each class. The positions of subsequent finishing cars from the same manufacturer are not taken into consideration, and all other manufacturers move up in the order. ;Michelin Endurance Cup The points system for the Michelin Endurance Cup is different from the normal points system. Points are awarded on a 5–4–3–2 basis for drivers, teams and manufacturers. The first finishing position at each interval earns five points, four points for second position, three points for third, with two points awarded for fourth and each subsequent finishing position.
Position
1
2
3
Other Classified
Race
5
4
3
2
At Daytona, points are awarded at six hours, 12 hours, 18 hours and at the finish. At the Sebring, points are awarded at four hours, eight hours and at the finish. At Watkins Glen, points are awarded at three hours and at the finish. At Road Atlanta, points are awarded at four hours, eight hours and at the finish. Like the season-long team championship, Michelin Endurance Cup team points are awarded for each car and drivers get points in any car that they drive, in which they are entered for points. The manufacturer points go to the highest placed car from that manufacturer, just like the season-long manufacturer championship. For example: in any particular segment manufacturer A finishes 1st and 2nd and manufacturer B finishes 3rd. Manufacturer A only receives first-place points for that segment. Manufacturer B receives the second-place points.
Drivers' championships
DPi
LMP2
GTLM
GTD
† Points only counted towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup, and not the overall GTD Championship. 1 Originally finished 2nd in class, but demoted to last after violating minimum drive time regulations. 2 Originally finished 14th in class, but demoted to last after violating minimum drive time regulations.
Team's Championships
Standings: Daytona Prototype international
Standings: Le Mans Prototype 2
Standings: GT Le Mans
Standings: GT Daytona
† Points only counted towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup, and not the overall GTD Championship. 1 Originally finished 2nd in class, but demoted to last after violating minimum drive time regulations. 2 Originally finished 14th in class, but demoted to last after violating minimum drive time regulations.
Manufacturer's Championships
Standings: Daytona Prototype International
Standings: GT Le Mans
Standings: GT Daytona
† Points only counted towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup, and not the overall GTD Championship.
Ryan Cullen
Roberto González
Pastor Maldonado
Sebastián Saavedra
Ben Hanley
Henrik Hedman
Nicolas Lapierre
James Allen
Cameron Cassels
Anders Fjordbach
Ezequiel Pérez Companc
Christopher Haase
Dennis Olsen
Mirko Bortolotti
Rik Breukers
Rolf Ineichen
Nick Cassidy
Via Italia Racing
Alex Riberas
Dries Vanthoor
Miloš Pavlović
Pedro Lamy
Kamui Kobayashi