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International Motor Sports Association Lamborghini Super Trofeo series

International Motor Sports Association

www.imsa.com

About the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)

International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 and owns a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, as well as four one-make series: Ferrari Challenge North America, Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Porsche Carrera Cup North America. IMSA – a company within the NASCAR family – is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Rockenfeller, Ford Seek to “Write Some More History Together”

In Revised Michelin Endurance Cup Role, Rockenfeller has Long Race Focus in 2026

December 30, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Although he’s now 42, Mike Rockenfeller is practically ageless. He still looks as young and drives as fast as his younger teammates within the Ford Multimatic Motorsports stable of Mustang GT3 drivers. He can easily be viewed one of sports car racing’s greatest drivers, ambassadors and gentlemen of the millennium with his affable attitude and incredible insights.

The German driver best known as “Rocky” made his early mark coming up the sports car ladder with two distinct German brands: Porsche and Audi. In 2010, he won both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans overall in the same year; the Rolex aboard an Action Express Racing Riley-Porsche closed cockpit Daytona Prototype and Le Mans in a factory Audi R15 TDI Plus diesel LMP1 open prototype. He’s the second most recent driver to do that, as Fernando Alonso did so in 2019 with a Cadillac DPi-V.R at the Rolex 24 and a Toyota TS050 Hybrid in LMP1 at Le Mans.

But in recent years, “Rocky’s” manufacturer presence has been distinctly American. He raced both GT and Daytona Prototype Corvettes off-and-on through the mid-2010s, and then was the sports car expert who guided Jimmie Johnson, Jenson Button and the Hendrick Motorsports collaborative Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZR1 to take NASCAR back to Le Mans in 2023. He also ran select NASCAR Cup Series races for Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club team when it still ran Chevrolets.

Since 2024, “Rocky” has been a “blue oval” man through and through. He’s been back in a full-time seat in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as part of Ford’s Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) effort, and through the end of 2025, was the only driver Ford kept in that full-time role for both seasons.

For 2026, things change a bit. After Rockenfeller and Harry Tincknell shared the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 in 2024 and Rockenfeller and Seb Priaulx then partnered to be the proverbial veteran and young charger pairing in 2025, both “Rocky” and “Sebby” shift to Michelin Endurance Cup roles in 2026 split between the Nos. 64 and 65 cars.

Rockenfeller seems to feel something different with Ford than he did with the German brands he raced with earlier in his career. As he reflected during the IMSA-sanctioned November test, being part of Ford means going back more than a century and building on it as Ford continues its global motorsports ramp-up to be one of the world’s most pre-eminent motorsport manufacturers.

“Where I’ve come from, I was not surprised… but at Charlotte when they did the season launch two years ago, I’d just joined the program so I only understood it somewhat,” Rockenfeller explained. “But they do NASCAR. Off-road. Baja. Obviously sports car racing. They will do F1. Then Hypercar/GTP… yes, it’s Europe for now, but hopefully they come to the U.S. It’s unreal how big their program is. The Red Bull F1 thing I hope will be very successful, super cool and exciting. The range they go is unreal.”

Ford’s perception is changing globally, too, he noted.

“For me coming from different brands and joining a new one, in Europe, Ford is a different brand than what it is in the U.S.,” Rockenfeller said. “Here, it’s massive. There, the Germans are quite big. That’s normal.

“But I always had friends driving Ford. A friend of mine in go-karts has three Ford dealerships. I always looked at it, but I never imagined I’d race for Ford. To get to know the family and Jim Farley and all of them, (Mark) Rushbrook, it’s such a family. And they’re emotional with racing. They really love it, and you can see it in the programs they do.”

Rockenfeller then proceeded to tell just how much of the Ford family presence the manufacturer wanted to share with its drivers.

“The first year in Detroit, we went to the Henry Ford House, where he basically lived. It’s kind of a museum almost,” he said. “It’s unreal to hear the stories; Edsel and that. It’s unreal. To hopefully write some history together is great. I feel such a part of it. To identify, it takes a bit of time. You need to know the cars, the people, and success and not success together. Year three … this year changed a lot for me. I feel like I’m there now.”

Indeed, the leap Ford made in IMSA from year one in 2024 to year two in 2025 with the Mustang GT3 was paramount. Rockenfeller won the Motul Pole Award for the Rolex 24 and the duo finished third with third driver Austin Cindric, who was deputizing for the injured Ben Barker. The sister No. 65 car won the Rolex with Frederic Vervisch, Christopher Mies and Dennis Olsen.

Ford’s No. 64 car enjoyed major success as the year progressed with two wins on the streets of Detroit – notably cast against the corporate headquarters and backdrop of crosstown rivals General Motors – and then the six-hour TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks in Indianapolis. With one other podium (second at Road America), Rockenfeller and Priaulx finished third in GTD PRO points.

“Every victory is special in its own,” Rockenfeller admitted. “Detroit is the only street circuit (for GTD PRO). It’s cool scenery and it’s different. I love to race in cities anyway but that’s the only chance on the calendar to do so. We don’t do Long Beach. Then obviously that’s the home race for Ford Motor Company and GM is there. It’s a big battle between us. To come out on top was the highlight.

“Indy was so cool; we were second the year before. We knew it was a strong place for us. To win with ‘Sebby’ was good as we just started working together this year and it turned out to be a pretty good combo.

“Then at Indy, it was special to have the whole family (as part of new IMSA Resilient Racers program) there enjoying it, taking the pictures, being on the podium. Especially as a father of three, you understand what matters in life. You think racing is the most important or when you’re doing it. But there’s a lot more in life, to share emotions and give something back. That’s very special.”

For 2026, Rockenfeller will share the No. 64 car with Olsen and Barker, who are set to embark on the full-season effort. That means Rockenfeller’s IMSA goal for 2026 is trophy hunting at the three longest Michelin Endurance Cup rounds, and notably, adding another Rolex watch to his 2010 one. Missing out in 2025 stung, he admitted.

“In the end, to win you need to be perfect,” he said. “The other car had a better setup and we didn’t. The last two tenths, probably. They deserved it! I’m happy they did. Obviously, I’m a Ford driver, so it’s good for all of us if the car wins.

“In the end we had a strong season. I’m sure the big goal is to win the championship. If you ask me what do you prefer, I don’t know if I would pick between 24 and the championship. Probably the championship. It gives a better picture of the whole year.

“But at Daytona, I’d like to get a free watch and not have to buy one!”

“All” Back in the Acura Meyer Shank Racing Family

Allmendinger Return Highlights Vastly Experienced No. 60 Acura Lineup

December 29, 2025

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian is as serious and professional as any team in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship paddock. But team owner Mike Shank can possibly be viewed as most casual, ‘rock and roll’ team principal among his peers.

So maybe it’s appropriate to say that Shank is “putting the band back together” by welcoming the return of AJ Allmendinger to the team for the 64th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona International Speedway.

Allmendinger, now a star in the NASCAR Cup Series for Kaulig Racing, is a Michael Shank Racing alumnus with 15 past starts in IMSA’s season-opening endurance racing classic (2006 through 2021, with the exception of 2017), including overall victory in 2012 with co-drivers Justin Wilson, Ozz Negri, and John Pew.

“The guy’s pretty damn cool,” observed Allmendinger, who recently joined MSR at Daytona for the IMSA-sanctioned November Test, where he turned laps in the No. 60 Acura ARX-06. “Mike’s a lot of fun. He’s a racer. He bleeds for this sport. He put his house and everything up.”

It’s a new, more complex Acura prototype and a markedly different Shank organization since Allmendinger made his last Rolex 24 appearance with the team in 2021 – and worlds apart since the then-IndyCar racer made his MSR debut in 2006. He has fond memories of teaming with the late Wilson to help grow ‘the little team that could’ into an American sports car racing powerhouse.

“Mike reached out to the Indy car team I was driving for in 2005 to ask would Justin and I want to come run Rolex next year,” Allmendinger recalled. “We ran it January ’06 and it just kind of took off from there. He called me back the next year and it grew for every year straight. It’s been a fun ride and hopefully this isn’t the last one. We’ll see if there’s more.

“I saw Mike’s new shop, and wow!” he continued. “It’s a little different than the GRAND-AM days with the same eight guys working on the car. What a beautiful shop…there’s a lot of cool pictures of us in there.”

While Allmendinger was able to get reacquainted with some familiar faces, his biggest task at the sanctioned test was to get to grips with the No. 60 Acura he will share in the Rolex 24 with full-season WeatherTech Championship drivers Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist and six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, who is the team’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup pilot.

Although not all 61 entries have been finalized, the No. 60 car is likely to be the most experienced driver lineup in the Rolex 24 field with more than 60 career starts in the race.

Dixon has started every Rolex 24 since 2004, while Braun is just one year behind him. This means Dixon is set for his 23rd consecutive Rolex start in 2026 and Braun his 22nd. Meanwhile, Blomqvist has opened his Rolex 24 career with finishes of first, first, second, and second. No pressure for Allmendinger to slot back in, then…

“There’s definitely a lot to this car – it’s a proper race car,” he admitted. “The last time I was in (an IMSA prototype) was the (Acura ARX-05) DPi in ’21. There’s lots of buttons and it’s tricky to drive – what’s the threshold of not too much braking or too much? I found ‘too much’ right away! I’m trying to learn as quick as I can. I don’t want to be the slow guy and let them down. I know I’ll be the weak link, I just don’t want to be the weakest link in the chain.

“I want to hold my weight; that’s the biggest thing,” he added. “It’s my job to run good stints and hand the car back off looking the same as it started. I told Mike, ‘I don’t want to let you down.’ He said, ‘Ain’t gonna happen - you never have.’”

Braun, 37, groaned when reminded he has participated in the Rolex 24 every year since he was 16. His first run came 20 years ago this year in 2005, as part of a “Team 16” Porsche GT effort with three teenagers and fourth driver and coach Ross Bentley, who now cohosts the “It’s Not The Car” podcast with Braun’s dad Jeff, a longtime engineer currently working with 13 Autosport, and veteran automotive journalist Sam Smith. All four drivers in the No. 60 have posted overall Rolex 24 wins.

Braun and Blomqvist won the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International in June to highlight what was a mixed bag of results in 2025. After a year’s absence from IMSA’s top prototype class, MSR and its drivers quickly understood that the car had changed considerably from when the No. 60 duo won at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (the Motul Petit Le Mans) to finish a close third in the 2023 GTP standings.

“Last year, we had a great Daytona; that was perfect for a new team to get together and knock out a solid P2 result,” Braun remarked. “Then there were some growing pains, I think, kind of getting it all going. But I feel the second half of the year was pretty strong as a group for the for the HRC and MSR guys, and we hit the end of the season with some good momentum and knew what we needed to work on over the off season.

“I feel like we’re in a really good place and excited to go to year two with all that experience and knowledge in our pocket,” he added. “We’re not, in a way, going to everywhere kind of ‘new’ again. Obviously, we had 2023, but with the break, it was kind of like restarting in ‘25. This feels like the ‘real’ second year of the program, so it’s good.”

Braun said he and Allmendinger have never shared a car, though they both competed in separate MSR entries in the 2009 Rolex 24.

“Teammates, I guess, but he was in the other car,” Braun laughed. “It’s been fun, man. He’s a cool dude. Obviously, a great race car driver, and he fits in with our culture good, so it’s fun. It’s good times.”

The 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship kicks off with the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, January 16-18, followed Jan. 22-25 by the 64th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

IMSA STEM Curriculum Reflects on Successful First Year and Sets Its 2026 Schedule

Program For High School Students Set to Continue Online and at Six More Weekends in 2026

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (December 18, 2025) – Throughout 2025, IMSA highlighted Science, Technology Engineering, and Math elements to premier the IMSA STEM curriculum across both six IMSA race markets, as well as online as part of its new partnership with Gainbridge® and an expanded partnership with Konica Minolta. With the first year of the program in the books, it’s worth reflecting on what was achieved for students across the U.S. and Canada.

The IMSA STEM curriculum was developed in conjunction with EVERFI who works with 60,000+ teachers and their schools throughout the country, providing interactive, game-based lessons, at no cost to the schools, teachers or students.

In 2025, with curriculum developed in conjunction with EVERFI, the IMSA STEM program reached more than 14,000 students, more than 420 schools and nearly 500 teachers, primarily through an online resource. In addition, 180 students attended the six on-site programs held at IMSA race venues during the 2025 season, roughly 30 per program.

Students completed a pre-course survey before and post-course survey at the end of the program. Students increased their knowledge of engineering career opportunities across two modules – Building & Moving and Engineering Careers Within Auto Racing – by 65 percentage points while nearly half, 49 percent, expressed at least some degree of interest in a career in auto racing after completing the two modules. Perhaps more importantly, 93 percent of those students identified potential career paths they did not know existed prior.

“Everfi, IMSA and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway put together such a cool day for us,” a Purdue Polytech High School teacher relayed after the IMSA STEM curriculum day at the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks in Indianapolis. “Our students got to learn about careers in manufacturing, Motorsports and engineering in general, and it has been such a breath fresh air to see students see why the classes that they're taking in STEM especially matter in the real world.”

A student who attended the same day added, “For me, the activities were great. Every single one was very informative and interesting. Like I said, I loved talking to the race teams about the data collection. It was crazy to be so close to the race cars as we were walking from location to location.”

The first of six IMSA STEM curriculum days of 2025 premiered during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test at Daytona International Speedway. A group of 30 students from two local high schools in Volusia County, Port Orange-based Spruce Creek High School and Atlantic High School, visited the track on Friday and went through four specific stations that ladder up to the STEM curriculum.

Students ran through the following four stations at Daytona, with similar stations occurring throughout the year:

Tires, Traction and Tread at the Michelin Tire Center, focusing on Physics and Engineering
Data-Driven Racing at the IMSA Engineering Center, focusing on Data Science and Technology
Engineering Safety at the IMSA Tech Inspection Area, focusing on Material Science
IMSA Technology Lab – Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) Hybrid Electrified Race Car at the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R garage, focusing on Physics and Engineering

“I'm so proud that we could kick this off this year,” IMSA President John Doonan said during the Roar. “It's something, that I think is incredibly important for the entire sport. I have a personal interest and fascination with it, simply because I have had an experience and been able to do this previously in IMSA.”

For 2026, the IMSA STEM curriculum program will continue at the same six venues as in 2025. Four of the six events come in the front half of the season while students are still in school through the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix weekend at the streets of Detroit, with a continuation of the program in the fall.

2026 IMSA STEM SCHEDULE

Daytona International Speedway – 1/16

Long Beach Street Circuit – 4/17

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – 5/1

Detroit Street Circuit – 5/29

Indianapolis Motor Speedway – 9/18

Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta – 10/1

NBC Sports to Present 160+ Hours of 2026 IMSA Coverage Across NBC, Peacock and NBCSN

2026 Schedule on NBC Features 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 24-25, Battle on the Bricks on Sept. 20, Petit Le Mans on Oct. 3, and More

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (December 18, 2025) – From Daytona to Indy to Watkins Glen, NBC Sports will present more than 160 hours of IMSA coverage in 2026, headlined by the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, across NBC, Peacock, and NBCSN.

NBC Sports’ 2026 IMSA schedule includes over 15 hours of live coverage on NBC broadcast network and over 160 hours on Peacock, with over 140 hours exclusively on Peacock. Notable races on the WeatherTech Championship schedule include the historic 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 24-25, Six Hours of The Glen on June 28, the Battle on the Bricks from famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 20, and the season finale Petit Le Mans from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Oct. 3.

NBC’s live coverage includes the start and finish of January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona; flag-to-flag coverage of the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 18; Detroit Grand Prix on May 3; GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway on Aug. 23; September’s Battle on the Bricks; and the opening hours of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans in October.

Additionally, a special 2026 season preview show will be presented on Jan. 3 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. A 2026 season review special will also be presented on NBC and Peacock on Oct. 11 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Peacock will serve as the streaming home of the WeatherTech Championship with flag-to-flag live coverage of all races as well as exclusive coverage of qualifying and portions of select endurance races, including the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Six Hours of The Glen, and Twelve Hours of Sebring.

NBCSN, NBC Sports’ recently-launched 24/7 linear network featuring a wide range of marquee sporting events and programming, will present simulstreamed coverage of select races this season, including the final portions of the Twelve Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans as well as the entire race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Peacock will once again present live coverage of IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, and IMSA-sanctioned Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Ford Mustang Challenge, and Porsche Carrera Cup races in 2026.

NBC Sports’ motorsports play-by-play commentator Leigh Diffey – the “Voice of Speed” – will lead IMSA coverage, along with 1990 Rolex 24 winner and former IMSA GT driver Calvin Fish (analyst) and former CART Championship Car driver Brian Till (analyst).

Below is NBC Sports’ 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule:

Connor Zilisch Confirmed in Cadillac Whelen GTP Entry for 2026 Rolex 24

Past Rolex 24 Class Winner, Young NASCAR Phenom Back for Third Start

December 9, 2025

Staff Report

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Connor Zilisch has been officially confirmed as part of the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R for the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona. He’ll join the previously announced trio of Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken and Frederik Vesti to kick off the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

“I’m excited to be with Action Express Racing for the Rolex 24 At Daytona,” Zilisch said. “The Rolex 24 is one of my favorite races and I’m thrilled to be with one of the best teams in the IMSA paddock. I’m very thankful to everyone at GM and Cadillac Racing for their help in making this happen. This is such a cool opportunity. We had a solid test in November at Daytona. I really enjoyed working with all the guys on the Whelen team and can’t wait to get back there for the race.”

He’ll make his third straight Rolex 24 start in as many classes. In 2024, he premiered in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07 in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and won on debut. Last January, he was part of an all-star No. 91 Trackhouse by TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO).

He tested the Cadillac GTP car for the first time at the IMSA-sanctioned November test at Daytona International Speedway. Meeting with media in-between sessions, Zilisch explained how well he adapted to the new car.

“It was awesome,” he said. “Very different, but at the same time similar to things I've driven in the past. It's kind of a mixture between the LMP2 car and the Corvette GT3 that I drove this year. A little heavier than the P2. More power, really cool. A lot of new controls and things that I have to learn, and it was a lot of fun getting to feel it out and just run a lot of laps.”

Zilisch has Daytona road course experience dating to his time in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin.

“The first time I came to Daytona racing was in MX-5 Cup,” he said. “And I've loved it ever since, and just being able to race in the 24 hours is something that I dreamed of as a kid and that's why I always come back and keep doing it. And, you know, it's my third time doing it and my third different car that that I've done it in. I'm just excited for the opportunity to even be here today and get this chance to test the car. It's been such a dream of mine to get to drive in the highest class of IMSA and doing that today has been really cool.”

The 19-year-old won 10 races and finished second in his first full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025 (soon to be renamed O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2026) and will graduate full-time into the NASCAR Cup Series ranks next year.

Capacity Grid Set Again for 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona

Full Field Set for Fifth Straight Year to Open 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Season

December 9, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Roar Before the Rolex 24 Entry List

Rolex 24 At Daytona Entry List

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the fifth consecutive year, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will open its new season with a capacity grid set to run the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The full field of 61 cars set to contest the 64th running has been revealed with roughly six weeks to go until cars hit the track for the mandatory Roar Before the Rolex 24 test January 16-18, then Rolex 24 At Daytona race weekend January 22-25.

There are 11 Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), 14 Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), 15 Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and 21 Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) cars making up the 61 entries. A total of 12 of the 18 participating OEMs in IMSA are part of the Rolex 24 lineup (Acura, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche).

Included as always are a mix of IMSA champions blended with open-wheel and NASCAR stars. The pursuit of a custom Rolex timepiece and the points to start the season off on the right foot remain the goal ahead of North America’s annual January endurance racing classic to kick off the global motorsports calendar.

Grand Touring Prototype (11 Cars, 5 Manufacturers: Acura, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Porsche)

The GTP grid for the fourth year of the class sees all four of the LMDh specification manufacturers – all except Aston Martin – set to debut some degree of car and aerodynamic updates at the race. The drivers gracing the 11 cars in class have strong backgrounds and resumes across all forms of motorsport.

Fittingly, there are 11 full-season IMSA champions in the class (Laurens Vanthoor, Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Laurin Heinrich, Earl Bamber, Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist, Renger van der Zande and Roman De Angelis) with nine of them looking to add another full-season crown this year. Campbell and Heinrich are IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup extras for two-time IMSA and Rolex 24 defending winners Porsche Penske Motorsport in the Nos. 6 and 7 Porsche 963s, respectively.

Beyond the IMSA champions, GTP also includes marquee 24-hour race overall or class winners at either Daytona or Le Mans featuring Filipe Albuquerque (both); previous Daytona winners Rene Rast, Philipp Eng; and Le Mans winners Kevin Estre, Julien Andlauer, Louis Deletraz and Nick Yelloly.

The endurance extras for Daytona also feature prominently with six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon and four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou split between the Nos. 60 and 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 entries, NASCAR star AJ Allmendinger in the No. 60 Acura, Formula 1 reserves Frederik Vesti (Mercedes-AMG) and Colton Herta (Cadillac) in the No. 31 Whelen and No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.Rs, respectively, and past F1 driver Kevin Magnussen back with BMW in the No. 25 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8. Dixon, Allmendinger and Herta all have Rolex 24 overall or class wins on their résumés.

For nearly a decade, the Rolex 24 overall winner has been on a series of “streaks.” Cadillac won four straight from 2017 to 2020, with Acura winning the next three from 2021 to 2023, and Porsche winning the last two in 2024 and 2025. BMW last won the Rolex 24 overall as an engine provider in 2013, a Riley DP chassis with Chip Ganassi Racing, while Aston Martin has never won overall and most recently won in the GTD class with Heart of Racing Team in 2023.

Le Mans Prototype 2 (14 Cars, All ORECA LMP2 07)

LMP2 can be one of the toughest classes to predict at the Rolex 24 with four different team winners in the last four years. United Autosports USA enters as defending winners and is one of two teams in the class with two cars, the other being Inter Europol Competition. Daniel Goldburg, Paul Di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and newcomer Gregoire Saucy are set to race the No. 22 car while its refreshed No. 2 lineup includes two-time defending Michelin Endurance Cup LMP2 champs Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea alongside Phil Fayer and Ben Hanley.

AO Racing is keen to add its first Rolex 24 for “Spike,” the LMP2 Dragon with an unchanged quartet of Dane Cameron, PJ Hyett, Jonny Edgar and Christian Rasmussen in the team’s No. 99 car. This entry nearly won in 2025 but for late-race mechanical woes; alas, they went on to win the LMP2 Pro/Am class at Le Mans, two straight IMSA races and the LMP2 title.

Strong lineups also feature from Tower Motorsports, CrowdStrike Racing by APR, TDS Racing, Inter Europol Competition and Af Corse USA, teams which have all won marquee IMSA endurance rounds but not yet won at Daytona. Era Motorsport has two Rolex 24 wins but a new lineup including ex-F1 driver Logan Sargeant set for his Rolex 24 debut. Pratt Miller Motorsports will look to translate its GT success into LMP2 form ahead of its second season, and features brothers Pietro and Enzo Fittipaldi – grandsons of F1 and IndyCar champion Emerson Fittipaldi – sharing its No. 73 car.

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports has several Rolex 24 wins but goes for a new one this year partnered with Bryan Herta Autosport as the multi-time IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Touring Car (TCR) champions with Hyundai stepping into prototype racing in 2026. Intersport Racing and Team Tonis complete the entries, both new-for-2026 WeatherTech Championship teams but both featuring a mix of past experience across other sports car series in previous years.

Grand Touring Daytona Pro (15 Cars, 9 Manufacturers: BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche)

The first four years of GTD PRO at the Rolex 24 have also produced parity, with four different brands having taken the checkered flag. Porsche won the first go-around in 2022, with Mercedes-AMG winning in 2023, Ferrari in 2024 and Ford in 2025. Each of those four has a contender or two competing in 2026.

Porsche comes with AO’s “Rexy,” the green dinosaur now driven by Nick Tandy, Harry King and Alessio Picariello and a second striking livery in the “Grello” yellow and green Manthey entry. Defending winners Ford are back with its two Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3s, albeit with revised driver lineups. Mercedes-AMG has three customer-run entries from Winward Racing, GetSpeed by Bartone Bros. Racing and 75 Express. Ferrari sees Risi Competizione back on its own after a year in a technical alliance with DragonSpeed, along with Triarsi Competizione stepping up to GTD PRO.

That leaves five other manufacturers looking for their first GTD PRO Rolex win.

Chevrolet won in GTD in 2025 but has not tasted top-class GT spoils at Daytona since 2021. Its two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs are up for the task, including defending WeatherTech Championship GTD PRO champions Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims joined by Marvin Kirchhoefer in the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Lamborghini, a three-time Daytona winner in GTD, is giving its venerable Huracán GT3 Evo2 one final GTD PRO run before the anticipated debut of its new Temerario GT3 at Sebring. Pfaff Motorsports won that 2022 race with Porsche in GTD PRO’s debut and now looks to give the Huracán one more big 24-hour race win.

Lexus’ RC F GT3 has won major enduros at Sebring, Watkins Glen and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta but not at Daytona. BMW earned back-to-back GTLM victories in the Rolex 24 in 2019 and 2020, but is still looking for a win with its GT3 race car. Could partner team Paul Miller Racing deliver the BMW M4 GT3 EVO a win?

Lastly, a mashup of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and McLaren sees a new McLaren 720S GT3 EVO back in GTD PRO for the first time in three years. RLL knows how to find its way to victory lane at Daytona having gone back-to-back in GTLM in 2019 and 2020.

With primarily sports car stars in this category, the extras of note include two-time IndyCar champion Will Power set for his Rolex 24 debut with 75 Express and five-time IndyCar race winner Kyle Kirkwood in Vasser Sullivan’s Lexus.

Grand Touring Daytona (21 Cars, 9 Manufacturers: Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche)

Since the merger of GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series created what we know now as the WeatherTech Championship in 2014, the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class has been the most voluminous of entries at the Rolex 24 with anywhere from 18 to 29 entries. That stays true once more in 2026 with another 20-plus car grid set to compete in this year’s race.

Similar to GTD PRO, there’s been recent parity among class winners the last four years. Porsche won in 2022, Aston Martin in 2023, Mercedes-AMG in 2024 and Chevrolet in 2025.

Defending class winners AWA will seek to defend under a rebranded name of 13 Autosport with three of the four drivers it won with last year: Orey Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern with newcomer Ben Green in the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Winward Racing, the 2021 and 2024 winners, begin their pursuit of their third straight GTD title with Russell Ward and Philip Ellis anchoring the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 they share with Indy Dontje and Lucas Auer.

Beyond those four brands, entries from BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini and Lexus ensure there’s also nine manufacturers in this class too as there are in GTD PRO. Ford’s new-look No. 16 Myers Riley Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 includes ex-F1 and IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean among its drivers.

Among the 21 entries, no one manufacturer has more than four cars (Ferrari and Porsche have four apiece), so no one manufacturer’s deck is too stacked.

On-track action begins with the Roar test January 16-18, with the Rolex 24 track activity January 22-25.

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Seeking Strong 2026 Bounce Back

Optimism Abounds After November Test in Daytona

December 2, 2025

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The second half of the 2025 season was very good for the Cadillac V-Series.R.

The Cadillac Whelen No. 31 entry shared by Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, and Frederik Vesti won the last two races of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, elevating Aitken to second place in the final Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class driver standings, with the team also moving into the runner-up position at season’s end. Meanwhile, both V-Series.Rs fielded by Team Jota finished 1-2 to earn the brand’s first FIA World Endurance Championship top class victory at the Sao Paulo 6 Hours.

Conspicuously absent from the list of 2025 Cadillac race winners are Wayne Taylor Racing. Much was expected from WTR’s reunion with the General Motors racing program and the Cadillac brand, which in 2017 produced a Prototype class championship for the driver pairing of brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor in the then-new Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Both Taylors subsequently left the team owned by their father, Wayne Taylor (himself a three-time IMSA champion as a driver) and won championships elsewhere – Ricky the 2020 Daytona Prototype international (DPi) title with Acura Team Penske, and Jordan a pair of GT Le Mans (GTLM) crowns with Corvette Racing in ’20 and ’21. Ricky returned to WTR in 2021, followed three years later by Jordan as the team expanded to run two cars for the first time, in conjunction with Acura and the Andretti Global organization.

There were growing pains. Both WTR Acuras took race wins, but the No. 10 car shared by Ricky Taylor and longtime co-driver Filipe Albuquerque dropped from second in the 2023 DPi standings to sixth in ‘24, one spot behind the team’s new No. 40 entry driven by Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz.

The switch to Cadillac for 2025 was intended to feel like a homecoming for the Taylor family and many longstanding members of the team. But GTP prototypes are complicated racing cars; the learning curve was steep, and two years of philosophies, habits, and procedures accumulated running the Acura ARX-06 had to be purged from the memory banks. The drivers and crews sometimes struggled to get the best from the Cadillac V-Series.R, as neither of the WTR cars qualified higher than fourth or finished better than fifth in the season’s first four races.

Still, the second half of the ’25 campaign left WTR with plenty of reason for optimism, even if it went winless in GTP (it did win a race in GTD and also secured the Lamborghini World Final Pro title in addition to Pro, Am, Team and Dealer titles for Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America).

Wayne Taylor was able to celebrate his team’s first double podium at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International, as the No. 40 and No. 10 Cadillacs finished second and third respectively. The No. 10 notched additional second place finishes at Detroit at Indianapolis, as Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor scored the third-most points from Rounds 5-9 of the WeatherTech Championship, just 50 points fewer than the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac collected over that span of races.

Potential is clearly there, and the Taylor brothers came away from the recent IMSA sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway buoyed by optimism after their first laps experiencing the ‘Evo’ updates on the Cadillac V-Series.R.

“Everything was new last year, and we basically had just the Roar (“Roar Before the 24” test sessions) and maybe one other day of testing before the Rolex 24,” said Jordan Taylor. “The Rolex itself was kind of like a big test session for everyone to understand what the car does and how the tools influence it. Now having a whole year under our belt was important. Every time we go on track, we feel like we learn something new; we were learning all the way through Petit (the 2024 IMSA season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta).

“I think there’s only so much you can do away from the track with sim work and prep, but once you get it on track, you really see where you are.”

“When we came to this (November IMSA-sanctioned) test last year, it was chaos,” added Deletraz. “It was a good chaos, but you were learning all the time. Every track we went to, we needed to create a database and learn. To come back with the same car as 11-12 months ago is so much smoother and easier. And the upgrades are great. Everything targeted semes to be working, and it’s very positive to drive. It’s different but it definitely feels improved.”

Ricky Taylor was recently drafted in by Cadillac to drive at the WEC’s annual rookie test at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain as part of an increased effort by the manufacturer to share information between its teams that compete in IMSA (Wayne Taylor Racing and Whelen) and the JOTA Sport team that runs the two V-Series.Rs in WEC.

In fact, Whelen’s full-time IMSA drivers Aitken and Earl Bamber will also contest the full 2026 WEC slate in Jota’s No. 38 Cadillac, teamed with Sebastien Bourdais. There’s one weekend conflict between the two (Long Beach IMSA and Imola WEC in April), where Vesti is expected to reprise his substitute role for Bamber alongside Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen car.

“It was just a good opportunity to drive the car more, and it was my first time on the Brembo brakes,” said Ricky Taylor. “Everybody else had had tested the Brembos but me, so it was a good chance for me to get a little taste as well as to create a bit of a crossover between Jota and WTR and just exchange some notes and see you how they do some stuff differently, how we do it. And just trying to make ourselves better.

“I think the unique thing about how Cadillac has set it up is there’s going to be three different teams with three different approaches, and you’re going to get to tackle the same problems,” he added. “(Whelen) does things so differently to the way WTR does things, and JOTA lives a totally different life than either of us. We push each other, but at the end of the day, everything is fully open - GM makes sure of that. It’s been interesting, and really good.”

There’s expected third driver consistency too for Michelin Endurance Cup rounds, with Will Stevens (No. 10) and Colton Herta (No. 40) on for Daytona, Sebring and Michelin Raceway. The No. 40 car cycled through three different third drivers in 2025 (Kamui Kobayashi, Brendon Hartley, Norman Nato) while F2-bound Herta, a Cadillac Formula 1 test driver, returns to the team after racing as its third driver in 2024.

The 2026 WeatherTech Championship season opens with the traditional Roar Before the Rolex 24 test sessions at Daytona International Speedway Jan 15-18, followed Jan. 22-25 by the 64th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

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