The 1999 American Le Mans Series was the inaugural season of the

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

, and is now recognised as the 29th season of the IMSA GT Championship. It was a series for

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

s (LMP) and Grand Touring (GT) race cars divided into three classes: LMP, GTS, and GT. It began March 20, 1999, and ended November 7, 1999, after eight races. The

officially replaced the dwindling IMSA GT Championship after the 1998 season. The

Automobile Club de l'Ouest The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (English: Automobile Club of the West), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organ ...

(ACO), which organized the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

, allowed IMSA's owner Don Panoz to create a series closely modeled after the formula used at Le Mans. The first official ACO-backed event had been held at the

1998 Petit Le Mans The 1998 Petit Le Mans was a sportscar race for the 1998 IMSA GT Championship season, then known as the Professional SportsCar Racing series. It also served as a prelude to the first American Le Mans Series race held at Sebring in 1999. Don Pa ...

, which was part of the IMSA GT season but allowed ACO-spec cars to compete. The success of the event allowed Panoz to form the American Le Mans Series, which continued until its merger with Grand-Am in 2013.

Schedule

Originally the season finale was supposed to be the Grand Prix of San Diego held on a 1.5 mile Road course at the former Naval Training Center. However, the season finale would eventually be moved to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to construction delays.

Season results

Overall winner in bold.

Teams Championship

Points are awarded to the top nineteen finishers in each class in the following order: * 25-21-19-17-15-14-13-12-11-10-... Exception however for the 12 Hours of Sebring, which awarded in the following order: * 30-26-24-22-20-19-18-17-16-15-... Teams only scored the points for their highest finishing entry in each race.

LMP Standings

GTS Standings

GT Standings

References

External links

American Le Mans Series homepage

{{IMSA GT Championships American Le Mans American Le Mans American Le Mans Series seasons