Barfield Appointed Prototype Challenge Race Director

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In advance of the IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda’s season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway on Jan. 6, 2018, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) has appointed Beaux Barfield as race director for the multi-class series.

In this new role, IMSA reinforces the consistency of its officiating from the development Prototype platform through to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Previous IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda race director Elliott Forbes-Robinson will transition into an overarching driver observer/advisory role for all IMSA series.

“The addition of Beaux to the IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda team will be invaluable as the series shifts to a new endurance race format this season,” said IMSA Vice President, Competition, Simon Hodgson.

The IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda shifts from its longtime sprint race format of two, 45-minute races per event weekend to a single 1-hour, 45-minute endurance race in 2018. The series will continue to feature two classes, blending LMP3 prototypes from a variety of constructors with the longstanding, MPC class that uses the Élan DP02 chassis powered by Mazda engines.

The new endurance format will allow teams to run a single or two-driver combination with a required minimum-time pit stop.

The inaugural IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda endurance race at Daytona will be streamed live on IMSA.com on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 1:25 p.m. ET.

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