Key changes for PWC in 2017

The Pirelli World Challenge series that ended the 2016 championship in thrilling fashion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in October will return for its curtain raiser this weekend in St. Petersburg as an organization that has undergone significant changes during the offseason.

From a new sanctioning body to an influx of GT4-specification cars in its GTS category to an expansion of its SprintX race dates, PWC has evolved in numerous ways since Monterey. The remodeling process, led by series CEO Greg Gill and competition director Marcus Haselgrove, has obviously been aimed at improving PWC's product, and starting with its biggest move – the switch from 27 years of SCCA sanctioning to a new partner in USAC – the entire paddock will find itself in unfamiliar territory in 2017.

"We obviously had many great years with the SCCA," Gill said. "Our sanctioning needs changed as we matured and grew, and as the sanctioning agreement was ready for a change, we were able to establish a new relationship with the USAC organization. We are very happy with what we have seen so far."

The split with the SCCA's Pro Racing division, which founded the World Challenge series in the 1990s, follows an interesting shift in the relationship that began in 2006 when a group of entrants secured the rights to the series from the SCCA. Under the new "WC Vision" banner, PWC has been run by the paddock-based organization for more than a decade. SCCA Pro Racing, in the new arrangement with WC Vision, was retained as a service provider to sanction PWC events.

It would be inaccurate to say the final separation between WC Vision and SCCA Pro Racing took place in a harmonious manner and, as Gill sees the situation, PWC reached a point where standing on its own was the only option.

"The emphasis was that we really wanted control of our own destiny," he said. "Working with USAC was a real necessity, and part of that was for us to be seen as a fully professional racing series. World Challenge started out with a heavy club racing influence, and that remained in many ways. This was the step to complete our pro racing transformation."

PWC's timing and scoring system, which had become a great source of inaccuracy and anxiety, has also changed since Monterey.

"It was simply not acceptable," Gill said. "Too many errors, too many questions; that was obvious. So we worked with an extensive review process, contracted with TSL, a global provider, and the intention was to just give people global-level standards. That is the reputation that TSL has."

An exploratory season where a handful of PWC SprintX races were held was met with enough positive response to expand the format's presence in 2017. The one-hour endurance-style races, which require a pit stop and driver change, is a bold move for a series built on nearly 30 years of single-driver sprint events. Featured at five of its 11 weekends, PWC is making a serious play to those who want to try something in the spirit of endurance racing without the big budgets and hour-plus demands.

"I think we all knew that going into 2016, there was a lot of verbal interest in SprintX," Haselgrove said. "To translate that into actual interest you have to have people enter the actual event, and going into the first race, we knew numbers would not be great but we were pleasantly surprised. And the people that applied for entry weren't maybe some of the people we thought would take interest.

"By the time we got to Monterey, everyone saw how quickly SprintX had grown, and it was decided that it would be implemented into a whole championship in 2017. The manufacturers and teams are taking it very seriously."

A step rise in new GT4 machinery has taken PWC's GTS class – one that was already rich in diverse brands and unique models – to a new height. In addition to the existing cars that are returning to the class, Chevrolet's new GT4 Camaro, McLaren's new 570S GT4, the new GT4-inspired Panoz Avezzano (pictured), and the growth in popularity of Porsche's Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR has led to a deep entry list of 20 cars for St. Pete.

"I think we saw last year some of the most exciting racing came from GTS, and I don't think there was a predominant brand," Haselgrove said. "More and more new GT4 cars are being built and from the interest coming in with the GTS class, further entries are more than likely."