The Four Long-Distance WeatherTech Championship Races Form a Championship within the ChampionshipJanuary 17, 2023By John OreoviczIMSA Wire ServiceDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup provides value-added content in the form of longer races and bigger fields to the already stellar platform of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.Comprised of the Rolex 24 At Daytona (Jan. 28-29), the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring (March 18), the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen (June 25) and the Motul Petit Le Mans (October 14), the IMEC attracts a robust entry of sports car teams from around the world in addition to season-long competitors across all five competing classes. Sixty-one cars are expected to start the Rolex 24.Endurance racing is the heart and soul of sports car competition, and with events ranging in length from six to 24 hours, the Michelin Endurance Cup has the spectrum covered. Beginning the competition year with the season’s longest (Daytona) and arguably toughest (Sebring) races makes things even more challenging for participants, especially for the teams and manufacturers fielding entries in the highly anticipated Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class.There’s a strategic element involved for teams that make a conscious effort to chase the Michelin Endurance Cup because points totally separate from the season championship are awarded at various junctures throughout races. Five points are awarded to the class leader at each juncture, four points for second place, three points for third and two points for all other competitors. At Daytona, for example, points are available at the six-, 12-, 18- and 24-hour marks; Watkins Glen pays a bonus at the halfway point (three hours) and finish.The Michelin Endurance Cup champion doesn’t always figure in the overall WeatherTech Championship fight. In 2022, the top three finishers in the GTD class were standalone Michelin Endurance Cup entrants, led by the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Brendan Iribe and Jordan Pepper that swept all three endurance trophies – driver, team and manufacturer. The top full-season entrant was the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R in the hands of Ryan Hardwick, Jan Heylen and Zacharie Robichon. Both teams return in 2023, with Frederik Schandorff in the No. 70 instead of Pepper, who has earned a factory ride with Lamborghini and will co-drive the No. 63 Iron Lynx entry in Michelin Endurance Cup events with Andrea Calderelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Romain Grosjean.Likewise in GTD PRO, the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari piloted by Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon claimed the Michelin Endurance Cup driver and team crowns in 2022, barely edging season-long champions Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell in the dominant No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche. Risi, Serra and Rigon will defend their endurance crown in 2023 with the new Ferrari 296 GT3, with help from James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.Ben Keating was recently named one of Corvette Racing’s drivers for its attack on the GTE Am class of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, but he will also defend his Michelin Endurance Cup title in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class in the No. 52 PR Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07. He’ll have a different cast of co-drivers this time around, joined by Paul-Loup Chatin, Alex Quinn and Nicolas Lapierre. Keating’s 2022 partners Mikkel Jensen and Scott Huffaker will share the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA with Steven Thomas in 2023, with Rinus VeeKay added for Daytona.Riley Motorsports, which won the 2022 Michelin Endurance Cup crown in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class, returns half its lineup in Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga. They’re joined at Daytona by Josh Burdon and Glenn van Berlo.Last but certainly not least is the flagship GTP class. In 2022, drivers Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian and Acura won both the overall championship and the Michelin Endurance Cup in the discontinued Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class. Colin Braun takes over for Jarvis in the GTP entry, but the rest of the title-defending effort is intact and ready to field the No. 60 Acura ARX-06. The Michelin Endurance Cup lineup is bolstered by former DPi champion and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, with fellow Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud back for the Rolex 24.