As the 2026 season concludes this weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and the 2027 campaign takes shape, IMSA President John Doonan reaffirmed the sanctioning body’s openness to introducing new venues to its nine championship series calendars as early as 2028.
Entering 2027, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will keep continuity across its 2026 schedule, with only minor date adjustments on next year’s calendar.
Earlier this year, Lime Rock Park was reintroduced to the Michelin Pilot Challenge calendar for 2027, marking the facility’s return to hosting IMSA-sanctioned competition after a three-year absence.
However, Doonan and IMSA are also exploring potential new markets and venues to display their sports car competitors.
“I think we’ve had a lot of date equity and venue equity, which is great,” Doonan told the media. “But I think we also need to look at other opportunities. We ask our community all the time about where do they want to activate and where they want to market. We take that in.
“I’ve said it many times here in the last couple of years, I’d love to go to the Pacific Northwest. Looking at opportunities there with Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft and the Starbucks of the world. It is also a very car culture enthusiast marketplace. We will find something there.
“We’re constantly in contact with our NASCAR colleagues. Where can we join them? Obviously, they’ve done San Diego, they’ve done Chicago, and who knows what else is possible with them. But I think the opportunity for something new and fresh, and that’s what we’ve tried to do with the six-hour Road America. Going into 2028, it is a huge goal of ours.”
While the 2028 schedule is expected to be announced in early 2027 around the 12 Hours of Sebring, discussions surrounding potential additions and other support series calendars stay ongoing. One possibility is a collaborative weekend with NASCAR at a military installation, like NASCAR’s event at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.
However, several factors must be considered when determining which venues and markets could ultimately make the cut.
“Just adding another event is difficult for everyone from a budget standpoint, so we must fit into the sort of “Rubik’s Cube” of the season,” Doonan said.
“Adding a venue that celebrates men and women of the military is always special. We’ll have to wait and see how that shakes out for them. But you watch those events, and San Diego for them was unbelievable. Obviously as a Chicago boy, I’d love to see us race in the streets of Chicago. We’ll have to wait and see but know that the interest is there to keep the schedule fresh and exciting.”
The Pacific Northwest remains a desired destination for IMSA, and Doonan did not rule out the possibility of bringing the sport to fans through a street race.
“If something were available, I think we would look at all options. There are some other very cool venues in the US, but we just got to look at where they fit in the schedule, the costs associated with it for the teams. I’ve even said if we ever did anything else on the West Coast, I’d want it to align with Long Beach and Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca so the teams could just make one swing out to the West.”
While much of the attention surrounding schedule development centers on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Doonan and IMSA are also open to sending one of their support or single-make series to new markets to expand the sanctioning body’s presence.
“Absolutely on the table where we could look at sending a Michelin Pilot Challenge to one of those events,” Doonan said. “Because of Le Mans and the Sahlen Six Hours at the Glen, there’s no way we could have done San Diego because it was right in the middle. But maybe you could send another series out to one of those NASCAR events. You just never know. But I think we’re looking at all options.”
