The Grand-Am Series and American Le Mans Series will join together to create a single series in 2014.
Category front-men Jim France and Don Panoz led the joint announcement at Daytona Beach on Wednesday in a move that the latter says will “strengthen professional sports car racing beyond what either of our organizations could have achieved separately.”
A name for the series and its class structure are among the key details yet to be confirmed.
It is expected however that the existing Grand-Am prototype class cars will battle for outright honours, while LMP2 cars will be slowed to fit below the bespoke American vehicles.
The make-up of the GT division however is less clear, although an ALMS spokesman confirmed that its current GTE-based cars will “absolutely” be on the eligibility list.
Le Mans 24 Hours organisers, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, have issued a statement in support of the merger.
Early plans for the 2014 calendar suggest a 12 event season beginning with the Daytona 24 Hour and ending with the Petit Le Mans.
Although financial details have not been released, it was confirmed that the combined organisation will gain control of the Road Atlanta and Sebring venues currently operated by Panoz.
