As the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ends, we look back on another great year for Porsche.
It was another successful year for the
With those victories, Porsche became the first manufacturer to win the endurance classics at Daytona, Sebring, and Road Atlanta in a single season.
The #6 full-time pairing of
With another campaign finished, we look back on some of the most memorable moments of the 2026
Kicking the season off in style: #7 wins at Daytona
Porsche Penske Motorsport kicked off the 2026 season with a win, sealing its third consecutive 24 Hours of Daytona victory with the #7 car.
Andlauer, Nasr and Heinrich piloted the #7 Porsche 963 to victory in thrilling fashion, fighting hard for the whole race to win the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.
Nasr was at the helm for both the 2024 and 2025 wins, while the race marked the first IMSA GTP win for both Andlauer and Heinrich.
It was far from plain sailing for the trio, starting third before battling through a six-and-a-half-hour Full Course Yellow period - the longest in the event’s history - before edging back in front of the sister car around three hours before the end of the race.
Despite a late charge from the #31 Cadillac, Nasr was able to hold on to the chequered flag - and seal a brilliant start to the campaign.
The sister #6 entry of Estre, Vanthoor and Campbell battled back from significant early damage to finish fourth overall.
Doing the double: #7 wins again at Sebring
The team followed up its sensational Daytona win with another victory, this time delivering a 1-2 finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Once again, it was the #7 trio of Andlauer, Nasr and Heinrich who took the top step of the podium, despite suffering damage on just the second lap.
The trio battled back, fighting from the back of the GTP field to lead from around the four-hour mark for much of the race.
Though they lost the lead later on to the sister car, a daring move with an hour left on the clock allowed the team to recapture the lead and score another win to extend their lead in the standings to 80 points.
Behind, the #6 trio were second after another hard-fought race from all the drivers to take their second consecutive podium.
It was also the #7 car’s second Sebring victory in a row, with Nasr having also been part of the 2025 effort.
Three in a row: #6 car takes its third consecutive podium at Long Beach
By round three at Long Beach, the team were on a roll, and the #6 car continued its strong start to the year with a third consecutive podium.
Estre and Vanthoor took third place in the 100-minute Californian sprint race, just a few miles from Los Angeles.
A strong start proved crucial, and after avoiding major damage in the tightly-packed street race, the pair climbed the rostrum for the third time.
The #7 car came home in fourth, retaining its championship lead, while Porsche also kept the lead in both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ standings.
Stunning victory: JDC-Miller MotorSports takes historic Laguna Seca win
JDC-Miller MotorSports made history at Laguna Seca, taking the first win for a privateer team since the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship introduced its new regulations in 2023.
The stunning victory came after a final-lap pass from Heinrich in the #5 Porsche 963, snatching the lead after spending much of the race running in third.
It was a remarkable achievement for the Minnesota-based team, which became the first privateer to win in the GTP era - and handed Heinrich the lead in the drivers’ championship.
Speaking at the season finale at Petit Le Mans, the Porsche factory driver recalled that win fondly.
“I come from customer racing, racing in GT, and I know how hard all these customer teams work in the background to prepare the cars, to have a strong package, once you unload off the truck and that was exactly the case in Laguna Seca,” Heinrich said.
“I joined the team for the first time in Long Beach, which was a few weeks prior, and I could see the potential they had and the motivation and the hunger. Because they wanted to score trophies and wins, and I could see the potential there but we just needed to have the right opportunity.
“And it came already in Laguna Seca - which actually didn't look like it [would be the place] initially, because we started last, but we had a great run: the team provided us with a good car, a good strategy, and we found ourselves in the end with a shot at the win.
“I didn't have to think twice if I go for it or not, because I knew what was at stake and I knew what we could achieve if I get the move done and I have to say fair play also to #31, to Earl Bamber.
“We had a great fight up until the last lap and I could come out on top, which was obviously very emotional for me and the whole team because it was a big relief after years of work for them to finally score the victory in GTP.”
Continuing customer success: #5 car takes two more podiums
Continuing its run of brilliant results, the JDC-Miller MotorSports team went on to take two more consecutive podiums at Watkins Glen and Road America.
Another series of bold moves from Heinrich secured the team third place in the 6 Hours of The Glen with the #5 Porsche 963, just one month after its historic win at Laguna Seca.
At Road America, the team gave yet another stellar performance, fighting back from two penalties to finish second.
After lining up last in class and taking two drive-through penalties early on, Heinrich led the charge with two hours to go, taking over for the final stint.
Exiting the pits in 10th place, the German driver launched the team through the field to cross the line third, before a penalty for a rival boosted the team to second.
The brilliant run of results for the customer team meant Heinrich headed to the penultimate race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway 128-points off the lead in the drivers’ standings.
Porsche Penske Motorsport back on the podium at home
Porsche Penske Motorsport returned to the podium at its home race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the #6 car taking third place.
Estre and Heinrich recovered from a dramatic start at Turn 1 and escaped largely unscathed to emerge as Porsche Penske Motorsport’s main contender.
They remained within reach of the leading group as strategy and the timing of caution periods reshuffled the order.
Heinrich mounted a strong recovery during the final stint, climbing from sixth to third before bringing the #6 Porsche 963 home just 5.202 seconds behind the winning BMW.
The result left Heinrich with a mathematical chance of the Drivers’ crown ahead of the season-ending Petit Le Mans.
It was a tough day for the #7 car, which suffered extensive damage in the Turn 1 incident, but the team rallied together and was able to repair the car in just 20 minutes.
They went on to finish 11th, but the team’s hard work shone through.
Ending the season on top: #6 crew wins Petit Le Mans
After a hard-fought, and at times challenging season, Porsche Penske Motorsport signed off the 2026 IMSA campaign with a hard-fought win in the 29th edition of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
The #6 crew of Campbell, Estre and Vanthoor took the team’s third win of the year - and marked a clean sweep of overall wins at Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans between the two factory GTP entries.
It was the second overall Petit Le Mans victory for Porsche, since 2015, when Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet drove a GTLM class Porsche 911 RSR to overall victory in a shortened wet race.
But it was the first overall win with a prototype, and was all three drivers’ first overall victories in the 10-hour endurance classic.
As ever, it was a thrilling edition of the Georgian sportscar favourite, featuring 16 full course yellow periods and a brief stoppage due to the weather.
After making strong progress early on, as the sun began to set, the #6 car hit its stride, and with an hour to go, they took the lead.
From there, Vanthoor was faultless - building an advantage up again until the final caution period, then surviving a late attack on the race’s final restart to close out the season with top honours.
Porsche finished the 2026 season in second place in the manufacturers’ standings, as Heinrich finished his first season behind the wheel of the Porsche 963 as runner-up.
Porsche also retained its Michelin Endurance Cup Manufacturers’ Champions status, taking that accolade for a third year in a row.
Celebrating in style: 75 Years of Porsche Motorsport liveries
Porsche Penske Motorsport celebrated 75 Years of Porsche Motorsport in style across the 2026 season, with a series of stunning liveries to mark the occasion.
First up was Sebring, and a GT1-inspired white, red and blue livery commemorating the 30th anniversary of Porsche’s partnership with Mobil 1.
Paying tribute to the GT1’s success in the late 1990s, the colour scheme harked back to the car’s sensational win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998.
It was a 16th – and record-breaking – win for Porsche at the iconic race, and those colours went on to score another victory in 2026 at the Floridian 12-hour race.
For Long Beach and Laguna Seca, the team ran two very special Apple tribute liveries.
The first, for the street race at Long Beach, commemorated the collaboration between Porsche and Apple Music with a white, black, pink and red colour scheme.
The partnership between Apple Music and Porsche dates back to 2019, when built-in Apple Music was introduced in the Porsche Taycan.
The following round at Laguna Seca, the team ran an Apple Computer-inspired livery based on the Porsche 935 K3, which competed in major events including the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1980.
The one-off design celebrated two anniversaries at the same time: 75 years of Porsche Motorsport and 50 years of Apple.
The two works Porsche 963 featured not only the “Apple Computer” lettering but also distinctive coloured stripes in green, yellow, two shades of red, as well as purple and blue.
Finally, at Road America, the team sported two iconic throwback liveries to mark the special anniversaries celebrated by both Porsche Motorsport and Team Penske, which held its 60th anniversary in 2026.
For the first time, the #6 and #7 cars featured different liveries.
The #6 ran the blue-and-yellow livery of the 1973 Porsche 917/30, in which Mark Donohue dominated the 200-mile Can-Am event.
The sister car featured the yellow livery of the Porsche RS Spyder, with Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas taking the LMP2 prototype to an overall victory in 2007.
One season ends, another begins: The 2027 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Though the 2026 campaign has now drawn to a close, the 2027 season gets underway in January with the championship’s biggest event: The 24 Hours of Daytona.
Taking place on January 28-29, the blue riband race is a brilliant way to kick off the motorsport season. It is preceded by the Roar Before the 24, from January 22-24.
The championship then heads to Sebring in March for its 75th running, before the Grand Prix of Long Beach in April.
Laguna Seca follows on April 30 - May 2, before two races in June in Detroit and the 6 Hours of the Glen.
The championship heads to Road America in August, followed by the Battle on the Bricks in September.
The season will once again end with Petit Le Mans from October 6-9 at Road Atlanta.
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