The
Rolex Sports Car Series is the premiere series run by the
Grand American Road Racing Association. It is a North American-based
sports car series that was founded in 2000 under the name
Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed
United States Road Racing Championship.
Rolex took over as series sponsor in 2002.
It has run with a mixture of classes of
sports prototypes and
Grand Touring-style cars over the years. In 2003, the series debuted their custom prototype chassis, known as
Daytona Prototypes, named after their premiere event, the
Rolex 24 at Daytona.
History
Following the failure of the
United States Road Racing Championship in 1999, the new Grand American Road Racing Association announced their intentions to adopt a format similar to the one used in the USRRC, centering around the
24 Hours of Daytona. This series was seen as an alternative to the former
IMSA GT Championship, which had since been replaced by the
American Le Mans Series in 1999. The new series would run two classes of Sports Racing Prototypes identical to the rules used in the new
FIA Sportscar Championship in Europe, while
Grand Touring-style cars would consist of three classes: GTO for larger production-based race cars, GTU for smaller production-based race cars, and AGT for American
tube frame cars. The league would also acquire the
Six Hours of Watkins Glen, giving the league a second endurance race alongside the Rolex 24 at Daytona to compete with the ALMS'
12 Hours of......
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