IMSA launches new frontrunning DPi class for 2016 season
The Daytona Prototype name will be retained for rebodied LMP2 machinery competing in the renamed IMSA SportsCar Championship from 2017
IMSA's P2-based formula will be known as Daytona Prototype international (DPi).
It allows for manufacturers to develop their own bodywork incorporating road car styling cues for the four permitted P2 chassis and to use their own engines.
DPi machinery will compete against standard LMP2 machinery, which will all be powered by a new Gibson normally-aspirated V8 engine, in the Prototype class at the front of the IMSA grid.
Governing body IMSA will balance the performance of the DPi contenders with that of the pure LMP2 cars in the same way as they have P2 machinery with the current generation of aluminium-chassis Daytona Prototype.
IMSA president Scott Atherton said that the DPi formula would create "a modern, international prototype that will provide participating manufacturers, teams, drivers - and especially our fans - with a wide variety of great cars and outstanding competition".
A manufacturer wishing to take a DPi contender to the Le Mans 24 Hours would be allowed to retain its own engine but would have to use the original bodywork supplied by ORECA, Onroak/Ligier, Dallara or Riley/Multimatic.
Current generation closed-cockpit LMP2 cars built between 2014-16 will be grandfathered so they can continue racing through the 2017 IMSA season.
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