as GTS-2. In 1997, there was another category addition: GTS-2 became GTS-3. The new GTS-2 category was introduced to allow for the existing GT2 cars. End of an era Under tremendous pressure from team owners and management, Evans sold the series to PST Holdings, Inc., a group led by Raymond Smith, formerly the chief financial officer of Sports Car. Other owners included Dough Robinson and Tom Milner. In 2001 Don Panoz purchased PSCR to solidify the sanction for Panoz's American Le Mans Series (ALMS) which had been sanctioned by PSCR since 1999. Panoz renamed the sanctioning organization IMSA, and it was the official sanctioning body of the American Le Mans Series, the Star Mazda series, and the Panoz GT Pro series. The ALMS uses regulations based on those of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but in 2005 the relationship between Panoz and the Le Mans organizers, ACO, became problematic. A breakaway series formed in 1998 involving the Sports Car Club of America, and was running under the name of the United States Road Racing Championship. It was headed by a group of competitors that wanted to keep the rules within the United States. After failing by 1999, a new U.S.-based series was started with the full support of NASCAR's France family named the Grand American Road Racing Association, operating the headlining Rolex Sports Car Series. The series struggled early on, but after the introduction of the Daytona Prototype class, proved to be a popular competitor to the more international ALMS, attracting some pro drivers and teams, featuring large fields, and producing close competition. Much like the split from 1996 to 2008 between Champ Car and the IRL, critics say this split was detrimental to the sport as a whole. Grand AM and ALMS merged in 2014 under IMSA sanction and France family ownership to create the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The WeatherTech Championship is considered the official continuation. After the series' demise, a U.S.-based historical racing organization, Historic Sportscar Racing, created a new series to put GTP and Group C cars that had been stored away back onto the track. The series was called HSR ThunderSport. Its creation sparked a similar revival series in Europe, as well as another series in the UK called Group C/GTP Racing. Champions See also Prototypes: The History of the IMSA GTP Series References External links IMSA History International Motor Sports Association R. J. Reynolds