The1999 American Le Mans Series was the inaugural season of theIMSAAmerican Le Mans Series, and is now recognised as the 29th season of theIMSA GT Championship. It was a series forLe Mans Prototypes (LMP) andGrand Touring (GT) race cars divided into three classes: LMP, GTS, and GT. It began March 20, 1999, and ended November 7, 1999, after eight races.
TheAmerican Le Mans Series officially replaced the dwindlingIMSA GT Championship after the 1998 season. TheAutomobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which organized the24 Hours of Le Mans, allowed IMSA's ownerDon Panoz to create a series closely modeled after the formula used at Le Mans. The first official ACO-backed event had been held at the1998 Petit Le Mans, which was part of the IMSA GT season but allowed ACO-spec cars to compete. The success of the event allowed Panoz to form the American Le Mans Series, which continued until its merger with Grand-Am in 2013.
| Rnd | Race | Length | Circuit | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 Hours | Sebring International Raceway | Sebring, Florida | March 20 | |
| 2 | 2 Hours 45 Minutes | Road Atlanta | Braselton, Georgia | April 18 | |
| 3 | 2 Hours 45 Minutes | Mosport Park | Bowmanville, Ontario | June 27 | |
| 4 | 2 Hours 45 Minutes | Sears Point Raceway | Sonoma, California | July 25 | |
| 5 | 2 Hours 45 Minutes | Portland International Raceway | Portland, Oregon | August 1 | |
| 6 | 1000 Miles or 10 Hours | Road Atlanta | Braselton, Georgia | September 18 | |
| 7 | 2 Hours 45 Minutes | Laguna Seca Raceway | Monterey, California | October 10 | |
| 8 | 2 Hours 45 Minutes | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Las Vegas, Nevada | November 7 | |
| Source:[1] | |||||
The following round was included on the original calendar but was later cancelled.
| Race | Length | Circuit | Location | Date | Cancellation reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Hours 45 Minutes | Streets of San Diego | San Diego, California | November 7 | Construction delays |
The inaugural ALMS season consisted of 8 races. Six were carried over from the previous seasonsIMSA GT Championship which were 12 Hours of Sebring, Grand Prix of Atlanta, Mosport, Petit Le Mans, Laguna Seca and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The only races not carried over wereLime Rock Park which switched to theUSRRC schedule for1999 and the second Sebring weekend. Sonoma and Portland joined the calendar to hold their first major endurance races since1997 and1994 respectively.
Originally the season finale was supposed to be the San Diego Grand Prix held on a 1.5 mile Road course at the formerNaval Training Center.[2] However, the season finale would eventually be moved to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to construction delays.[3]
AMG-Mercedes had planned on entering theirMercedes-Benz CLR into the final three races of the season but cancelled their Sportscar program after a disastrous performance atLe Mans.[6]
* Was on the entry list but did not participate in the event.
A GTO class had been planned but was cancelled before the start of the season. The following four teams had been on the entry list for the Sebring 12 Hours before the class was cancelled.
Overall winner inbold.
Points are awarded to the top nineteen finishers in each class in the following order:
Exception however for the 12 Hours of Sebring, which awarded in the following order:
Teams only scored the points for their highest finishing entry in each race.
| Pos | Team | Chassis | Engine | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Rd 7 | Rd 8 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panoz Esperante GTR-1 Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S | Ford (Roush) 6.0 L V8 Ford (Élan-Yates) 6.0 L V8 | 15 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 17 | 149 | ||
| 2 | BMW V12 LMR | BMWS70 6.0 L V12 | 30 | 25 | 21 | 21 | 25 | 25 | 147 | |||
| 3 | Riley & Scott Mk III | FordWindsor 302 H.O. 5.0 L V8 | 26 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 139 | |
| 4 | Ferrari 333 SP | Ferrari F310E 4.0 L V12 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 99 | ||
| 5 | Ferrari 333 SP | Ferrari F310E 4.0 L V12 | 21 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 97 | ||
| 6 | Riley & Scott Mk III | Judd GV4 4.0 L V10 | 25 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 85 | ||||
| 7 | Porsche 911 GT1-98 | Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6 | 22 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 74 | |||
| 8 | Riley & Scott Mk III | Ford 5.0 L V8 | 18 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 63 | |||
| 9 | Riley & Scott Mk III Lola B98/10 | Ford (Roush) 6.0 L V8 Ford (Roush) 6.0 L V8 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 52 | |||
| 10 | Kudzu DLM Kudzu DLY | Mazda 2.0 L 3-Rotor Mazda R26B 2.6 L 4-Rotor | 17 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 50 | ||||
| 11 | Riley & Scott Mk III | Ford 5.0 L V8 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 49 | |||||
| 12 | Ferrari 333 SP | Ferrari F310E 4.0 L V12 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 32 | |||||
| 13 | BMW V12 LM | BMWS70 6.0 L V12 | 13 | 15 | 28 | |||||||
| 14 | Lola B98/10 | Judd GV4 4.0 L V10 | 7 | 19 | 26 | |||||||
| 15 | Audi R8R | Audi 3.6 L Turbo V8 | 24 | 24 | ||||||||
| 16 | Riley & Scott Mk III | Chevrolet 6.0 L V8 | 12 | 9 | 21 | |||||||
| 17 | Lola B98/10 | Ford 5.1 L V8 | 5 | 11 | 16 | |||||||
| 18 | Riley & Scott Mk III | Ford 5.0 L V8 | 7 | 7 | 14 | |||||||
| 19 | Riley & Scott Mk III Hawk MD3R | Ford 5.0 L V8 Chevrolet 6.0 L V8 | 13 | 13 | ||||||||
| 20= | Sintura S99 | Judd GV4 4.0 L V10 | 11 | 11 | ||||||||
| 20= | Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S | Ford (Élan-Yates) 6.0 L V8 | 11 | 11 | ||||||||
| 20= | Riley & Scott Mk III | Chevrolet 6.0 L V8 | 6 | 5 | 11 | |||||||
| 23 | Riley & Scott Mk III Lola B98/10 | Ford 5.0 L V8 Ford (Roush) 6.0 L V8 | 10 | 10 | ||||||||
| 24 | Lola B98/12 | BMW 4.0 L V8 Chevrolet 6.0 L V8 | 5 | 5 |
| Pos | Team | Chassis | Engine | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Rd 7 | Rd 8 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dodge Viper GTS-R | Dodge 8.0 L V10 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 150 | |||
| 2 | Porsche 911 GT2 | Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | 30 | 21 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 7 | 19 | 13 | 139 | |
| 3 | SaleenMustang SR | Ford 5.8 L V8 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 119 | |
| 4 | Porsche 911 GT2 | Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | 24 | 19 | 13 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 15 | 113 | ||
| 5 | Porsche 911 GT2 | Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | 17 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 108 | |
| 6 | Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | Chevrolet 6.0 L V8 Chevrolet 7.0 L V8 | 22 | 21 | 17 | 21 | 19 | 100 | ||||
| 7 | Porsche 911 GT2 | Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | 26 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 79 | ||||
| 8 | Porsche 911 GT2 | Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | 15 | 25 | 17 | 57 | ||||||
| 9 | Porsche 911 GT2 | Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | 19 | 15 | 15 | 49 | ||||||
| 10 | Porsche 911 GT2 | Porsche 3.8 L Turbo Flat-6 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 47 | ||||||
| 11 | Porsche 911 Turbo | Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | 16 | 14 | 30 | |||||||
| 12 | Porsche 911 GT2 Evo | Porsche 3.8 L Turbo Flat-6 | 13 | 13 | ||||||||
| 13 | Chrysler Viper GTS-R | Chrysler 8.0 L V10 | 9 | 9 |
| Pos | Team | Chassis | Engine | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Rd 7 | Rd 8 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BMW M3 | BMW 3.2 L I6 | 16 | 25 | 21 | 19 | 25 | 21 | 13 | 21 | 161 | |
| 2 | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 30 | 21 | 25 | 17 | 14 | 6 | 19 | 14 | 146 | |
| 3 | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 18 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 14 | 25 | 9 | 124 | |
| 4 | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 24 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 19 | 105 | ||
| 5 | Porsche 911 GT3-R | Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6 | 21 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 92 | |||||
| 6 | Porsche 911 GT3-R | Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 51 | ||||
| 7 | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 45 | ||||
| 8= | BMW M3 | BMW 3.2 L I6 | 25 | 8 | 33 | |||||||
| 8= | Porsche 911 GT2 Evo Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Turbo Flat-6 Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 20 | 13 | 33 | |||||||
| 10= | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6 | 17 | 15 | 32 | |||||||
| 10= | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 32 | ||||||
| 12 | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 27 | ||||||
| 13 | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 17 | 8 | 25 | |||||||
| 14 | Porsche 911 Supercup | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 11 | 13 | 24 | |||||||
| 15= | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 14 | 9 | 23 | |||||||
| 15= | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 11 | 12 | 23 | |||||||
| 17= | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 22 | 22 | ||||||||
| 17= | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 15 | 7 | 22 | |||||||
| 19 | BMW M3 | BMW 3.2 L I6 | 19 | 19 | ||||||||
| 20 | Porsche 911 3.8 RSR Cup | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 10 | 7 | 17 | |||||||
| 21 | BMW M3 | BMW 3.2 L I6 | 15 | 15 | ||||||||
| 22 | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 12 | 12 | ||||||||
| 23= | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 11 | 11 | ||||||||
| 23= | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 11 | 11 | ||||||||
| 23= | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 6 | 5 | 11 | |||||||
| 26 | Porsche 911 Carrera RSR | Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6 | 10 | 10 |