# Michelin Pilot Challenge

The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cup following the demise of rival IMSA's Firehawk series of similar rules in the US. KONI became series sponsor for the start of the 2007 season when the series became known as the KONI Challenge Series, before renaming once more prior to the start of the 2009 season as the KONI Sports Car Challenge. The series name was once again changed for the 2010 season to Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. In 2019, the series rebranded again after Michelin was selected to become the new official tire supplier of the series and thus simplified their branding name by removing Sports Car term.
The Continental Challenge was the support series for Grand-Am's premier offering, the Rolex Sports Car Series. In 2014, the series became the support series for the United SportsCar Championship (now known as the IMSA SportsCar Championship) upon the merger of the Rolex Series and the American Le Mans Series.

## Races

In traditional sports car racing format, the races are often run with both GS and ST classes on track simultaneously, which is known as a "combined" race. Occasionally the races will be run in "split classes", with separate races for both classes. This is especially common for shorter venues such as Lime Rock Park. Currently the races are 2 hours in length with a required driver change.

## Telecasts

* Until 2013, broadcasts were to Fox Sports 1, formerly Speed Channel. All telecasts are uploaded to the series website after their initial airing.
* From 2019 season, NBC Sports telecast Delayed-Race and IMSA TV has telecast live via Peacock.
* In some countries, NASCAR Holdings (which owns IMSA) feature the Michelin Pilot Challenge is included in NASCAR's media rights deals in Mexico and Brazil that includes NASCAR's three national series, IMSA's two major series, and American Flat Track, all of which have broadcasts produced by NASCAR.
* IMSA TV, which is controlled by NASCAR Productions, has international rights in selected countries.

## Vehicles

The series uses two classes in each race. Originally, these were:
* The Grand Sport (GS) class features large-displacement 6-cylinder, 8-cylinder, 10-cylinder or 12-cylinder sports cars as well as small displacement 4-cylinder forced induction sports cars.
* The Street Tuner (ST) class is for smaller 4-cylinder, 5-cylinder or 6-cylinder sedans, hatchbacks, coupes or convertibles.
From 2017, IMSA allowed cars built by "mainstream automotive manufacturers" to SRO GT4 regulations to compete, with a complete phase out of the original Grand-Am GS class the next year. Also in 2018, IMSA introduced TCR Touring Cars as a third class, with the intention of it replacing the Street Tuners as the second class, which happened the following year.
The original format was reminiscent of the original Trans-Am Series, combining conventional sports cars and touring cars, though the Trans-Am Series usually had a single driver per car, unlike the Continental Challenge, which has two drivers per car. Some vehicles in the Continental Challenge have actually been wrapped to resemble the original Trans Am cars, such as the Boss 302 Mustangs of George Follmer and Parnelli Jones or the original Sunoco Camaro. As the Pilot Challenge consists of longer races (2-4 hours), the cars are also eligible for the United States Auto Club's Pirelli World Challenge GT4 or TCR classes, which are one-hour races.

## Champions

| Season | GS Champion | Car | ST / TCR Champion | Car |
| 2004 | Craig Stanton Terry Borcheller | Cadillac CTS-V | David Haskell Sylvain Tremblay | Mazda RX-8 |
| 2005 | David Empringham Scott Maxwell | Ford Mustang | David Haskell Sylvain Tremblay | Mazda RX-8 (2) |
| 2006 | Anders Hainer Boris Said | BMW M3 | Don Salama Will Turner | BMW 330i |
| 2007 | Jeff Segal Jep Thornton | BMW M3 (2) | Trevor Hopwood Adam Burrows | BMW 330i (2) |
| 2008 | Joe Foster Scott Maxwell | Ford Mustang (2) | Jamie Holtom | Chevrolet Cobalt SS |
| 2009 | Kenny Wilden | Ford Mustang (3) | Chris Miller | Honda Civic Si |
| 2010 | Charles Espenlaub Charlie Putman | BMW M3 (3) | David Thilenius Lawson Aschenbach | Honda Civic Si (2) |
| 2011 | Paul Dalla Lana | BMW M3 (4) | Niclas Jönsson | Kia Forte Koup |
| 2012 | John Farano David Empringham | Porsche 997 | Pierre Kleinubing Jason Clunie | Mazdaspeed3 (3) |
| 2013 | Nick Longhi Matt Plumb | Porsche 997 (2) | Terry Borcheller Mike LaMarra | BMW 128i (3) |
| 2014 | Trent Hindman | BMW M3 Coupe (5) | Eric Foss | BMW 328i (4) Porsche Cayman |
| 2015 | Andrew Davis Robin Liddell | Chevrolet Camaro | Stevan McAleer Chad McCumbee | Mazda MX-5 (4) |
| 2016 | Billy Johnson Scott Maxwell | Ford Mustang GT350R-C (4) | Nick Galante Spencer Pumpelly | Porsche Cayman (2) |
| 2017 | Dillon Machavern Dylan Murcott | Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR (3) | Eric Foss | Porsche Cayman (3) |
| 2018 | Hugh Plumb Owen Trinkler | Mercedes-AMG GT4 | ST: Devin Jones ST: Nick Galante TCR: Britt Casey Jr. TCR: Tom Long | ST: BMW 328i (5) TCR: Audi RS 3 LMS |
| 2019 | Tyler McQuarrie Jeff Westphal | Audi R8 LMS GT4 | Michael Lewis Mark Wilkins | Hyundai Veloster N TCR |
| 2020 | Kyle Marcelli Nate Stacy | Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 | Gabby Chaves Ryan Norman | Hyundai Veloster N TCR (2) |
| 2021 | Jan Heylen | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport (4) | Michael Lewis Taylor Hagler | Hyundai Veloster N TCR (3) |
| 2022 | Alan Brynjolfsson Trent Hindman | Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (2) | Taylor Hagler (2) Michael Lewis (2) | Hyundai Elantra N TCR (4) |
| 2023 | Vincent Barletta Robby Foley | BMW M4 GT4 Gen II (6) | Harry Gottsacker Robert Wickens | Hyundai Elantra N TCR (5) |