Championships
Points were awarded to the top ten cars and drivers which either finish the race or complete 70% of the winner's distance, except in the ALMS Challenge category where cars and drivers only have to complete 50% of their class winner's distance. Teams with multiple entries only scored the points of their highest finishing entry in each race. Drivers were required to drive a minimum of 45 minutes to earn points, except for the Long Beach event which required only 30 minutes. The GT1 category was only used for two events and no championships were awarded in that category.
| Points System | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race Distance | Position | |||||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | |
| Less than three hours | 20 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Between four and eight hours | 25 | 21 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| More than eight hours | 30 | 26 | 23 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 |
Read more about this topic: 2009 American Le Mans Series Season