The wave of positive momentum for IMSA’s Prototype class has been hard to ignore this summer.

Take the new players coming into the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s top category with Acura, Team Penske, plus the new Mazda Team Joest alliance, and you’d have an amazing news cycle to sustain IMSA for the rest of the year.

Sprinkle in JDC-Miller Motorsports’ order of a second ORECA WEC LMP2 chassis to expand its privateer team in 2018; the rededication from Visit Florida Racing to buy a new Ligier WEC P2 model to improve its fortunes; the increased interest in the Prototype class by IndyCar team owners, including Ed Carpenter Racing; and potential growth within existing Daytona Prototype international programs, and there’s an undeniable feeling that prototype racing is heading toward another North American revival.

Given an opportunity to crow about its newfound interest, IMSA is taking an interesting and relatively cautious approach to the recent Prototype developments.

“In terms of the unprecedented 30-day period we’ve had with all the announcements, everywhere you look there’s good news,” IMSA president Scott Atherton told RACER. “To be honest, we’re being somewhat reserved in how we’re handling this because it’s uncommon. We, as an organization, don’t want to be too cocky about it because things can change and we have the scar tissue to show for it. Things beyond anyone’s control can unwind things in a hurry, but the trend lines are incredibly positive and have gone well beyond our expectations.”

With Acura increasing the DPi manufacturer count to four next season (including current efforts from Cadillac, Mazda and Nissan), Atherton is hopeful IMSA will have more announcements to make ahead of the 2019 championship.

“This is one of those situations where success can beget success,” he said. “People sitting on the fence that didn’t want to be the first mover have seen others have taken that step and are realizing it’s time to move. And this isn’t the only news to come; there’s more than what’s been announced.”

At present, the topic of continued growth within the WeatherTech Championship is limited to Prototype. Although BMW is expected to continue in the series’ GT Le Mans class with a new M8 model, the arrival of new GTLM manufacturers and the introduction of new GT3-based models to GT Daytona appears to have hit its big growth spike from 2016-17.

“We as a group have not heard of any new GTLM programs, although there’s one out there that never seems to get past the rumor cycle,” Atherton said. “At this moment, because the GT3 category has become so subscribed, the real news for us is what’s coming in GT4 and TCR. It doesn’t make headlines for us in the WeatherTech Championship, but it’s important for what’s coming in the Continental Tire Challenge series. Everybody is expecting great things to come from that category.”

Outside of cars and WeatherTech Championship classes, IMSA will have more news to share in the coming weeks as the schedule and a few structural changes for the Prototype Challenge presented by Mazda is pending. A new rewards-based WeatherTech Championship qualifying system is also in the works.

“Our qualifying this year in WeatherTech and Continental has been amazing,” he said. “We’ve been looking for ways to reward teams that really put it out there – for teams and drivers that step up and do something special in qualifying. More to come on that in the future.”