Here’s Who’s Set to Vie for Prototype Class Wins to Start 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Season
As in 2025, there’s 24 total prototypes set to tackle the Rolex 24 At Daytona to kick off the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. There’s a slight variation for 2026 with 11 Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and 13 Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) entries, compared to an even 12/12 split in 2025.
Porsche Penske Motorsport has won the last two Rolex 24s in 2024 and 2025, with Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian winning the previous two before that in 2022 and 2023. Wayne Taylor Racing won four of five from 2017 through 2021.
LMP2 has been more wide-open, with four different winning teams (Era Motorsport twice, Proton Competition, DragonSpeed and United Autosports USA) winning in the last five years.
Here’s the prototype team-by-team breakdown for 2026:
Grand Touring Prototype (GTP)
No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963
Kevin Estre/Laurens Vanthoor/Matt Campbell
There’s no questioning the strength of the revised No. 6 Porsche 963 for 2026. This is the result of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s now IMSA-only lineup blending champions from multiple series into its two GTP cars. Vanthoor, a two-time IMSA (2019 GT Le Mans and 2021 Grand Touring Daytona) champion, and Estre won the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar title together. One of IMSA’s quirkiest stats is that Estre, who hasn’t attempted a full-time IMSA season since 2014, remains in search of his first IMSA win after 22 starts. The elder Vanthoor has 13 of them, including the first three races of 2025 split across Penske’s No. 7 car at Daytona International Speedway and Sebring International Raceway and a GTD cameo win aboard AO’s “Rexy” No. 177 Porsche 911 GT3 R at Long Beach.
Campbell is as strong a third driver as they come. The 2025 GTP champion with Mathieu Jaminet has a revised program for 2026 running the three longest IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races at Daytona, Sebring and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Also a 13-time IMSA race winner, Campbell has two past Rolex 24 wins on his resume, in 2022 in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and 2024 in GTP. If his even year trend holds, he could be eyeing a third unique Daytona timepiece.
No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963
Felipe Nasr/Julien Andlauer/Laurin Heinrich
Nasr serves as the anchor amidst a relatively younger lineup in Porsche’s No. 7 entry, as one of IMSA’s top drivers over the last decade. The three-time series champion (2018 Prototype, 2021 Daytona Prototype international, 2024 GTP) and three-time Rolex 24 winner (2022 GTD PRO, 2024 GTP, 2025 GTP) has a chance to win his third straight Rolex overall this year, a feat last achieved by his fellow Brazilian Helio Castroneves from 2021-23.
Andlauer and Heinrich have different roles for 2026, having both progressed through Porsche’s GT ranks. Andlauer will step up to a full-time IMSA GTP seat after racing Porsche’s 963 in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2025. He’s a past 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner (2018 GTE Am) but is in search of his first IMSA win. Heinrich, the 2024 GTD PRO champion with AO’s “Rexy” No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R and five-time IMSA winner, completes the lineup as Michelin Endurance Cup third driver.
No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R
Ricky Taylor/Filipe Albuquerque/Will Stevens
A quiet 2025 season for Wayne Taylor Racing’s longstanding No. 10 car ended better than it started, as the Cadillac V-Series.R led the GTP field in the final five races with three podium finishes. None were wins, but it was clear as the year went on the longtime pairing of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque were coming more to grips with the Cadillac as the WTR team returned to racing with the GM brand. The pairing finished sixth in points.
Taylor (2017 and 2021 overall) and Albuquerque (2018 and 2021 overall, 2013 class) have combined for five Rolex 24 wins, so they know how to position their car for success toward the end of the race. Stevens is lesser experienced at Daytona specifically but still knows his way around the Cadillac package. He won the manufacturer’s first race in WEC as part of a Cadillac 1-2 in Brazil last July.
No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Aston Martin Valkyrie
Ross Gunn/Roman De Angelis/Alex Riberas/Marco Sorensen
The last “first” for the new Aston Martin Valkyrie will take place this January, as the Valkyrie is making its Rolex 24 race debut. The car tested at Daytona in November 2024 ahead of its global race debut at Qatar in February 2025 and its IMSA debut at Sebring in March. The Valkyrie comes to its first Rolex 24 with a year’s worth of racing mileage across two championships already banked, including what was an impressive double race finish on debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Gunn, De Angelis and Riberas ended 2025’s IMSA season on a high with the car’s first podium finish, a second place at Motul Petit Le Mans. De Angelis was part of Heart of Racing Team’s last Rolex 24 win, a GTD class triumph in 2023. A strong finish would bode well for its continued progress and improvement in its second season of competition.
No. 24 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8
Dries Vanthoor/Sheldon van der Linde/Robin Frijns/Rene Rast
BMW’s young but experienced pair of two younger racing brothers – Vanthoor and van der Linde – now pair up in the No. 24 car for BMW M Team WRT’s first full IMSA season, but they will be split in BMW’s two WEC entries. Call this one the “van” car, as both impressed in their first full IMSA campaigns in 2025. Vanthoor won at Road America with Philipp Eng, leading a BMW 1-2 over van der Linde’s entry, and established himself on the scene with four consecutive Motul Pole Awards in the first four races to start the year.
Frijns and Rast are dependable extra pairs of hands, with Rast the only one of this quartet who’s won a Rolex. He won a pair of GT class races – GRAND-AM Rolex GT in 2012 and IMSA GTD in 2016 – in Magnus Racing-run entries, first a Porsche and then an Audi. Winning three Rolex races with three different German brands would be quite a feat.
No. 25 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8
Philipp Eng/Marco Wittmann/Kevin Magnussen/Raffaele Marciello
A slight revision of the lineups across the now BMW M Team WRT-run entries sees Eng shift across from the No. 24 car to the No. 25 for 2026 with Wittmann. Eng was the only of the four full-season GTP drivers with a past year of experience in 2025, but now all three of his full-season teammates (Vanthoor, van der Linde and Wittmann) have gone through a full calendar. Eng enjoyed a strong 2025 season with a win at Road America and a fourth-place finish in points. He won his lone Rolex 24 in the GTLM class in 2019, driving the No. 25 BMW M8 GTE. Wittmann scored his first GTP podium as part of the Road America BMW 1-2 in second place this past year.
Magnussen is back for endurance rounds. The F1 veteran shifted to sports car racing with BMW ahead of 2025 and is enjoying his post-open-wheel career; he already had a full season of IMSA in 2021, where he won at Detroit in a Chip Ganassi Racing-prepared Cadillac with Renger van der Zande. Marciello’s success has primarily been in GT machinery more than prototypes, but he’s quick and experienced.
No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R
Jack Aitken/Earl Bamber/Frederik Vesti/Connor Zilisch
For the first time in several years, the Cadillac Whelen No. 31 entry has more carryover than change in the driving lineup. Finishing on a high to end 2025 with back-to-back wins at the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks and Motul Petit Le Mans to ascend to second in GTP points has given the group momentum to return to its championship-winning ways.
What has eluded the No. 31 car for years, though, is a Rolex 24 victory. This car has been close but has not ever taken a Rolex 24 checkered flag. Action Express Racing’s last Rolex 24 win came in 2018 with the No. 5 Mustang Sampling branded entry. Bamber, too, needs a Rolex 24 win to match former teammate Nick Tandy and complete his own personal set of overall 24-hour race triumphs, having also done so at Le Mans, the Nurburgring and Spa-Francorchamps. While Aitken, Bamber and Vesti are in search of their first Rolex 24 win too, it’s fourth driver Zilisch – a top NASCAR prodigy – who already has a watch to his name with an LMP2 triumph on debut in 2024.
No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R
Jordan Taylor/Louis Deletraz/Colton Herta
Wayne Taylor Racing’s third year with two cars feels like it has the potential to move forward from an oft-challenging 2025 season returning back to Cadillac. The No. 40 car finished second at Watkins Glen but wasn’t higher than seventh in any other race last year.
Taylor (2017, 2019 overall and 2021 GTLM) and Herta (2019 GTLM, 2022 LMP2) already have multiple Rolex 24 wins to their name with Deletraz, a four-time European Le Mans Series LMP2 champion, now looking to add his first Rolex 24 triumph to a 24-hour class win he achieved at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans (LMP2 Pro/Am). WTR knows how to win, too, having won three straight and four of five from 2017-21, including three of those four with Cadillac.
No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06
Colin Braun/Tom Blomqvist/Scott Dixon/AJ Allmendinger
No car has more experience in the field with Dixon (set for his race-leading 23rd consecutive Rolex 24 start since 2004), Braun (his 22nd straight since 2005), Allmendinger (his 16th overall since 2006, all from 2006 through 2021 except 2017) and Blomqvist (his fifth straight since 2022) set to combine for 66 total starts in this race. Combined, they’ve got 10 Rolex 24 wins (Dixon four including three overall, Braun three with one overall, Blomqvist two overall and Allmendinger one overall). After this car finished second last year, they’re already close to regaining the top step of the podium last achieved in 2023. Blomqvist’s first four Rolex 24 starts have netted two wins and two runner-up finishes.
The return to action after a year break in 2024 featured some peaks and valleys as the team reacclimatized back to action. Braun and Blomqvist added a win at Watkins Glen and a last-to-third podium in Indianapolis. After ending seventh in points in 2025, a step back up to title contention feels like it could come in 2026.
No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963
Tijmen van der Helm/Nico Pino/Kaylen Frederick
John Church’s team has never backed down from a challenge and comes into the 2026 Rolex 24 looking to emulate its 2016 Rolex 24 win in Prototype Challenge a decade later. Running as the lone privateer entry in GTP, JDC-Miller puts up a decent effort and tends to contend late in the race more often than not. In its first two Rolex 24s with the GTP car, the No. 85 car has finished a solid sixth on both occasions.
Youth is the name of the game here with the three drivers outside the Porsche works stable. Van der Helm (21), Pino (21) and Frederick (23) are a combined 65 years old – just one year older than this year’s Rolex 24 race number of 64 – yet already have a combined eight Rolex starts between them. Van der Helm and Pino have four apiece, with Pino scoring the LMP3 pole and finishing second in 2023. Frederick makes his debut this year.
No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06
Renger van der Zande/Nick Yelloly/Alex Palou/Kaku Ohta
Where both the second car and the driver lineup as a unit were new together in 2025, the HRC US-crewed second Acura MSR entry overachieved more often than not and finished higher of its two cars in the 2025 GTP standings. Yelloly and van der Zande combined for three straight pole positions and a win in Detroit over the summer months, ultimately ending fifth in points.
Dutchman van der Zande is the only one of this quartet with a Rolex 24 win to his name, with back-to-back overall wins in 2019 and 2020. Yelloly has experienced 24-hour success elsewhere, with class or overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2025 LMP2), Spa-Francorchamps and the Nurburgring, so he just needs a Rolex for his own 24-hour set. Palou, the four-time IndyCar Series champion, seeks his first IMSA win with Ohta now a more established quantity in North America after impressing in a handful of 2025 starts across both Acura’s No. 93 GTP and an Era Motorsport LMP2.
Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2)
No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07
Phil Fayer/Ben Hanley/Hunter McElrea/Mikkel Jensen
The No. 2 United entry had a quiet 2025 season with a best finish of fourth and adds several new elements for 2026. Fayer was in the car for both races where the team posted its best 2025 result and steps up to a full-season program this year. Key additions come in the form of ex-TDS Racing drivers Jensen and McElrea, who completed a double repeat at Indianapolis and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in LMP2 en route to their second straight Michelin Endurance Cup LMP2 title. Hanley is a past Rolex 24 winner (2020, LMP2) so is a dependable and experienced pair of hands.
No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07
George Kurtz/Alex Quinn/Toby Sowery/Malthe Jakobsen
Kurtz’s success across the globe in endurance sports car racing has seen him win many key races (including Michelin Endurance Cup races at Sebring, Watkins Glen and Michelin Raceway), but he’s yet to capture his first Rolex 24 aboard his trademark No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR entry. Locked in with the trio of youngsters in Jakobsen, Sowery and Quinn that have established themselves as three of the fastest LMP2 drivers globally, this car always has win potential at its disposal.
No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07
John Farano/Sebastien Bourdais/Sebastian Alvarez/Kyffin Simpson
Longtime IMSA participant Tower Motorsports continues its pursuit of another major endurance class win, after three straight Motul Petit Le Mans triumphs from 2020 through 2022. While the team won the Rolex 24 on the road in 2025 in LMP2, a technical infringement found post-race sent the team to the rear of class. Nonetheless, with a consistent lineup including two-time Rolex 24 winner Bourdais (2014 overall, 2017 class), the car should once again be a contender in 2026.
No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07
Tobi Lutke/Mathias Beche/David Heinemeier Hansson/Charles Milesi
It’s mostly change for TDS Racing in 2026 following the retirement of its longtime driver Steven Thomas, with the team opting for a programming update … literally. IMSA’s two pair of programmers, Lutke and Heinemeier Hansson, shift over from Era Motorsport alongside fellow newcomer Beche, who has experience with TDS in Europe including a 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 class pole last year. Rolex 24 extra Milesi, the team’s lone holdover, led November testing and is a rapid driver.
No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07
Naveen Rao/Logan Sargeant/Jacob Abel/Ferdinand Habsburg
Era Motorsport knows its way to Daytona’s victory lane, having done so in 2021 and 2024. An entirely adjusted lineup for 2026 will try to add a third win. Past F1 driver Sargeant is set for his Rolex 24 debut, following his toe-in-the-water in the last two races of 2025 driving with Rao at PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports. These two switch to Era, joined by Habsburg and Abel. Habsburg is an LMP2 class winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Abel is a past Indy NXT runner-up gaining sports car experience after his first IndyCar season.
No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07
Daniel Goldburg/Paul Di Resta/Rasmus Lindh/Gregoire Saucy
Goldburg enjoyed a breakout 2025 season, marred only by two tough races at Road America and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta that dented his potential championship-winning effort. Nonetheless, the defending Rolex 24 LMP2-winning No. 22 entry will look to repeat this race with three-quarters of the lineup intact. The only change is the inclusion of Saucy, United’s WEC driver in its McLaren 720S GT3 EVO last season, in for James Allen.
No. 37 Intersport Racing ORECA LMP2 07
Jon Field/Oliver Jarvis/Seth Lucas/Job Van Uitert
A concoction of talent is spread across the returning Intersport Racing entry, back as a full-fledged team for the first time in more than a decade in top-level North American sports car racing. Field got his sea legs back underneath him with a Rolex 24 start last year, with two-time Rolex 24 winner Jarvis (2022 overall, 2013 class) alongside for the season. Younger drivers Lucas and Van Uitert complete the quartet, with Lucas back in an LMP2 car after a year in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07
Jeremy Clarke/Tom Dillmann/Bijoy Garg/Antonio Felix da Costa
Inter Europol’s first full IMSA year on its own after a championship-winning partnership with PR1/Mathiasen in 2024 produced a near encore, dented primarily by bad luck. When the car finished, it either won or finished second. When it didn’t, it was ninth or worse, and Dillmann’s injury at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park also took him out of the seat over the summer. This is still a team that won the LMP2 class at Sebring (with Dillmann, Clarke and Garg) and Le Mans (with Dillmann, Nick Yelloly and Jakub Smiechowski) in 2025, and it will be a force to be reckoned with both in January and for the season.
No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen ORECA LMP2 07
Misha Goikhberg/Harry Tincknell/Parker Thompson/Ben Keating
The “blending of worlds” is a good way to describe this year’s variant of the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen ORECA, now aligned with Bryan Herta Autosport and with a combination of new and old drivers. Goikhberg has past prototype experience and is a Rolex 24 class winner in LMPC, 10 years ago. Keating’s back with PR1 in pursuit of his second Rolex 24 as well (2015 GTD), with a sole focus on LMP2 rather than running two cars as has been his tradition. Tincknell’s an experienced pro with many key endurance race wins on his resume – although none at the Rolex 24 – and Thompson shifts up from Lexus’ GT entry into LMP2.
No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07
Chris Cumming/Pietro Fittipaldi/Manuel Espirito Santo/Enzo Fittipaldi
Pratt Miller flew under the radar during its return to prototype competition with its LMP2 entry in 2025, with a best finish of sixth. It will seek to improve upon that in year two with an unchanged full-season lineup of Cumming and Pietro Fittipaldi but slight changes in the additional drivers. Espirito Santo made his IMSA debut at Watkins Glen last year. Rolex 24 extra Enzo Fittipaldi, Pietro’s younger brother, is set for a Stateside season of racing this year as he will race full-time in Indy NXT, as both Fittipaldis carry on the legacy of their grandfather, F1 and IndyCar great Emerson Fittipaldi.
No. 83 Af Corse Usa ORECA LMP2 07
Francois Perrodo/Nicklas Nielsen/Dylan Murry/Matthieu Vaxiviere
Af Corse Usa was one of several LMP2 cars that came up just short of the class win at the 2025 Rolex 24. Back with three of the same four contenders, with the only change from one experienced Bronze-rated driver in Luis Perez Companc to another one in Francois Perrodo, expect a similar challenge for class contention here. Nielsen, a Ferrari factory driver, won the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans overall.
No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07
PJ Hyett/Dane Cameron/Jonny Edgar/Christian Rasmussen
The “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” axiom applies to AO Racing’s “Spike” for 2026, with an unchanged lineup as the defending LMP2 champions and Jim Trueman Award winner, Hyett, seek to add a second major 24-hour race win to their ledger. Hyett, Cameron and Louis Deletraz shared the winning LMP2 Pro/Am AO by TF entry at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Earlier at Daytona, late-race mechanical gremlins dashed a potential AO win in January. Five-time IMSA champion Cameron and Rasmussen both won the Rolex 24 in 2024 in GTP and LMP2, respectively, and Cameron and Hyett were part of AO’s summer of 2025 hot streak that included back-to-back wins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road America.
No. 343 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07
George Kolovos/Nick Cassidy/Jakub Smiechowski/Nolan Siegel
Inter Europol adds a second car to this year’s Rolex 24, with drivers primarily from its Asian Le Mans Series effort. Smiechowski was part of the team’s 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning LMP2 entry in both 2023 and 2025. Cassidy has been either second or third in the last three FIA Formula E series championships. Siegel has impressed sporadically in his year and a half in IndyCar, plus has won both the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Motul Petit Le Mans in LMP2.
