By alley - Jul 29, 2016, 4:19 PM ET

PWC: Series confirms 2017 schedule, SRO enduro

WC Vision, producers of the exciting Pirelli World Challenge, announced its provisional plans for the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge Championships on Friday at Mid-Ohio, with new series outlines and schedule for North America's biggest GT Production-based road racing campaign.

In 2016, the PWC trail featured over 20 auto manufacturers and 37 separate models through its eight racing divisions – GT, GTA, GT Cup, GTS, Touring Car, TCA, TCB and SprintX – in its 27th year of competition. In addition, the series worked closely with the SRO Blancpain Series in a variety of elements including Balance of Performance (BoP) parameters and other technical regulations.

For 2017, the PWC tour will provisionally host 11 weekends through North America, including a return visit to Virginia International Raceway, with the 3.27-mile, 17-turn permanent road circuit set to host all eight PWC classes on April 28-30. PWC's last VIR appearance was in 2010. In addition, the series season opener the past two years, Circuit of The Americas, will host all eight categories in a Labor Day weekend set for Sept. 1-3.

"We are extremely excited about our provisional 2017 Pirelli World Challenge schedule especially after the competition level in 2016," said Greg Gill, president and CEO of WC Vision. "We will give our racing fans the opportunity to witness the excitement and wheel-to-wheel action that makes the Pirelli World Challenge so special. We want to thank many of North America's most iconic road racing venues in bringing the best GT Production-based motorsports racing to their racing facilities in 2017. We hope to have the schedule finalized very soon."

In addition to the provisional look at the 2017 schedule, Pirelli World Challenge also announced a new format for the GT and GTS events include five single-driver sprint events at the five weekends with the Verizon IndyCar Series including St. Petersburg, Long Beach (April 7-9), Road America (June 23-25), Mid-Ohio (July 28-30) and one other weekend to be announced. All except Long Beach (GT single race) will be double-header weekend.

In the five PWC headliner races, all eight PWC classes will compete at VIR (April 28-30), Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (May 19-21), Lime Rock Park (May 26-27), COTA (Sept. 1-3) and another summer weekend event to be announced in the near future.

In the PWC headliner weekends, the GT and GTS classes will be competing in the SprintX two-driver format with a 60-minute limit for each of the double-header features. Each entry will have two drivers competing in either a GT or GTS car during those contests.

"The GT3 and GTS/GT4 customers now have increased opportunities to run for a single or two-driver championship or compete in all events for an overall title," said Marcus Haselgrove, Pirelli World Challenge competition director. "Plus, the addition of the Am (non-pro) class in GTS/GT4 is in response to our customer feedback."

The PWC finale again will take place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with a unique weekend set for racers and fans on Oct. 13-15. Working in conjunction with the popular European-based SRO Blancpain GT Series, the SRO Motorsports Group Intercontinental GT Challenge will include a GT endurance contest with U.S.-based GT teams.

The Monterey event will be part of the global GT3 series

which includes the Liqui-Moly Bathhurst 12 Hours, Total 24 Hours of Spa and the Sepang 12 Hours. The Intercontinental GT Challenge is aimed at manufacturers, who are encouraged to use local teams to represent them in the leading GT3 races, as it is more cost- and time-effective to fly engineers and drivers around the world rather than cars and equipment.