By alley - Jul 3, 2017, 1:34 PM ET

IMSA not considering split Prototype class

IMSA president Scott Atherton says a recent report claiming the Prototype class could be split into separate championships for Daytona Prototype internationals and WEC P2s is inaccurate.

The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's marquee class, which combines the IMSA-specific DPis and FIA WEC-spec P2s, has seen the DPis dominate every round since the new cars were introduced in January.

With the competitive divide between DPis and WEC P2s, Atherton says the concept of splitting the cars into separate classes was discussed, but it was tabled and has gone no further.

"Technically, it is accurate that it has been a topic that has been considered, but to suggest that it is something we're pursuing actively would be a false interpretation of what was said," Atherton told RACER.

"There has been one conversation internally about this, but there's many, many topics that fit that profile. There's no active agenda [and] there's no initiative that would separate our Prototype class."

IMSA's efforts to slow its DPis helped the WEC P2s to feature more prominently at Watkins Glen on Sunday as the privateer JDC-Miller Motorsports and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports teams led on merit during the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen. With upcoming IMSA rounds that should favor the WEC P2 cars, the situation is looking less dire than it was earlier in the season.

As a result, Atherton hopes to attract more WEC P2s to compete in the Prototype category, which should close the conversation on splitting the class.

"There are efforts

to motivate and attract more LMP2 content

into our class," he said. "With a DPi on the [Watkins Glen] pole by a tenth of a second over a [WEC] LMP2 car, those two cars are absolutely competitive with each other. That's the vision for our single Prototype class."