By alley - Apr 27, 2016, 1:16 PM ET

IMSA: Monterey GP preview

The fourth WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race of 2016 gets under way on Friday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. RACER will be on the ground reporting from the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event, and be sure to follow

@RACERmag

and

@MarshallPruett

for regular updates on Twitter, and RACER.com for photos, videos, session reports and feature stories.

IMSA RADIO: Click here

ENTRY LIST:

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TICKETS:

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WEATHER: Click here

SPOTTERS GUIDE:

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IMSA LIVE TIMING & SCORING:

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TV: See below

WEATHERTECH CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT SCHEDULE:

Friday, April 29 (all times Pacific)
8:45 am - 9:45 am Free Practice 1 - (P/GTLM)
10:50 am -11:50 am Free Practice 1 - (PC/GTD)
2:20 pm - 3:20 pm Free Practice 2 - (P/GTLM)
4:45 pm - 5:45 pm Free Practice 2 - (PC/GTD)

Saturday, April 30
9:00 am - 9:45 am Free Practice 3 - (PC/GTD)
11:05 am -11:50 am Free Practice 3 - (P/GTLM)
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm Qualifying

Sunday, May 1
8:00 am - 8:15 am Warm Up - P/GTLM
11:15 am - 1:15 pm Continental Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda Race (P/GTLM )- 2 Hours
1:50 pm - 2:05 pm Warm Up - PC/GTD
3:45 pm - 5:45 pm Continental Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda Race (PC/GTD) - 2 Hour

CRAZY SCHEDULE

Sportscar fans should be absolutely worn out at the conclusion of the Continental Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda weekend. The event features 11 WeatherTech Championship sessions spread over three days, including a pair of two-hour races on Sunday.

And if we widen our look at the schedule to include IMSA's Continental Tire Series, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series, Porsche GT3 Cup, and

the relaunch of SCCA Pro Racing's Mazda MX-5 Cup

, a staggering 31 sessions will be run on the legendary 2.2-mile road course.

With friendly 65-70-degree weather anticipated for the Monterey Grand Prix, IMSA's lone trip to Northern California could be a slice of sportscar heaven.

SPLIT WEEKEND

A strong entry of 42 cars spread across four WeatherTech Championship classes led IMSA to opt for a pit lane – and track – with less congestion, and as a result, the Pro-Am PC and GT Daytona classes, and Pro GT Le Mans and Prototype classes have been packaged separately for the event.

PC/GTD and GTLM/P will have their own practice sessions and shortened two-hour races, and as a result, the number of sessions has doubled (see full schedule above)

PC/GTD has 24 cars for its portion of the event (seven PC/17 GTD), and GTLM/P will have 18 (10 GTLM/eight P).

GTD RETURNS

After missing the Long Beach event, GT Daytona is back and will hold its third race of 2016 while Prototype, PC, and GT Le Mans contest their fourth race of the year. With IMSA's practice of including or dropping certain classes at some events based on scheduling needs, paddock limitations, or pit lane size, the WeatherTech Championship often races with classes that are on differing rounds. It all washes out in the end, though, as P and GTLM will hold 10 races by the conclusion of the season, and 11 races will be in the books for GTD and PC.

WELCOME AND WELCOME BACK

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will have a few of its regulars back in action and at least one cool new participant to follow. Coming off a solid outing in Silverstone with the Tequila Patron ESM team, VisitFlorida Racing will have Ryan Dalziel in the No. 90 Corvette DP to partner with Marc Goossens.

Local team TRG-AMR weathered a punishing appearance at the Rolex 24 in January (left), bypassed Sebring, and has entered the No. 007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage for James Davison and Brandon Davis in GTD. Lone Star Racing, which made limited outings in 2015 with its Dodge Viper GT3-R, is set for its 2016 debut with Dan Knox and Mike Skeen at the controls.

Change Racing welcomes defending GTD champions Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler for their second race in the No. 11 Lamborghini Huracán GT3, and DeltaWing Racing has Sean Rayhall sharing its DWC13 with Katherine Legge after Andy Meyrick drove at Long Beach.

The most interesting debut at Monterey will take place in the Continental Tire Series as Mazda Road to Indy open-wheel racer Michael Johnson will race for the first time in the JDC-Miller Motorsports BMW 228i, which has been fitted with hand controls to allow the 23-year-old Michigan native to embark on a new career in sportscars.

Paralyzed from the waist down, Johnson excelled on the MRTI ladder using hand controls before suffering a heavy crash driving a Pro Mazda car at St. Petersburg in March of 2015. After a prolonged recovery period, and a return for the Pro Mazda season finale, the Michigan native announced he would move from JDC's open-wheel program to a new Continental Tire Series program fielded by the Minnesota-based team. He'll partner with JDC-Miller IMSA PC pro driver Stephen Simpson in the No. 54 Universal Coating BMW.

"I'm super excited that it's finally coming together," the indomitable Johnson said. "I spent time with Stephen Simpson following his recent victory at Long Beach, and the team has a lot of good mojo going into the race. It's fun to get back on the racetrack – my last race was last year at Mazda Raceway in Pro Mazda. It's a fun track, and I always like going there."