1998 IMSA GT Championship explained

The 1998 Professional SportsCar Racing Championship season was the 28th season of the IMSA GT Championship, the final one of the original IMSA. It consisted of an open-cockpit World Sports Car (WSC) class of prototypes and Grand Tourer-style racing cars divided into GT1, GT2, and GT3 classes. It began March 22, 1998, and ended October 25, 1998, after eight rounds.

The IMSA GT Championship was replaced by the American Le Mans Series in 1999, which was supported by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). This series, based on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, was initially previewed during the 1998 season with the running of the inaugural Petit Le Mans. Professional SportsCar Racing remained as the series organizer.

Of note is the lack of the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Six Hours of Watkins Glen, both of which were acquired by the revived SCCA United States Road Racing Championship.

Schedule

Rnd	Race	Length	Circuit	Date
1	Superflo 12 Hours of Sebring	12 Hours	Sebring International Raceway	March 22
2	Toshiba Nevada Grand Prix	3 Hours 45 Minutes	Las Vegas Motor Speedway	April 26
3	The Dodge Dealers Grand Prix^†	1 Hour 45 Minutes	Lime Rock Park	May 25
4	Sports Car Grand Prix of Road Atlanta	3 Hours 45 Minutes	Road Atlanta	June 21
5	Mosport Festival	2 Hours 45 Minutes	Mosport	August 9
6	NAPA Sebring Classic	3 Hours	Sebring International Raceway	September 20
7	Petit Le Mans	10 Hours or 1000 Miles	Road Atlanta	October 10
8	Visa Sports Car Championships	2 Hours 30 Minutes	Laguna Seca Raceway	October 25

† - Two separate races were held for Lime Rock: One for WSC, one for the GT classes.

Season results

Rnd	Circuit	WSC Winning Team	GT1 Winning Team	GT2 Winning Team	GT3 Winning Team	Results
Rnd	Circuit	WSC Winning Drivers	GT1 Winning Drivers	GT2 Winning Drivers	GT3 Winning Drivers	Results
1	Sebring	#30 MOMO Doran Racing	#4 Panoz Motorsports	#66 Konrad Motorsport	#10 PTG	Results
1	Sebring	Didier Theys Mauro Baldi Gianpiero Moretti	Andy Wallace David Brabham	Franz Konrad Nick Ham	Bill Auberlen Boris Said	Results
2	Las Vegas	#7 Doyle-Risi Racing	#4 Panoz Motorsports	#6 PTG	#10 PTG	Results
2	Las Vegas	Wayne Taylor Eric van de Poele	Andy Wallace David Brabham	Andy Pilgrim Boris Said Marc Duez	Peter Cunningham Ross Bentley	Results
3	Lime Rock	#16 Dyson Racing	#4 Panoz Motorsports	#6 PTG	#1 PTG	Results
3	Lime Rock	Butch Leitzinger James Weaver	Andy Wallace David Brabham	Boris Said Marc Duez	Peter Cunningham Ross Bentley	Results
4	Road Atlanta	#16 Dyson Racing	#38 Champion Motors	#6 PTG	#10 PTG	Results
4	Road Atlanta	Butch Leitzinger James Weaver	Thierry Boutsen Bob Wollek	Boris Said Marc Duez	Bill Auberlen Mark Simo	Results
5	Mosport	#16 Dyson Racing	#4 Panoz Motorsports	#6 PTG	#10 PTG	Results
5	Mosport	Butch Leitzinger James Weaver	Andy Wallace David Brabham	Marc Duez Ross Bentley	Bill Auberlen Mark Simo	Results
6	Sebring	#16 Dyson Racing	#4 Panoz Motorsports	#99 Schumacher Racing	#22 Alex Job Racing	Results
6	Sebring	Butch Leitzinger James Weaver	Andy Wallace David Brabham	Larry Schumacher John O'Steen	Cort Wagner Kelly Collins	Results
7	Road Atlanta	#7 Doyle-Risi Racing	#38 Champion Motors	#81 Freisinger Motorsport	#76 Team A.R.E.	Results
7	Road Atlanta	Eric van de Poele Wayne Taylor Emmanuel Collard	Thierry Boutsen Bob Wollek Ralf Kelleners	Michel Ligonnet Lance Stewart	Peter Argetsinger Richard Polidori Angelo Cilli	Results
8	Laguna Seca	#2 BMW Motorsport	#4 Panoz Motorsports	#72 Konrad Motorsport	#23 Alex Job Racing	Results
8	Laguna Seca	Bill Auberlen Didier de Radigues	Andy Wallace David Brabham	Franz Konrad Jan Lammers	David Murry Cort Wagner	Results

Teams Championship

Points are awarded to the finishers in the following order:

25-21-19-17-15-14-13-12-11-10-...

Exception however for the 12 Hours of Sebring, which awarded in the following order:

30-26-24-22-20-19-18-17-16-15-...

Teams only score the points of their highest finishing entry in each race.

WSC Standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Total
1	Doyle-Risi Racing	Ferrari 333 SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0 L V12	26	25	19	19	17	11	25	19	161
2	Dyson Racing	Riley & Scott Mk III	Ford 5.0 L V8	24		25	25	25	25		21	145
3	Downing Atlanta	Kudzu DLM Kudzu DLY	Mazda 2.0 L 3-Rotor Mazda R26B 2.6 L 4-Rotor	15	21	13	14	14	13	15	13	118
4	Intersport Racing	Riley & Scott Mk III Spice SC95	Ford 5.0 L V8 Oldsmobile Aurora 4.0 L V8	18	19	11	9	15	12	13	17	114
5	MOMO/Doran Enterprises	Ferrari 333 SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0 L V12	30		21	10	19		12	15	107
6=	Transatlantic Racing Services	Riley & Scott Mk III	Ford 5.0 L V8	17		14	17		19	19	7	93
6=	Matthews-Colucci Racing	Riley & Scott Mk III	Ford 5.0 L V8	20	14	15	15		15	14		93
8	Dollahite Racing	Spice BDG-02 Ferrari 333 SP	Chevrolet 6.0 L V8 Ferrari F310E 4.0 L V12		13					17	14	44
9	Genesis Racing	Hawk MD3R	Mazda 2.0 L 3-Rotor Chevrolet 6.0 L V8	19			11					30
10	Kopf Race Products	Keiler KII	Ford 5.0 L V8		15						12	27
11		Riley & Scott Mk III	BMW 4.0 L V8								25	25
12	TRV Motorsports	Kudzu DL-4	Chevrolet 6.0 L V8	22								22
13	Porsche AG	Porsche LMP1-98	Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6							21		21
14	Team Cascandia	Argo JM20	Chevrolet 6.0 L V8						17			17
15	Denaba Racing	Kudzu DLM	Buick 4.5 L V6						14			14
16	Fantasy Junction	Cannibal	Chevrolet 6.0 L V8								10	10

GT1 Standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Total
1	Panoz Motor Sports	Panoz Esperante GTR-1	Ford (Roush) 6.0 L V8	30	25	25	21	25	25	21	25	197
2	Champion Motors	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6	26			25			25		76
3	Mosler Automotive	Mosler Raptor	Chevrolet 6.3 L V8	20	19	19						57
4	Rock Valley Racing	Chevrolet Camaro	Chevrolet V8	22								22
5	G & W Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6						21			21
6	Art Pilla	Porsche 911 GT2 Evo	Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6	19								19
7	Robinson Racing	Oldsmobile Aurora GTS-1	Oldsmobile 4.0 L V8	18								18
8=	John Annis	Chevrolet Camaro	Chevrolet V8	17								17
8=	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1-98	Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6							17		17
10	Greg Malvaso	Chevrolet Camaro	Chevrolet V8	16								16

GT2 Standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Total
1	Schumacher Racing	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6	22	21	21	21	21	25		17	148
2	Prototype Technology Group	BMW M3	BMW 3.2 L I6		25	25	25	25				100
3	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6	30						21	25	76
4	C.J. Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6	24				19		19		62
5	Saleen-Allen Speedlab	Saleen Mustang SR	Ford 5.9 L V8	26							14	40
6=	Martin Snow Racing	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6						19		19	38
6=	American Spirit Racing	Vector M12	Lamborghini 5.7 L V12		19		19					38
8	David Friedman	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6			19		17				36
9	Marcos Racing International	Marcos LM600	Chevrolet 6.0 L V8							12	21	33
10	Freisinger Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6							25		25
11	Bell Motorsports	BMW M3	BMW 3.2 L I6						21			21
12	Rohr	Porsche 911 GT2 Evo	Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6	19								19
13	Mark Hein	Acura NSX	Acura 3.2 L V6	18								18
14=	Larbre Compétition	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6							17		17
14=	Jon Lewis	Vector M12	Lamborghini 5.7 L V12	17								17
16=	Cameron Worth	Mazda RX-7	Mazda 2.0 L 3-Rotor							15		15
16=	Alex Job Racing	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6								15	15
18	Charles Coker Jr.	Porsche 968 Turbo RS	Porsche 3.0 L Turbo I4							13		13

GT3 Standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Total
1	Prototype Technology Group	BMW M3	BMW 3.2 L I6	30	25	25	25	25	19	21	21	191
2	Alex Job Racing	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	24	17	19		19	25	12	25	141
3	G & W Motorsports	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	22			19		15	15		71
4	Team A.R.E.	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	20	14					25	11	70
5	AASCO Performance (#55)	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	13	13						17	43
6	Tim Vargo	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	19		15						34
7=	The Racer's Group	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	14							19	33
7=	AASCO Performance (#17)	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6		19						14	33
9	Team Ecuador	Nissan 240SX	Nissan 2.4 L I4	10						13		23
10=	Olive Garden Racing	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	17								17
10=	Gordon Zimmerman	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6			17						17
12	Bill Radar	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	16								16
13=	Phoenix Motorsports	Pontiac Firebird	Pontiac V8	15								15
13=	Technodyne	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6		15							15
15=	Chris Mitchum	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6			14						14
15=	T.C. Kline	BMW M3	BMW 3.2 L I6							14		14
17	Raymond Boissoneau	Mazda RX-7	Mazda 2.0 L 3-Rotor			13						13
18=	Reisman Property Interests	Chevrolet Camaro	Chevrolet V8			12						12
18=	Dale White	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6		12							12
20	First Union	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6	11								11

External links

World Sports Racing Prototypes - 1998 IMSA GT Championship season results