The 2006 Rolex Sports Car Series season was the seventh season of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, and the fifth season under the sponsorship of Rolex.
It began on January 28 with the 24 Hours of Daytona, and ended on September 2 with the Discount Tire Sunchaser at Miller Motorsports Park. The championship was competed with Daytona Prototypes (DP) and Grand Touring (GT) class cars only, for the second successive season.
Starting with the VIR 400, this season saw the introduction of qualifying races to set the field for the main race. Controversially, these races awarded the same points as a main race, despite being set at just 30 minutes (or 50 miles) in length. With no qualifying session, starting positions for a qualifying race were determined by speeds during a previously designated practice session. After just three unsuccessful runnings, the format was discontinued in the aftermath of a major five-car crash at Phoenix International Raceway.
The schedule was expanded again to 15 races, although both classes did not compete at every event, with the Daytona Prototypes class remaining at 14 races and the Grand Touring class down to 13 races. The events at California Speedway and Circuit Mont-Tremblant, both on the calendar since 2002, were replaced by a first-time visit to the Long Beach Street Circuit, which hadn't held a major sportscar race since 1991, and the returning Lime Rock Park, which had itself been previously replaced by California Speedway. As a support race for IndyCar, the Long Beach event was exclusive for DP cars and limited to 90 minutes, while the Lime Rock race was exclusive to the GT class.
The second race at Watkins Glen was also limited to the DP class, while the third race was discontinued after just one season, as the IndyCar event it supported was moved to the weekend of the Six Hours event. This race was replaced by Infineon Raceway, which switched from the American Le Mans Series. With the Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃÂguez race moved from its November date to an early March spot, the season finale was held as a 9-hour endurance event at the newly built Miller Motorsports Park. The races at Mid-Ohio, Phoenix and Virginia were also moved from their late-summer and early autumn dates to a very hectic spring portion, with nine events in a span of just 15 weeks.
Overall winners in bold.
Championship points are awarded in each class at the finish of each event, including the qualifying races. Points are awarded based on finishing positions in the race as shown in the chart below.