Le Mans and United Sportscar Championship alliance extended

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest and IMSA signed the agreement ahead of today's Sebring 12 Hours TUSC round.

The latest deal a follows a two-year arrangement that covered the 2013 American Le Mans Series and the first season of the USC, created by the merger of the ALMS and Grand-Am, in 2014.

TUSC boss Scott Atherton told AUTOSPORT: "The 2013-14 agreement included a provision to continue, but we wanted to see how the relationship worked after the merger.

"I wouldn't say the relationship has just succeeded, I would say that it has thrived.

"We don't sit around the table and negotiate, we sit down and talk for the good of endurance racing as friends."

The latest deal is for six years and will run to the end of the next rules cycle for the LMP2 category.

New ACO/FIA P2 regulations due to come into force for 2017 are scheduled to be adopted with only minor adjustments for the Prototype class of the USC.

New regulations for the GTE class, known as GT Le Mans in the US, are set to be introduced for next season.

ACO president Pierre Fillon said that the relationship with the USC and IMSA was "essential to the harmonisation for the LMP2 and GTLM categories".

Atherton added that the new agreement allowed for the number of guaranteed entries that the USC can award for the Le Mans 24 Hours to rise from the current two.

"There is provision for additional entries at our option, but it would be inappropriate to say what might trigger that," he explained.

The relationship between the ACO and IMSA dates back to 1998 and the start of the Petit Le Mans enduro at Road Atlanta at the end of that season, and the establishment of the ALMS for the following year.