Why does the Rolex Series split the classes up?

I've noticed that the Rolex Sports Car Series seems to have two separate races instead of running both classes at once. Anyone know why they do it? I know ALMS runs all four series at once, and the field is pretty big. Rolex fields aren't THAT big are they?|||They should definitely be run together.


No, Rolex fields aren't THAT big.|||I agree they should run all the classes together. Mid-Ohio is a tight course, might be too many cars. They ran them both at VIR, which is HUGE.|||Rolex Sports Car Series fields are actually much larger than ALMS fields when you combine the Rolex Series's two classes together, despite the ALMS having more classes. This is because the Rolex series has a lot of cost-cutting rules.





Anyways, I believe that the Rolex Series runs separate races at certain tracks because those races are support races to NASCAR, Champ Car, or IRL races. I am not sure why this pratice is done, one explanation is that is done to keep the races shorter than the major event at the track, while keeping the fans entertained for several hours. This was a common pratice during the IMSA GTP era of American sports car racing.|||Grand Am likes to separate the classes to keep the races simple. I'd say there's a 20+ car field in each class, and the GT class is a lot slower than the Daytona Prototype. For as cheap as a Daytona Prototype is, it's only as fast (if not slower) than an LMGT1 car.|||The Grand Am Rolex series has enough cars in each class to run them separately. As mentioned before, IMSA used to do this except at the endurance race and some others. The ALMS runs all the categories at the same time because some of the classes don't run more than 3 or 4 cars- such as P1 where sometimes only the Audis show up (like at Long Beach) or GT1 where sometimes the Corvette team runs un-opposed. Back in the GTP days IMSA would run GTP races with 17-18 cars participating. Smaller split fields are nothing new.