IMSA: Platinum drivers banned from CTSCC

The collision of a rule change by IMSA on Wednesday and Friday's release of provisional 2017 FIA driver ratings could lead to reigning Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series GS champion Billy Johnson being banned from further participation. It would also bar every other Platinum-rated driver from racing in the Continental Tire series.

Per IMSA Competition Memo ICTSC #16-06 3, the organization informed its paddock that "Drivers in Continental Challenge are not required to possess a FIA Driver Rating; however, Drivers listed on the FIA Driver Categorization List as rated Platinum are prohibited from participation and additional limits may be applied at the sole discretion of IMSA."

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For Johnson, who contested three FIA World Endurance championship races with the Ford GT team and shared the title-winning No. 15 Multimatic Ford Shelby GT350R-C with Scott Maxwell (pictured) in IMSA's second-tier championship, being bumped from a Gold driver rating in 2016 up to Platinum could eliminate his only full-time drive (and job) in the sport.

"If I'm stuck with the Platinum rating it would be unfortunate, because I would not to be able to race in the series I've been in for 10 years," Johnson told RACER. "I've worked my way up from driving for backmarker ST rides to earning better rides to opportunities in GS, to moving up the GS ranks to win a lot of races and now the championship. It's the upward progression – the goal and the dream – for every driver."

Although the Californian did not win or land on the podium in his FIA WEC outings, his success in IMSA's GT training series was apparently enough to warrant the rating change. Fellow Californian Gustavo Menezes, who spent 2016 as a Silver (non-pro) driver in the FIA WEC LMP2 class, recently won the championship and also received a rating upgrade, but was only moved to Gold.

Comparing the relative stature of the WEC and Continental Tire series championships, one might assume a young new LMP2 champion would be elevated to a higher rating than the Continental GS champion, but that is not the case. It leaves Johnson, and any other Platinum-rated drivers with a desire or financial need to race in the Continental Tire series, to lobby the FIA for a downgrade to Gold before the provisional ratings are finalized.

The other option would be to petition IMSA to eliminate its brand-new restriction on Platinums. It's believed the sanctioning body is moving the series away from factory-related drivers and teams as it attempts to increase car counts, but with the ongoing allowance for Gold-rated pro drivers to compete in Continental GS or ST, the Platinum-phobic rule change is strange.

"When I came in there were pro drivers, factory drivers, who inspired me to be the best I can," Johnson said. "I didn't resent it by any means; I was racing against some of the best sports car drivers in the world, and they pushed me to improve and shaped my craft."

Provided IMSA's ban on Platinum drivers remains in place, Johnson and others will learn of their fate in GS and ST when the FIA produces its final ratings list in early December. The first Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge event of 2017 takes place Jan. 26-29 at Daytona International Speedway.