Sports car racing keeps things interesting. We are coming off a year where there was a new manufacturer joining the top echelon of sports car racing, and looking ahead we have a year where another new manufacturer will join the top echelon of sports car racing.
There is plenty of competition to keep you busy in the sports car world, for world championships to domestic series, and it will all start soon enough. It technically has already started as the Asian Le Mans Series season got underway earlier this month, but there is still plenty to preview and predict ahead of the New Year.
FIA World Endurance Championship
1. Genesis Magma will score more points than Aston Martin's 2025 total
New year, and another new manufacturer is joining the WEC grid. Genesis Magma Racing is making its debut with the Genesis GMR-001. Pipo Derani and André Lotterer were contracted to lead the development of this program, and the team has added Mathieu Jaminet, Daniel Juncadella, Paul-Loup Chatin and Mathys Jaubert to round out the lineup.
The driver ability is there. The question will be the car.
The 2025 season saw the debut of the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH, a long-awaited entry into the series, which had sat on the shelf for a period of time. For all the attention it got for the noise from its 6.5 liter V12 engine, it only scored 24 points. Its only points finishes were the final two races. The #009 Aston Martin was fifth at Fuji and seventh at Bahrain.
Genesis has been testing since August and it did a 32-hour test at Portimão in September. That doesn't mean it is going to run well, but I think Genesis scores earlier. It might just be a few points here and there, but they add up. There could be a big result later in the season that helps get Genesis exceed that 24-point total.
2. There will be fewer 1-2 overall finishes for manufacturers
Four out of eight races had a 1-2 finish for a manufacturer.
Ferrari went 1-2-3 in Qatar and 1-2 at Spa-Francorchamps. Cadillac's lone victory of the season at Interlagos was also a 1-2 result. Toyota closed the 2025 season with a 1-2 in Bahrain.
In 2024, there was only one 1-2 result for a manufacturer, and it was the race a privateer team won. Hertz Team Jota won at Spa-Francorchamps while still a Porsche team ahead of the Porsche Penske Motorsport outfit.
I don't see it happening again where the only day Cadillac or Toyota win a race also being a 1-2 result. I don't see if Aston Martin has one good race both cars end up 1-2. I think that will just be a quirk for 2025.
3. Every winner in LMGT3 will have a podium finish that isn't first
In 2025, six different entries won in LMGT3, but for four of those cars, their only podium finish was first-place.
The championship-winning #92 Manthey Porsche won twice, but its next best finish was fourth. The #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus won twice as well, and also had its next best finish be fourth. The #33 TF Sport Corvette won the season opener and never finished better than sixth the rest of the season. The #95 United Autosport McLaren won at Austin, and its next best finish all season was seventh.
For it to happen once is one thing, but for four of the six winners to have their only trips to the podium be victories is staggering.
Now, it did happen three times in 2024, and it happened twice in the final year of GTE-Am in 2023. However, I predict a strong market correction and it doesn't happen at all in 2026, even if history says it is going to happen at least once.
4. Among the top five in the LMGT3 championship, British drivers are in the top two most-represented nationalities
Last season in LMGT3, there was a lack of British drivers in the top ten of the championship. There were only two.
Ian James was fourth with Heart of Racing Aston Martin, and Jonny Edgar was sixth with TF Sport.
Meanwhile, there were six Italians, three Americans, two Austrians and two Frenchmen. No other nationalities were represented multiple times. In the championship top five, there were three Italians, two Americans and two Austrians.
There are a few more Brits in LMGT3 this year. James and Edgar will each be back in their respective entries, and Edgar was only four points off cracking the top five in 2025.
James Cottingham will be in a Manthey Porsche. Ben Tuck is back in a Proton Competition Ford. Darren Leung has moved to Team WRT BMW and Dan Harper will be in the other Team WRT entry. Tom Fleming will be in a McLaren with Garage 59.
It will likely take at least three drivers to crack the top two most-represented. It feels possible.
IMSA
5. Six GTP entries have consecutive podium finishes
Last season, five different entries had a run of consecutive podium finishes at some point.
The #7 Porsche won the first three races and then finished second. The #6 Porsche had five consecutive podium finishes to open the season. The #24 Team RLL BMW was third in consecutive races at Long Beach and Laguna Seca. Wayne Taylor Racing's #10 Cadillac went second and third at Detroit and Watkins Glen. The #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac ended the season with a pair of victories.
But a sixth entry having consecutive podium finishes at some point in the season? Really? Is that possible? Well, it happened in 2022 and 2023. There were only six full-time entries in 2022, so that made it a lot easier, but even with all the cars in GTP for 2026, six of them will have consecutive podium finishes at some point during the season.
6. At least four drivers reach 15 career victories
There are made notable names approaching this milestone.
Felipe Nasr is on 14 career victories, as is Jon Field, who will be back in LMP2 as Intersport Racing has returned to competition. Felipe Albuquerque, Sébastien Bourdais, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell are all on 13 victories, though Campbell will become an Endurance Cup driver for Porsche in 2026. Jack Hawksworth has 12 victories.
Those are seven drivers within three victories of the 15 milestone. I say just over half get there in 2025. Nasr feels almost certain to get one victory. With how well Porsche did, you would think Vanthoor could pick up two as well. Albuquerque, Bourdais and Hawksworth all went winless in 2025. All three aren't going to be shutout again in 2026. One will definitely win, and in all likelihood at least two will, and multiple victories cannot be ruled out.
7. At least four nationalities are represented between the two GT class winners at Road America
Last year at Road America, the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen won in GTD Pro, and the #021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari of Kenton Koch and Onofrio Triarsi won in GTD. That is four American winners among the drivers.
However, in 2026, Road America is going to be a six-hour race. In the five endurance races on the 2025 calendar, at least four nationalities were represented among the winning GT drivers in four of them (Watkins Glen was the exception).
We aren't going to see an all-American set of winners again. With third drivers likely in some entries, we are going to see more possibilities. I think there will be multiple flags being waved for these winners.
8. Two class champions also win the Endurance Cup championships
The champions are rarely the Endurance Cup champions.
Last year, the Endurance Cup champions were third in GTP, second in LMP2, fourth in GTD Pro, and the Endurance Cup-only #21 AF Corse Ferrari won the title in GTD.
In 2024, two of the champions were also Endurance Cup champions, the #7 Porsche in GTP and the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG in GTD. It also happened in 2023 when the #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac took both titles in GTP and the #74 Riley entry did it in LMP3.
It feels quick for it to happen again, but I think we see a bit of a swing from 2025, and the top teams from the entire season will be on top at the endurance races as well.
Other
9. There will be at least four European Le Mans Series overall winners that have consecutive letters in their last name
Looking at the ELMS entry list, there are a fair number of LMP2 drivers with consecutive letters in their last name.
Pietro Fittipaldi
Ryan Cullen
Louis Rousset
Enzo Trulli
Griffin Peebles
Alex Quinn
Richard Verschoor
Tom Dillmann has two sets of consecutive letters!
Nick Yelloly
François Perrodo
P.J. Hyett
Last year, three drivers with consecutive letters in their last name won overall, Perrodo, Daniel Juncadella and Esteban Masson. I think that number increases this season.
10. In the Matt Bell battle, LMGT3 Matt Bell will have the better class finish over LMP3 Matt Bell in majority of the races
Two drivers, one name, and the Matt Bell confusion will hit its greatest heights in 2025 when both drivers will be competing in the European Le Mans Series.
Matthew Richard Bell will be competing in the #11 Eurointernational Liger in LMP3. Matthew Thomas Bell will be competing in the #33 TF Sport Corvette in LMGT3.
In the last two seasons, Matthew Richard Bell and Eurointernational has finished second in the LMP3 championship. Matthew Thomas Bell has not compete in ELMS since 2024 when he ran an LMP2 Pro-Am entry with Team Virage. He spent the last three seasons in IMSA, and the last two in a Corvette GT3 with AWA.
Eurointernational has been a strong team in LMP3, but I think Matthew Thomas Bell with TF Sport will pull off better results than Matthew Richard Bell in LMP3.
11. No drivers win in multiple entries in Intercontinental GT Challenge
Last year, Kelvin van der Linde took the Intercontinental GT Challenge championship as van der Linde won four of the five races. He won the four races in three different entries.
At the Bathurst 12 Hour, he won in the #32 Team WRT BMW. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring with the #99 ROWE Racing BMW. Van der Linde was back in the #32 Team WRT BMW for the Suzuka 1000 km, but he won in the #46 Team WRT BMW at the Indianapolis 8 Hour.
What happens in 2026? No driver wins in multiple entries. It is going to be pretty straight forward. If you win in one car, then you are going to win in that car later in the season, if you win again.
12. The number of home race winners in GT World Challenge Asia at least doubles
We don't talk about GT World Challenge Asia often in this space, and we aren't going to increase our coverage, but we need another prediction and we need to mix it up.
In 2025, twice where there home race winners. Malaysian Prince Jefri Ibrahim won at Sepang, and Chinese due Ye Yifei and Zhang Yaqi won in Beijing.
In 2026, there will be two rounds in China, as well as two rounds in Japan, plus Sepang remains and Mandalika is also on the schedule representing Indonesia.
With an additional Chinese round, we are highly likely to see another race with home winners, and while Japanese drivers are not overly abundant in GTWC Asia, you would think after being shut out and having no Japanese drivers win overall in 2024 and 2025, at least one will do it in 2026, and there are two Japanese rounds where it could happen.
Four predictions are now complete, and you can catch up on NASCAR, motorcycle racing and Formula One predictions before we conclude the year with IndyCar predictions.
