Rolex Grand Am and ALMS merger announced today.
 

Established schedules for both will be run in 2013 and then 2014 will bring the advent of the combined series and consolidated classes and schedule. Should take sports car racing to the next level and maybe bring back the glory days.

That's cool; does this mean the corvette prototype will be in ALMS?

Wow, this is going to be weird. I'm not a huge fan of ALMS, but i love Grand-Am Rolex.

In case nobody saw it a few days ago: MagnusRacing.com news. :thumbup:

Errrhm, I hope that doesn't mean that both series' are struggling and have to band together to stay alive, 'cause that's the vibe I'm getting.

In this economy, automobile racing in general is struggling. Sponsorship dollars are getting harder to come by. Even NASCAR is facing declining financial commitments from long time sponsors. Fans are staying home because they do not have the extra money to spend on tickets.

Having two road racing organizations in the US competing against each other for dwindling dollars and entrants makes zero sense. I do not think either organization "had" to merge to survive but they will definitely be stronger and put on a better show joined together.

I just feel like it could get complicated. The track (at least here at Lime Rock) was already packed with entrants from GT and LMP running at the same time; I can only imagine how it would be if both series run at the same time. Or will they have their own separate schedule? The cars are all very similar for the most part.

During the Grand Am race at Laguna Seca yesterday, they talked a little about this. From what I gather some of the classes will be going away. They didn't mention which ones, but I'm guessing we might not see the LMP Challenge or the GT3 cup cars in 2014.

If I had to guess I'd say we'd see LMP, Daytona prototypes and GT cars in the combined ALMS/Rolex field.

This is great news for sports cars and for the FRS/BRZ!