The International Motor Sports Association today delivered 2015 sporting regulations and technical regulations to teams entered to participate in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship in 2015.

The Tudor series will kick off its second season of competition at the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 three-day test at Daytona International Speedway on Jan. 9-11.

“We requested and received feedback from the TUDOR Championship paddock and the overwhelming desire was to establish consistency as we enter our second season,” said Scot Elkins, IMSA Managing Director, Technical Regulations. “Today’s release of the 2015 rules and technical regulations is the result of extensive open dialogue with our competitors. That dialogue will continue throughout and following next month’s Roar Before the Rolex 24 test and into the 2015 Tudor Championship season.”

The following are notable additions and revisions to the 2015 IMSA Sporting Regulations:

Points System

• To protect season-long driver pairings in the Prototype and GT Le Mans classes, both drivers entered in a car will receive the same points in instances where a car starts the race, but does not finish.

• In the Prototype Challenge and GT Daytona classes, teams may declare their season-long pairing in endurance races with lineups of four or five drivers. If the car does not finish the race, but the paired Silver or Bronze driver achieves the minimum driving requirement, the driver and the paired Gold or Platinum co-driver would receive the same points.

• The Jim Trueman and Bob Akin Awards no longer apply to the PC and GTD classes and now apply to the P and GTLM classes. The season-ending Trueman and Akin Award winners will have the opportunity to earn automatic invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016.

Qualifying Procedures/Race Start

• The qualifying driver must be the starting driver of the race. If a team changes its starting driver following qualifying, the car must start the race at the rear of the grid in its category (P, PC and GTLM, GTD).

• In races with all four classes competing simultaneously, the starting grid will be split by category, with P and PC cars starting ahead of GTLM and GTD cars. The Prototype and GT fields will have separate race starts with a single safety car.

• Under dry conditions, the tires for the race start must be the marked tires from qualifying. A change in dry-type tires will result in the car being sent to the rear of the category grid. Under wet conditions the team has the option to start the race on wet or dry tires unless declared a wet race.

• All other back-of-grid penalties will result in the car going to the rear of the category grid.

Yellow Flag Procedures

• In the interest of simplification and maximizing green flag racing, there will be two versions of full-course yellow flag procedures, Standard and Short. The pits will be open during Standard yellow flag periods with pit stops separated by category (P, PC and GTLM, GTD). The pits will be closed under a Short yellow flag period. Cars must take the green flag on track prior to pitting, unless emergency service is required.

• A Standard yellow will be the default full-course yellow period. Short yellow flags will be used for the first of any full-course yellow within 15 minutes of a preceding green flag and the final 30 minutes of the race, unless circumstances dictate otherwise.

In addition to the changes to the 2015 IMSA Sporting Regulations, IMSA officials also made reductions or eliminations in penalties for consistency, including a warning applied for the first offense in some cases.

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Mazda will badge the 2-liter, turbocharged engine that will be paired with the new Dallara IL-15 chassis for the 2015 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season, series officials announced at the Performance Racing Industry trade show at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis.

It is the manufacturer’s latest development in its commitment to motorsports, which includes the Mazda Road to Indy development system that incorporates Indy Lights, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda.

The engine, developed in conjunction with Advanced Engine Research, was first campaigned by Mazda in the American Le Mans Series. Further development by AER was designed to produce 450 horsepower and last an entire season without a rebuild for Indy Lights.

The 2015 Indy Lights season kicks off March 27-29 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., in conjunction with the Verizon IndyCar Series opener and concludes Sept. 11-13 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California.

“The Mazda Road to Indy is a great showcase for what Mazda represents,” Mazda Motorsports director John Doonan said. “Our strength is in helping drivers move up the ranks. Almost a third of the Indy 500 field traces their roots to Mazda. By adding the Indy Lights series it will allow us to have an even longer, more productive relationship with the Indy stars of the future.”

The engine-chassis package went through extensive evaluation and confirmation during the summer. Verizon IndyCar Series drivers Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Conor Daly and Tristan Vautier, along with 2014 Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves, tested the car on multiple racetracks.

“From the onset of my involvement with Indy Lights, it’s been my hope to have our longtime partner Mazda join us in this effort,” said Dan Andersen, owner and CEO of Andersen Promotions. “My decision to select AER as our engine provider was consciously made knowing the substantial Mazda involvement with the engine proposed by AER, and today I am delighted to confirm that the IL-15’s engine does indeed have deep Mazda roots. Mazda does more for open-wheel racing in North America than any other manufacturer, and their full involvement in the Mazda Road to Indy is great news for all.”

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Chip Ganassi and Harry Scott, Jr. announced today that they have joined forces to field a one-car NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) entry beginning in 2015. The entry will be run from the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team shop in Concord, NC and will race under the team name, HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi.

The HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro entry will feature a driver line-up combination of at least 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Rookie of the Year Kyle Larson, along with 2014 NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) rookie Dylan Kwasniewski. Mike Shiplett, a former crew chief and car chief with Richard Petty Motorsports, Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) and Gillett Evernham Motorsports has been tabbed as the crew chief of the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro.

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Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) had successful surgery on his left foot this morning. Busch is expected to make a full recovery in time for the start of the

2015 NASCAR season in February.

The scheduled offseason surgery was performed to relieve a recurring source of inflammation in his left foot. The surgery was performed by Dr. Robert Anderson of OrthoCarolina.

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