Track Walk: Detroit 2026

The eighth round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season officially closes the month of May, but it is not in Speedway, Indiana, rather it is on the streets of Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The midway point of the season is approaching quickly and we have had five winners already this season. Ten drivers have stood on the podium and 13 drivers have finished in the top five. Twenty-two drivers have scored a top ten finish already. This will be the fourth year back on the downtown Detroit course. There has yet to be a repeat winner. Dating back to the final races on Belle Isle, there have been six different winners in the last six Detroit races.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday May 31 with green flag scheduled for 12:52 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 3:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 9:00 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 1:00 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 9:35 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 12:52 p.m. ET (100 laps)

Where Do We Stand?

Through seven rounds, Álex Palou continues to lead the championship but with fewer points than expected after the Indianapolis 500. In post-race inspection, it was found Palou's front wing height was not within regulation in terms of minimum and maximum heights. IndyCar officials determined the result of this violation was due to assembly errors and not an intentional modification. Instead of disqualification, Palou and the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing team each lost five points in the drivers' and entrants' championships, and the team was fine $10,000. 

The points penalty does not hurt Palou that much as he was seventh in the race with 12 points for pole position plus an additional three points for leading the most laps in the Indianapolis 500. Instead of leaving with 41 points, Palou scored 36 points in the "500," the fifth-most points scored in the race. Without the penalty, Palou would have scored the third-most points in the race, behind only Felix Rosenqvist and David Malukas, the top two finishers in the race.

Palou sits on 273 points, and he has a 37-point lead over Malukas. With his worst two finishes in the last two races, Kyle Kirkwood has dropped to third in the championship. Kirkwood's top ten finish streak ended at seven consecutive races, dating back to last season's Nashville finale, as he was 16th in the Indianapolis 500. He trails Palou by 49 points. 

Arrow McLaren rounds out the top five in the championship. Despite an anonymous Indianapolis 500, Christian Lundgaard is fourth in the championship 78 points back. Patricio O'Ward is fifth in the championship, 85 points behind Palou. Scott McLaughlin's surge to third in the Indianapolis 500 has him 92 points off the championship lead in sixth.

An Indianapolis 500 victory lifts Felix Rosenqvist from 11th to seventh in the championship and he is 97 points behind Palou. There is a tie for eighth between Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon, two drivers who likely know they could have finished better at Indianapolis than where they wound up in the final result. Newgarden owns the tiebreaker thanks to his Phoenix victory, but both drivers are 106 points for the top of the championship. Marcus Armstrong remained tenth in the championship after his fifth-place finish. Armstrong is 119 points from the top spot. 

Graham Rahal dropped to 11th in the championship on 151 points, but there is some breathing room to Marcus Ericsson in 12th, who has 129 points. Seven points cover Ericsson in 12th to 15th and 18 points covers 12th to 18th. 

Alexander Rossi is on 127 points, two more than Rinus VeeKay while Santino Ferrucci is 15th on 122 points. Kyffin Simpson sits on 116 points, four more than Will Power. Dennis Hauger is the top rookie in 18th on 111 points.

From Hauger, there is another 16 points back to Louis Foster and Nolan Siegel, who are tied for 19th. Foster owns the tiebreaker as his best finish is seventh to Siegel's tenth. Despite finishing ninth at Indianapolis, Romain Grosjean is still 21st in the championship on 92 points. 

Another 16-point gulf opens to the bottom four drivers in the championship. Caio Collet has 76 points while Christian Rasmussen is on 71 points. Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Mick Schumacher is off the very bottom of the championship, but he is still only on 66 points. Sting Ray Robb rounds out the top 25 on 62 points.

Turning a New Leaf

Felix Rosenqvist heads to Detroit with the wind beneath his wings. Rosenqvist's 98-race winless streak is over. It is the second-most starts between victories in IndyCar history. At five years, ten months and 13 days between victories, it is the 17th-longest stretch between victories in IndyCar history. With 120 starts under his belt and coming off the greatest triumph of his career, Rosenqvist can look forward to rising to another level. 

Prior to Indianapolis, this had not been the greatest start to the season. Rosenqvist had not finished in the top ten in the first four races. He lost a potential top ten at Arlington for passing early on the final restart and was relegated to 19th. He did win pole position in Long Beach and led the most laps before finishing second to Álex Palou. However, in next race at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Rosenqvist's day was derailed from the opening corner when he earned an avoidable contact penalty for contact in turn one with Patricio O'Ward. Contact in the penultimate corner later in the race with Kyffin Simpson ended Rosenqvist's day and placed him 23rd. 

This was the third time in his eight IndyCar seasons Rosenqvist failed to score a top ten finish in the first four races of the season. However, things have been turning around. The Swede has started in the top five in four of the last five races. At Long Beach, he and Meyer Shank Racing were plain beat but made no mistakes. Palou was just better.

At Meyer Shank Racing, Rosenqvist has found good form. While in his first season he was 12th in the championship, level to where he was in his final season with Arrow McLaren, Rosenqvist improved to sixth in the championship last year. His four top five finishes were his most since he had six in his rookie season in 2019. His ten top ten finishes in 2025 matched his best in a single season. 

This Detroit circuit has been a reasonably good place for Rosenqvist, but it has provided some difficult moments. While he started ninth and finished third in 2023, he had to start 22nd in 2024 and he suffered a tire puncture on the opening lap. However, the cautions kept him in the fight and he was able to secure an eighth-place finish. Last year, he had an early spin but had no damage. He climbed his way back into position for a top ten finish until Louis Foster had a suspension failure directly behind Rosenqvist entering the hairpin and collided with the back of the Swede. This left Rosenqvist 21st in the final results.

Rosenqvist has scored at least one podium finish in seven of his eight IndyCar seasons. The 2021 season is the one outlier. However, Rosenqvist has never had consecutive podium finishes in his career. This is only the third season in which he has had multiple podium results. He had two in his rookie season in 2019 and he had two in 2023, his final year with McLaren. 

The last driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the following race was Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000. Since 2001, only four times has the Indianapolis 500 winner finished on the podium in the next race, and all four of those drivers finished second. Dario Franchitti was second to Tony Kanaan at Milwaukee in 2007. Scott Dixon was second to Ryan Briscoe at Milwaukee in 2008. In 2012, Franchitti was second at Belle Isle to Dixon. Takuma Sato was runner-up to Dixon at Gateway in 2020. 

Only twice in Rosenqvist's career has he had consecutive top five finishes. He ended his rookie season in 2019 with finishes of second and fifth at Portland and Laguna Seca respectively. Last season, he was fifth at Thermal Club and then fourth at Long Beach.

Malukas' Close Calls

As much as we basked in Felix Rosenqvist's celebration, the anguish in David Malukas' face when he finally stepped out of his car after the Indianapolis 500 left an indelible mark on how we will remember the 110th Indianapolis 500. 

Malukas was second after starting second. He led 30 laps, the third-most in the race behind only Álex Palou's 59 and Scott Dixon's 32. Malukas had made a pass for the lead at the start of the final lap on Marcus Armstrong, only to be 0.0233 seconds short of victory when it came time to take the checkered flag, the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history. It was the 17th-closest finish in IndyCar history. This was the second consecutive year Malukas finished second in the Indianapolis 500. He became the seventh driver to have consecutive runner-up finishes in the famed race.

For all the pain Malukas expressed, it should not cloud out what has been an excellent start to the 2026 season. In his first year with Team Penske, Malukas has been the best Team Penske finisher in four of seven races, and he has been the best Penske starter in six consecutive races. 

Entering this season, Malukas has three career podium finishes. He has had three podium finishes in the last six races. Malukas has six consecutive top ten finishes. His most top ten finishes in a single season was six in 2023. He has led 130 laps through the first seven races this season. He had led 128 laps in his first four seasons in IndyCar. 

Is victory coming for Malukas? 

The Indianapolis 500 runner-up has respectable results in the subsequent race in recent years. Over the previous five years, the runner-up has finished in the top ten three times and has finished no worse than 15th. However, the only top five finisher was Patricio O'Ward, who was fifth at Belle Isle after being second at Indianapolis in 2022. 

The most recent Indianapolis 500 runner-up to respond with a victory in the next race was Scott Dixon in 2020. He was second at Indianapolis and then he won at Gateway. Prior to that, the next most recent runner-up to win the next race was... Scott Dixon in 2012, who won at Belle Isle after finishing second to Dario Franchitti at Indianapolis. 

Since 1996, there have been two other occasions where the "500" runner-up responded with a victory. Paul Tracy did it in 2002, but his victory came in CART at Milwaukee. Tony Kanaan was second to Buddy Rice in the 2004 Indianapolis 500 and Kanaan followed it with a victory at Texas.

Generally, the Indianapolis 500 runner-up has done well in the next race. Since 1996, that driver has an average finish of 8.333 in the following race, and only twice has the Indianapolis 500 runner-up finished outside the top twenty in the following race during that span. Those drivers were Vitor Meira in 2008, who was 22nd at Milwaukee, and J.R. Hildebrand in 2011, who was 23rd in the first Texas race of a doubleheader weekend. 

This will be Malukas' 69th career start. The most recent driver to have a first career victory come after a second place finish was Robert Doornbos in 2007. Doornbos was second at Cleveland and then won at Mont-Tremblant the following weekend.

Starting Over

It is not quite the halfway point, but seven races is a healthy chunk of the season and results have become trends. The best teams are the best teams and the ones finishing at the back are no longer just having poor days. A few teams will be looking for a reset after Indianapolis, even the teams that have been doing somewhat adequate. 

Andretti Global is not entirely in the gutter, but it is hoping to turn things around after the two race weekend in Indianapolis, specifically Will Power.

Power has finished outside the top ten in six of seven races. A third in Arlington is his only saving grace this season. His race results are not being helped by his qualifying results either. Four times he has started 19th or worse this season. In those four races, his average finish is 17.5. This includes his 29th-place result in the Indianapolis 500 after suffering a gearbox failure. 

In the one race Power has started in the top five, he was on the podium. He has not started on the front row since he was on pole position for Gateway last June, a 16-race streak. 

Marcus Ericsson has been better than Power, but the last three races have been rather rough on the Swede. After opening the season with three top ten finishes in the first four races, including a fourth from his first career pole position in Arlington, he has finished outside the top ten in three consecutive races. Mechanical issues took him out at Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Ericsson had a good drive in the Indianapolis 500, and could have finished in the top ten, but the pit strategy shuffled him back to 13th. 

Kyle Kirkwood is looking to stop the bleeding. A 16th in the "500" isn't the end of the world, but it stings when his two main championship rivals have both finished ahead of him in the last two races. Like Ericsson, Kirkwood had a good drive into the top ten during the "500" but the way pit strategy shook out, it left Kirkwood mired back in 16th when a top ten was achievable. 

The good news for Kirkwood is he has finished in the top five of all three street races this season, and he has 12 consecutive top ten finishes in street races dating back to his victory in Nashville in 2023.

Though he has a victory this season, Josef Newgarden is likely smarting after his accident while running in the top five of the Indianapolis 500. Newgarden's Team Penske teammates finishing second and third are not helping him either. It was the second consecutive year Newgarden has retired from the "500." While he is eighth in the championship, results have not exceptional. 

Newgarden won at Phoenix, but he has been the worst Penske finisher in three races. Phoenix is the only time he has been the top Penske driver. He has not had a top five finish on a street course since he was third at St. Petersburg in 2025. His most recent street course victory was over four years ago at Long Beach in 2022. He has not had consecutive top five finishes since he was third in the 2024 Nashville finale and then third in the 2025 St. Petersburg season opener. The last time Newgarden had consecutive top five results within the same season was first at Gateway and third at Portland in 2024. 

The Andretti drivers and Newgarden are four drivers who want to be better but haven't been bad, except for Power. A few teams really could use a great result. 

Christian Rasmussen is outside the Leader Circle spots through seven races. Though few drivers have been closer to victory this season than Rasmussen was at Phoenix, his multiple glances with the wall dropped him to 14th in the final result. It remains his best finish of the season. Mechanical issues took him out of both races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Mick Schumacher has still not finished better than 17th this season. While he ran ever lap at the Indianapolis 500, he is the worst rookie in the championship, and he is ten points outside a Leader Circle spot. Sting Ray Robb is the only one spot beneath Schumacher, and Robb has finished outside the top twenty in six of seven races. Schumacher's entry and Robb's entry are two of the three charter entries that finished outside the Leader Circle money in 2025, making it imperative they get back in the money this season. 

The Leader Circle scrap is quickly becoming a four-driver fight for those final three spots. For all the praise Caio Collet received for his Indianapolis performance prior to his accident, Collet has still finished outside the top fifteen in four consecutive races and in six of seven races this season. Three of his last four results have been finishes outside the top twenty. 

Collet is on the Leader Circle bubble, but he is 16 points from breathing room in 21st and only five points out of the cellar. 

Indy Lights

After two weeks off, Indy Lights is back in action for its seventh round of the season from the streets of Detroit. 

Finishes of third and sixth on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was enough for Nikita Johnson to retain the championship lead. Johnson will have a busy weekend on his hands as he is also competing in the IMSA race driving the #59 McLaren for RLL Team McLaren. 

Johnson has 231 points and he is 11 points ahead of Tymek Kucharczyk, who has yet to finish worse than fifth this season and who scored his first victory in the second IMS road course race. Kucharczyk spent last weekend competing in the USF Pro 2000 race from Indianapolis Raceway Park to gain oval experience. He was third in that race.

Max Taylor dropped to third in the championship, but Taylor is only 14 points off the championship lead. He was fifth and second on the IMS road course. Enzo Fittipaldi won the first race of the IMS road course doubleheader, and he was third in the second race. Fittipaldi is 16 points behind Johnson. 

A gulf is opening between the top four in the championship and the rest of the field. Lochie Hughes is fifth  on 167 points. Hughes was second and fourth at IM. Alessandro de Tullio started on pole position for the fourth time this season in the first IMS race, but he was ninth in that race and fifth in the second. De Tullio is on 162 points. 

Neither Juan Manuel Correa nor Jordan Missig had a top ten finish at IMS, but they are still seventh and eighth in the championship. Correa has 134 points and Missig has 125 points. Myles Rowe was seventh in the first race, but brake issues ended his second IMS road course race and placed him last. Rowe is ninth in the championship on 119 points, one ahead of Sebastian Murray.

Indy Lights will race at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday May 31. The race is scheduled for 45 las or 55 minutes.

IMSA

As is tradition in Detroit, IMSA joins IndyCar in the Motor City and headlines the Saturday action with a 100-minute sprint race. The GTP and GTD Pro classes will be on track and feature 21 cars.

With three victories from the first four races, Laurin Heinrich leads the GTP championship on his own. After winning the first two races with Porsche Penske Motorsport, Heinrich and Tijmen van der Helm won at Laguna Seca with the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche. Heinrich has 1,396 points while van der Helm is sixth on 1,159 points. 

In second is Jack Aitken, who has four podium finishes from the first four races, including three runner-up results. Aitken is 21 points behind Heinrich in the #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac. Earl Bamber missed the Long Beach round due to FIA World Endurance Championship responsibilities, and he is 11th in the championship. 

After winning the first two races, the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche of Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer is 73 points behind their third driver. Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor are fourth on 1,250 points in the #6 Porsche. 

Meyer Shank Racing won in Detroit last year with the #93 Acura of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly, and the #93 Acura is on 1,242 points in fifth thanks to victory in Long Beach. The #60 MSR Acura of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Bruan are on 1,126 points and has finished fourth in two races this season.

Each BMW has a third-place finish this season. The #24 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor is on 1,139 points while the #25 BMW of Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann has 1,035 points.

It has been a rough season for Wayne Taylor Racing. Its best finish this season was sixth with the #40 Cadillac of Louis Delétraz and Jordan Taylor. The #10 Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor has finished 11th in three of four races with its best result being tenth. 

The #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn is coming off its best finish of the season, eighth in Laguna Seca. 

Corvette enters as the GTD Pro championship leaders with Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner on 971 points. The #4 Corvette has not won yet this season, but it has finished fourth, third and second in the first three races. Daytona winners Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen are 51 points behind the Dutch-American duo in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW. AO Racing has the #77 Porsche in third with Harry King and Nick Tandy on 908 points after a pair of podium finishes in the last two races. 

Ford Racing is coming off a victory in Laguna Seca with the #65 Mustang of Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch. Mies and Vervisch sit on 897 points, 70 points ahead of the #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Alexander Sims. Pfaff Motorsport is sixth on 785 points with Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell in the #9 Lamborghini. Max Esterson and Nikita Johnson have scored 734 points in the #59 RLL Team McLaren. Ben Barker and Dennis Olsen have scored 731 points in the #64 Ford. The #64 Ford won this race last year with Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx.

VasserSullivan Lexus is last in the championship with the #14 Lexus on 720 points, but Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth have starting on pole position in the last two races. VasserSullivan is entering an extra car for this round. Aaron Telitz and Chaz Mostert will share the #15 Lexus.

The 100-minute IMSA race will take place at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday May 30. 

Fast Facts

This will be the 14th IndyCar race to take place on May 31, and the first since Sébastien Bourdais won the second Belle Isle race in 2015.

The first seven races to take place on May 31 were Indianapolis 500s. 

This race falls on the 40th anniversary of Bobby Rahal's only Indianapolis 500 victory. 

This race alls on the 23rd anniversary of Michel Jourdain, Jr.'s first career victory at Milwaukee, setting the record for most starts before a first career victory in IndyCar history at 129 starts.

Santino Ferrucci will turn 28 years old on race day. 

There have been nine birthday winners in IndyCar history, most recently Dan Wheldon won on his 30th birthday at Iowa on June 22, 2008. 

In three races on this Detroit street course configuration, the average starting position for a winner is third. Álex Palou won from pole position in 2023, Scott Dixon won from fifth in 2024, and Kyle Kirkwood won from third last year.

Seventeen consecutive street races have been won from a top ten starting position. The most recent street course race won from outside the top ten was Nashville in 2022. Scott Dixon won from 14th.

Thirty consecutive IndyCar races have been won from a top ten starting position. The most recent race won from outside the top ten was the second Iowa race in 2024. Will Power won from 22nd.

In the last two Detroit races, at least one podium finisher started outside the top fifteen. Marcus Armstrong went from 19th to third in 2024. Santino Ferrucci went from 21st to second in 2025.

Last year, Kyle Kirkwood won after making three pit stops. The first two Detroit races were won with two-stop strategies. Last year, no driver made fewer than three pit stops. 

In 2023, the top five finishers and eight of the top ten finishers made it on two stops. 

In 2024, three of the top four finishers made it on two stops, but the rest of the top 13 finishers made at least four pit stops, and the only other of the 17 lead lap finisher to make only three pit stops was Rinus VeeKay in 14th.

In each race on this Detroit configuration has the winner led the most laps. 

Honda has won all three races on this Detroit configuration, and Honda has won all three street course races this season.

The average number of lead changes at Detroit is 8.667. There were ten lead changes in 2023, five lead changes in 2024 and 11 lead changes in 2025. 

The latest lead change that has occurred in the last three Detroit races was last year on lap 79 when Kyle Kirkwood took the lead from Santino Ferrucci

The average number of cautions at Detroit is 6.667. There were seven cautions in 2023, eight cautions in 2024 and five cautions in 2025. The average number of caution laps is 29.333. There were 32 caution laps in 2023, 47 caution laps in 2024 and 19 caution laps in 2025.

Last year was the first time IndyCar avoided an opening lap caution in three runs on this Detroit course. Last year, the first caution did not come out until lap 14.

The longest green flag run to complete a race was 27 laps in 2024.

Predictions

Álex Palou, but if it isn't Álex Palou, though it might really be Palou, Kyle Kirkwood will be tough to beat for his second consecutive Detroit race, and if it isn't Kirkwood, the only other driver to finish in the top five of all three street course races this season is Patricio O'Ward. Felix Rosenqvist will make the Fast Six, but he will only finish in the top ten. We will see the fewest caution laps on this Detroit course configuration for the second consecutive year. There will not be any pit lane shenanigans where someone makes up ten spots and suddenly is running much better when previously being unrecognized. Sleeper: Marcus Armstrong.

Best of the Month: April 2026

And now a third of the year is complete. Where does the time go? It wasn't long ago night was longer than the day, temperatures were rather frigid, and most motorsports seasons had yet to start. Now, our days continue to grow longer, most days do not require a jacket and pretty much every series has started. We have been keeping ourselves busy, and there are still more races ahead. There is plenty to look forward to. 

Some major races are to come, but a few major races have already taken place. One saw a notable winner who deserves recognition.

Renger van der Zande

The Dutchman has won in every season since IMSA reunification. At Long Beach, van der Zande extended his streak to 13 consecutive seasons. He is the only one to be victorious in every season since the American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am came together.

Neither Taylor brother has done it. It isn't Bill Auberlen or Antonio García. Dane Cameron doesn't have this record. Felipe Nasr was still in Formula One when this streak began. Kevin Magnussen was a Formula One rookie. Filipe Albuquerque was an Audi driver and about to make his Le Mans debut. Tom Blomqvist was competing against Esteban Ocon and Max Verstappen in Formula Three.

At no point was this expected. Van der Zande came to America in the Prototype Challenge class, recruited to drive with Mirco Schultis. Van der Zande had good Formula Three results. He spent a year in a year-old car in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. This journey started in ALMS with DragonSpeed. After reunification, Schultis and van der Zande went to Starworks in the same class.

The first victory was at Laguna Seca. It was a split class race. The pro-am classes raced together on a Sunday morning. Later that season, Schultis and van der Zande won at Road America before closing the season wit a victory at Petit Le Mans. Two more victories followed in 2015. Four victories and a championship with Alex Popow came after that in 2016.

In 2017, Spirit of Daytona Racing called van der Zande and he was promoted into the Prototype class. He left his mark at Laguna Seca with a daring pass on Dane Cameron in the Corkscrew to take the lead and ultimately the victory. Van der Zande was only at Spirit of Daytona for a year because Wayne Taylor Racing came calling. He nearly didn't win in his first year, but van der Zande pulled out a victory at Petit Le Mans to close the year. In the next two seasons, van der Zande won the 24 Hours of Daytona. 

Van der Zande moved with Cadillac to Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021. He and Kevin Magnussen won at Belle Isle. With Sébastien Bourdais as his teammate in 2022, they won three times. Bourdais and van der Zande won again at Laguna Seca in 2023 and then Long Beach and Petit Le Mans in 2024.

Last year, van der Zande moved to Meyer Shank Racing with Acura. He and Nick Yelloly won at Detroit. Now, the duo returns to Laguna Seca fresh off a victory at Long Beach, van der Zande's third in the famed event. 

That is 23 victories in 13 seasons on 11 different circuits. IMSA doesn't race at Lime Rock Park or Circuit of the Americas, but van der Zande has won there. He has had 13 different co-drivers be a part of those winning teams. Popow and Bourdais were his most frequent victorious stablemates. Schultis is close behind. During this streak, van der Zande has also won races with Scott Dixon, Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso.

We give van der Zande his flowers because we really don't know what the future will look like beyond 2026 for him. With Acura pausing its GTP program at the end of this season, it is unclear where he could go. Perhaps a privateer takes up the Acura program and keeps him in a job, but that is an unlikely outcome. The GTP class might be closer to a crossroads than it thought it would be. Acura is stopping. Porsche already pulled out of the FIA World Endurance Championship. There does not sound like there is great interest from Genesis and future LMDh manufacturers Ford and McLaren in racing in IMSA. 

There might not be any vacancy for van der Zander to fill come next season, at least not in the top class. LMP2 could be the fallback, but it would be a loss seeing such a talent not in the top category. 

Van der Zande turned 40 this February. Sneaky old if we are being honest. He feels like a kid but he is very much a veteran. The runway is getting shorter. The end is closer than we think. It could come before anyone wants it to happen. 

Before we get to that moment, it is only proper to honor a driver that is rather unsung. Van der Zande is not the face of IMSA. He isn't the social media darling. No one is pushing him to the forefront to be an ambassador for the series. He isn't known for rubbing elbows at NASCAR races or IndyCar races. Despite this, for over a decade, we can almost count on van der Zande winning a race. Let's hope we get many more years of his participation in IMSA, and let's not take for granted each race over the rest of 2026.

May Preview

Two races remain in the AMA Supercross season, and the championship will go to one of three gentlemen. In all likelihood, it will be one of two men going to the wire. 

With four victories in the last five races, Ken Roczen has taken the championship lead with 310 points, four ahead of Hunter Lawrence. Mathematically, Cooper Webb has a chance to defend his championship and claim his third Supercross title, as Webb is 34 points behind Roczen after finishing runner-up in the last three races. 

Roczen is 31 years old and he is in 12th season in the 450cc class. Nine years ago, it felt inevitable Roczen would be a champion. He opened the 2017 season with a pair of victories, but he suffered a fractured left arm in the third round, ending his season. He returned in 2018 and was finding his groove before suffering another serious arm injury only six races into his comeback. He went three years between Supercross victories, and while he has had some good runs, Roczen has still struggled with injuries. In three of the last four seasons, an injury has ended his run early. 

This year, he has remained unscathed, and what once appeared to be a fleeting hope is now within his grasp. 

Lawrence rode rather remarkable to start the season, leading the championship before he ever won a race, and then he won three of four in the middle of the season. A few slips have cost him. Detroit saw a fall open the door. An underwhelming Triple Crown round at Cleveland right as it appeared the championship was back in Lawrence's control allowed Roczen to close within touching distance. 

Roczen trudged through the sloppy conditions in Philadelphia to take a comfortable victory and the championship lead. Heading to Denver and Salt Lake City, momentum has swung in favor of the German, but four points is nothing. Neither rider can afford a mistake in the final two rounds. Neither you can guarantee will be clean through the end of the season. 

For each rider, this could be their greatest chance a 450cc Supercross championship. Roczen is not getting any younger. Lawrence and the rest of the competition will likely have to deal with Jett Lawrence, who has been sidelined for this entire 2026 season due to an ankle injury suffered in preseason training, for years to come. Both riders could be staring down their one shot at glory, only intensifying the already building pressure.

Other events of note in May:

IMSA begins the month in Laguna Seca and ends the month on the streets of Detroit. 

The 24 Hours Nürburgring will run on May 9-10 and Max Verstappen is supposed to be there. 

After Berlin, Formula E will race in Monaco. 

MotoGP gets busy with events in Le Mans, Barcelona and Mugello. 

NASCAR has its earliest ever trip to Watkins Glen and an unpopular All-Star Race scheduled at Dover before its 600-miler at Charlotte. Nashville will also take place.

Formula One has consecutive sprint weekends with a trip to Miami, two weeks off and then the Canadian Grand Prix on Memorial Day weekend.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosts a pair of events. It is probably nothing that important though.

Best of the Month: January 2026

In a flash, one month of 2026 is complete. What was once silent is now humming along as the motorsports season has gotten underway. It is not singing at full voice, but it is loud enough to have your attention. Plenty of marquee events have taken place, and that is what makes January special. There are events you cannot ignore. 

January is a good starter to the year. You get enough to be satisfied but not gorge yourself on. There are still a few lulls to come as the season builds, but there have been a few big weekends to put you on edge. More is to come, and there is a good reason to be excited.

Another 24 Hours Behind Us

We end the month of January reviewing the 24 Hours of Daytona, which concluded last weekend. So much happens in a 24-hour race that you need a few days to sift through it all, especially when four classes finish as tightly as they did this year in Daytona. 

History was made, as seems to be a regular occurrence now at Daytona. There were plenty of popular winners. There was also some not-so-popular weather that took over more than a quarter of the race. This year's 24 Hours of Daytona at least has something memorable that we will carry with us for years, and that is before we even got to the checkered flag. 

A winner requires his own attention.

Flowers for Felipe Nasr

For the third consecutive year, Felipe Nasr has won the 24 Hours of Daytona. Nasr joined Peter Gregg and Hélio Castroneves as the only drivers to win Daytona's famed endurance  three consecutive times. Five years ago, only Gregg had done it. Now it has happened twice. It is an incredible achievement either way, what makes Nasr's streak more incredible is he has done it with seven different co-drivers, and none of them have won twice in this three-year period. 

This was not a case of a pairing or a trio carrying on for years. Nasr won in 2024 with co-driver Dane Cameron, endurance driver Matt Campbell, and then Josef Newgarden was also in that team. Ahead of the 2025 season, Porsche Penske Motorsport changed its lineups as Cameron was released, Nick Tandy moved over to the #7 Porsche with Nasr, and Laurens Vanthoor became the endurance driver. This year, Tandy was moved to GTD Pro with AO Racing, Julien Andlauer moved in as the full-time co-driver after spending a season in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Porsche Penske, and Laurin Heinrich  was promoted to the endurance driver role after experiencing great success in GTD Pro with AO Racing.

I am not sure we can find another scenario of that in the major endurance races.

Castroneves won his first 24 Hours of Daytona with Wayne Taylor Racing before moving to Meyer Shank Racing. In each of his years with MSR, Tom Blomqvist and Simon Pagenaud were two of his co-drivers. Gregg and Hurley Haywood each won in 1973 and 1975. No race was held in 1974 due to the energy crisis. Gregg then won with Brian Redman and John Fitzpatrick in 1976. 

Let's expand this to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Ten drivers have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in three consecutive years. Nine drivers have done it three consecutive years and then Tom Kristensen won it six consecutive years. 

Woolf Barnato won in 1928-30. Barnato had a different co-driver all three years (Bernard Rubin, Henry Birkin and Glen Kidston).

Olivier Gendebien won the 1960 race with Paul Frère, but then Gendebien won in 1961 and 1962 with Phil Hill. 

Henri Pescarolo won the 1972 race with Graham Hill, but Pescarolo won the following two years with fellow Frenchman Gérard Larrousse.

Jacky Ickx won three consecutive years after Pescarolo's three-year streak. Ickx had a different co-driver every year. In 1975, it was Derek Bell. In 1976, it was Gijs van Lennep. In 1977, it was Jürgen Barth and Hurley Haywood. 

Then you get to the 2000s and in 2000, 2001 and 2002, Tom Kristensen, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro won all three years with Audi. 

In 2005, another three-year winning streak began with Marco Werner. Werner won with Kristensen and JJ Lehto. In the next two years, Werner won with Biela and Pirro. 

Flash forward to 2018, and Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima started their three-year winning streaks. In the first two years, Fernando Alonso was their third driver. In 2020, Brendon Hartley was a part of the team. 

Focusing on Kristensen for a second, we know the first half of his record winning streak came with the same two co-drivers, Biela and Pirro. In 2003 and 2004, Kristensen had Rinaldo Capello with him. The other co-driver in 2003 was Guy Smith at Bentley. In 2004, Seiji Ara rounded out the Team Goh Audi R8 lineup. Then there was Lehto and Werner in 2005.

Nasr had the same total of different co-drivers in his three-year Daytona winning streak than Kristensen had in his six-year Le Mans winning streak (seven). 

Focusing on Nasr for a second, his ability has been no secret for a long-time now, but it feels like in the last three seasons he has drawn everyone's attention. He already had a championship from his time with Whelen Racing in 2021, but he won another championship in 2024. This was his third Daytona victory. He also has won the 12 Hours of Sebring twice, the 6 Hours of the Glen twice, and he has a Petit Le Mans victory. Let's not forget his brief stint in Formula One where he finished fifth on debut with Sauber.

He has been a special talent for a long time, but we do not celebrate that talent enough in sports car racing, and part of it could be that sports car racing is a multi-driver discipline. You do not know how much is one driver or the other, and you must appreciate both, but Nasr is on his third different co-driver in three years. He has won a championship elsewhere. We can no longer ignore how much comes down to Nasr alone. 

Later this year, Nasr will turn 34 years old. There is a long career ahead of him. It could continue in sports car racing. He is comfortably in IMSA, and with Porsche's exit from the world championship, it is unclear where else it could go. He could be in the world championship and leading a team there to championships and victories at Le Mans. He could also turn his career to IndyCar. He is in the Team Penske fold. He was on the doorstep of his debut at St. Petersburg in March 2020 with Carlin before the event was stopped in its tracks due to the pandemic. Penske brought Scott McLaughlin to IndyCar from a successful Supercars career. Josef Newgarden's contract is not secure beyond 2026. There could be an opening and Penske might already have its man in house. 

We are going to see more extraordinary things from Nasr. We are still at the start.

Foggy

I went to bed around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. I woke up a little after 5:15 a.m. on Sunday. At that point, the 24 Hours of Daytona had been under caution since 12:45 a.m. due to fog. The race would not restart until 7:19 a.m. 

It happens. I was a little surprised there was not a red flag at some point, especially since the 2004 race came to mind, but I remembered this race now has 24-hour broadcast coverage. It wasn't that long ago the race would go dark at midnight and coverage would resume at 6:00 a.m. or 7:00 a.m. There was no way to watch the race in the United States. 

With the race now being covered, caution laps are going to keep whatever few people that are awake watching. Not that anyone is trying to keep viewers engaged at 3:00 a.m. Eastern. This is a global race and I do wonder what the viewership is like in Europe when it is the middle of the morning. They must understand why there are so few cameras up. It is the same way here in the United States with the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Around 7:00 p.m. Eastern, Le Mans becomes a lot of onboard shots and some cuts to stationary cameras, but if the cars are not moving, people are going to tune out. 

It is curious to me to decide to do one thing or the other. It is a lose-lose situation. This was just a parade with the occasional pit stop. It didn't do nothing to the race, and the running order was changing, but it was rather uneventful. No one is thrilled to see cars running at 60 miles per hour. 

Drive Times

As much fun as the 24 Hours of Daytona is, there are a few tweaks I would like to see. Drive time minimums is one of them. 

For starters, the minimum drive time should be higher in the professional classes. I think the minimum should be four or five hours for all the classes, and I think everyone should run an hour in the final quarter of the race. 

I don't like that in the pro-am categories everyone is trying to get the amateur out of the way. I think in the pro-am classes, the amateurs should get a say in the final quarter of the race. I think every driver should run at least an hour in the final quarter of the race. I don't think everyone should be rushing to get the amateurs done before the first quarter of the race is over. There should be more strategy in the driver shifts, and that goes for the professional classes as well.

It is not as big of an issue in the professional classes. For starters, some of those cars are only running three drivers. Almost all of them are doing at least six hours or so. Laurin Heinrich ran the least in the #7 Porsche, and he still did five hours and five minutes. 

To be fair, in GTP, the only driver not to clear four hours driving was Colin Braun (3:07:44). 

The notable case this year is in GTD Pro, the minimum for bronze-rather drivers in the class was reduced to three-and-a-half-hours, one hour less than originally announced. This only affected two drivers, Kenny Habul in the #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG and Scott Noble in the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG. Noble did 3:33:02. Habul did 3:33:36. 

It is kind of a moot point but I think the race would be better if more drivers were competing late in the race. Filipe Albuquerque didn't turn a lap after 6:23 a.m. Connor Zilisch was out of the car at 6:13 a.m. Kakunoshin Ohta was finished at 4:00 a.m.! Even A.J. Allmendinger was done before the final quarter of the race began (7:07 a.m.). I don't think that is a good thing. I think every driver should still be in play after sunrise on Sunday. 

Well... They Were There

For the third consecutive year, we are covering an overlooked aspect of the 24 Hours of Daytona. The drivers that raced... but technically never did race because they could not get into the car before the car retired, and you better believe this year's list is something special. 

With all the early incidents and retirements, a fair number of drivers, and a fair number of notable names never got to race in this year's 24 Hours of Daytona, even though their names will be listed in the record book forever as participating in the race. 

For starters, last year, only one car failed to complete 100 laps. Only seven out of 61 starters failed to complete 300 laps.

This year's race saw four cars fail to complete 100 laps. Now, 55 of 60 started completed over 500 laps. I think losing a quarter of the race to fog helped a lot of these teams reach that lap total. Only 11 cars were not running at the end of the race. That is rather impressive even if a quarter of the race was lost due to fog.

How about those drivers that did not complete a lap in this year's race?

Let's start with the first car out because the #28 RS1 Porsche only completed five laps, 12 minutes and 26 seconds of the race before Erik Zitza spun and hit the attenuator at the end of the pit wall in the middle of turn one. It will not surprise you to learn that Zitza was the only driver to have turned a lap in that entry. Who didn't get to race?

How about 2022 Daytona GTD class winner Jan Heylen? And 2025 GT World Challenge Endurance Cup champion Sven Müller? And 2017 Continental Tires Sports Car Challenge GS champion Dillon Machavern? 

That is a pretty good trio. Apparently, this was Machavern's first Daytona entry since the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona. He will have to wait another year to actually run in the race. Müller was making his first Daytona appearance since 2021, but this was not the first time Müller did not complete a lap during the race. It was actually the third! 

In 2016, Müller's Daytona debut, he did not make a lap in the #59 Manthey Racing Porsche as it retired after 61 laps due to a mechanical issue. Three years later, Müller was with NGT Motorsport, and the #99 Porsche's race was over after 47 laps, none of which saw Müller behind the wheel. In seven 24 Hours of Daytona starts, Müller has completed zero laps three times. Brutal!

We were just a little over two hours into the race when the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari spun and had damage after contact with the #033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari. At that point, Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra had gotten into the car. Defending World Endurance Drivers' Champion Alessandro Pier Guidi had not gotten into the car, nor would Pier Guidi get the chance. 

Later in the race, the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche and the #83 AF Corse Oreca had an incident in turn five. Though the #83 Oreca would return to the track after nearly an hour-and-a-half being repaired, it would not last much longer. In the case of the #120 Porsche, Callum Ilott and Tom Sargent had yet to get into the car prior to the incident. For the #83 Oreca, Nicklas Nielsen took over the car after the repairs, but he was only the third of the four driver to turn a lap. Matthieu Vaxivière did not get such a chance. This was the second time in three years Vaxivière did not get to complete a lap at Daytona. He didn't complete a lap in 2024 either.

The #16 Myers Riley Motorsports Ford had an eventful race even if it did not make it to 6:00 p.m. Saturday. The #16 Ford was black-flagged only 50 minutes into the race for tire operational requirements. About two-and-a-half hours into the race, the #16 Ford was black-flagged again for contact with the #123 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche. Then it had a mechanical issue and its race was over.

Sheena Monk and Romain Grosjean were the only two drivers to get into the car. Felipe Fraga did not get to turn a lap, and neither did Jenson Altzman, who was making his 24 Hours of Daytona debut! The record book will say Altzman raced and this was his first 24 Hours of Daytona, but he must wait until 2027 to actually run a lap in anger. 

Nine drivers this year did not get to complete a lap in the 24 Hours of Daytona, and yet will be classified as having participated in this race. 

For comparison, last year had five drivers not complete a lap. In 2024, it was nine drivers. I sense a pattern developing. 

What about the five from last year?

One of those was Grosjean, and we covered how he did get to run the #16 Ford, but Grosjean is connected to a pair of drivers that did not get to run this year. Grosjean was able to complete an hour and 32 minutes in the car.

Ben Hanley missed out on running a lap last year despite his entry completing over seven hours of last year's race. This year, Hanley was the third driver into the #2 United Autosports Oreca, and he ran nearly 49 minutes in his first stint. Hanley drove over 5:35:41 in this year's race.

After failing to complete a lap in last year's race, Nicki Thiim was in the tightest fight in this year's 24 Hours of Daytona as Thiim had the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin fighting for the GTD class victory to the checkered flag. Thiim fell short by 1.367 seconds to the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, but after not running a lap in 2025, Thiim made up for it in his five hours and nearly 36 minutes driving in 2026.

As for the other two drivers, well, they were not entered in this year's race. Neither Edoardo Mortara nor Daniil Kvyat got to run in last year's race prior to their Lamborghini SC63 losing an engine in the first 34 laps. With no Lamborghini entered this year, neither Mortara nor Kvyat made the trip to Daytona. This means Mortara has still not ran a lap in the 24 Hours of Daytona since 2013 when he won the GT class with Alex Job Racing, and Kvyat still has more 24 Hours of Daytona starts (one) than he has laps run in the 24 Hours of Daytona (zero)!

The oddities of endurance racing! You got to love them! 

February Preview

We are going to change this up a bit because we are not going to preview a motorsports event here, but we are going to preview a motorsports tie to a different kind of racing event. 

IndyCar veteran Simona de Silvestro will be competing the 2026 Winter Olympics from Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy in bobsleigh, and de Silvestro will be representing the host nation of Italy. De Silvestro will be competing in the monobob and two-person disciplines. She has been working toward competing at the Olympics since November 2023, when she competed in her first event in Lillehammer, Norway. 

This was de Silvestro's first season competing in IBSF World Cup events. Her best finish in the monobob was 15th out of 25 competitors at St. Moritz, Switzerland. That same weekend saw her net her best two-woman result when she and Martina Favaretto were 17th out of 24. 

In all likelihood, de Silvestro will not be picking up a medal from these Olympics. To be frank, the Germans should clean house. 

Laura Nolte won the IBSF World Cups in both monobob and two-woman, though she faced tough competition in the monobob from Australian Breeana Walker. Walker won three of seven events while American Kaillie Humphires won the final event of the season from Altenberg, Germany. In the two-woman competition, Nolte and Humphries were first and second with Nolte winning five events and Humphries winning the other two. 

Four years ago in Beijing, Nolte took gold in the two-woman competition with Deborah Levi and fellow Germans Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt were silver medalists while Humphries led an American 1-2 in the monobob with Elana Meyers Taylor taking the silver,

On the men's side, the top three teams in each the two-man and four-man IBSF World Cup competitions were Germans with Johannes Lochner taking both championships. At the last Winter Olympics, the Germans swept the podium in the two-man competition but it was Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis taking gold while Lochner and his partner Florian Bauer were silver medalist. Fredrich's team also took gold in the four-man while Lochner's team took silver.

Fredrich also took both golds at the 2018 Pyeongchang games. He was runner-up in the two-man and four-man championships this year to Lochner, but he only won one two-man event while Lochner won the other six. In the four-man, Lochner's team won three events while Friedrich's team won twice. Fellow German Adam Ammour led four-man teams that won the final two events.

Bringing this back to motorsports and de Silvestro, it is incredible just to make an Olympics. Many spend years training to qualify and just get a chance to compete. It is a dream only few get to realize. It will be cool to see someone motorsports fans have watched for over a decade competing in IndyCar, Formula E and Supercars now compete in the Olympics. 

When it comes to drivers who have started the Indianapolis 500 and competed in an Olympics, I cannot find anybody, meaning de Silvestro is going to stand in a class of her own. Take that men!

However, if we expand it to IndyCar races across the board, there is one driver I have found that has competed in the Olympics. Frederik McEvoy competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and he took the bronze medal in the four-man bobsleigh for Great Britain. Eight months later, McEvoy competed in the Vanderbilt Cup race in Westbury, New York, and he finished sixth driving a Maserati, about 25 minutes behind winner Tazio Nuvolari. Now, McEvoy did get relief from Italian Carlo Felice Trossi, and Trossi drove the final two-thirds of the race as McEvoy only completed 24 laps, but it was McEvoy's only start in the AAA National Championship.

If you get a chance, do read more on McEvoy and his life because there is a lot there.

To end on de Silvestro, I think we all wish her the best, and I hope after this Olympic experience we could see her competing in motorsports again as it has been nearly three years since her last race. She last competed in IndyCar four years ago, which simultaneously feels like yesterday and yet was a lifetime ago. I don't know if we will see her in IndyCar again, I doubt it, but I think she has a place as a professional driver in a GT lineup somewhere in the world, whether that be IMSA, European Le Mans Series, the FIA World Endurance Championship or another competition. 

Let's hope next month in Cortina d'Ampezzo is not the final time we see her driving, and the next time we see her it is on asphalt. 

There will be a minute until the bobsleigh events begin. Training runs do not start until Thursday February 12. The first medals to be awarded will be the monobob on Monday February 16. The two-man gold will be decided the next day, Tuesday February 17. The two-woman medals will be determined on Saturday February 21 with the four-man being decided on the final day of the Olympics, Sunday February 22.

Other events of note in February:

The Bathurst 12 Hour and the Daytona 500 are on the same weekend, February 14-15!

Rally Sweden is also that same weekend.

The Supercars season and the World Superbike season start on the same weekend in Australia, February 21-22. Supercars is at Sydney Motorsport Park while World Superbike will be at Phillip Island. 

The Asian Le Mans Series will conclude. This weekend there is a doubleheader from Dubai. Next week, there is a doubleheader from Yas Marina.

2026 IMSA Season Preview

The one thing to look forward toward in the cold of January is the 24 Hours of Daytona, and with a winter storm brewing that could swarm most of the Eastern part of the United States, the sunshine and palm trees of the Atlantic Coast could be a nice distract. A 24-hour race will keep plenty busy inside as the weather turns inhospitable outside. 

Daytona is more than just an endurance race, but the opening round to the IMSA season, which will see 11 rounds contested through the first weekend in October. 

Schedule

In terms of venues, there are no changes to the 2026 season, but race lengths are changing at a pair of events.

With the 24 Hours of Daytona opening the season this weekend, the 12 Hours of Sebring will follow as the second round on March 21. One month later, the GTP and GTD classes will run at Long Beach on April 18. GTD Pro will join those two classes on May 3 at Laguna Seca. GTP and GTD Pro will race at Detroit on May 30. 

The 6 Hours of the Glen marks the halfway point of the season on June 28. In July 12, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD will race at Mosport. Road America will host a six-hour race on August 2, the first time it has hosted an endurance race since IMSA's reunification. 

The only GT-only race will be on August 23 at Virginia International Raceway. All four classes will run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 20, the only regular distance race with every class competing in this season. Petit Le Mans closes the season from Road America on October 3.

What is Different?

GTP

The defending GTP champions are not defending. Porsche Penske Motorsport has three new full-time drivers. Mathieu Jaminet has left the program to race for the Genesis Magma Racing program in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Matt Campbell will be an Endurance Cup-only driver this season in the #6 Porsche. Laurens Vanthoor and Kévin Estre will be back as the full-time drivers. 

Felipe Nasr is the one returning Porsche Penske driver with Julian Andlauer being his full-time co-driver. Laurin Heinrich will be the #7 Porsche's Endurance Cup driver after running for AO Racing in GTD Pro.

Team WRT has taken over the BMW M Hybrid V8 program from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The full-time drivers are the same but Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor will be in the #24 BMW with Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann taking over the #25 BMW.

JDC-Miller Motosports is back, but it has Nico Pino joining Tijman van der Helm full-time.

LMP2

TDS Racing has an entirely new lineup with Tobias Lütke and David Heinemeier Hansson move over from Era Motorsport, and they will have Mathias Beche joining the program. 

Era Motorsport has set an endurance lineup of Ferdinand Habsburg, Naveen Rao and Jacob Abel. Logan Sargeant will run at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Intersport Racing is back running with HMD Motorsports. Oliver Jarvis and Jon Field will be the full-time drivers. Seth Lucas will run the endurance races. 

Bryan Herta Autosport and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports have partnered with Misha Goikhberg moving back after six season in GTD. Harry Tincknell will be his co-driver.

GTD Pro

With Heinrich moving to the Porsche Penske Motorsport GTP program in an endurance role, AO Racing has taken in Nick Tandy for the #77 Porsche, and Harry King will be the second co-driver after King spent 2025 in GT World Challenge Europe and racing a GT300 entry in Super GT.

Klaus Bachler moves from AO Racing to Manthey Racing to drive the #911 Porsche in an Endurance Cup entry with Ricardo Feller and Thomas Preining. Ayhancan Güven will complete the lineup at Daytona.

Pfaff Motorsports will have Sandy Mitchell partner Andrea Caldarelli in the #9 Lamborghini.

VasserSullivan is reuniting Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat in the #14 Lexus.

Ford Multimatic Motorsports has shaken up the #64 Mustang entry with Dennis Olsen and Ben Barker both expanding from Endurance Cup drivers to full-time drivers. The 2025 full-time drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx will run the endurance races in the #64 Ford and #65 Ford respectively. 

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing remain in IMSA, but RLLR will now run the McLaren program in GTD Pro. Max Esterson and Nikita Johnson will be the full-time drivers.

GTD

With Barnicoat back in GTD Pro, Aaron Telitz drops to GTD and he will share the #12 Lexus with Benjamin Pedersen, and Frankie Montecalvo will be the Endurance Cup driver.

Riley Motorsports will run a Ford Mustang in the class, and its full-time drivers will be Felipe Fraga and Sheena Monk. Jenson Altzman will join the #16 Ford lineup for the endurance races.

Heart of Racing Team will have Eduardo Barrichello as one of its full-time drivers in the #27 Aston Martin. Barrichello will have Tom Gamble, Zachary Robichon and Mattia Drudi join him at Daytona. 

Manny Franco has a new co-driver at Conquest Racing. Albert Costa will join him in the #34 Ferrari.

Mason Filippi will be full-time for DXDT Racing in the #36 Corvette. Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluç will run the endurance races. 

Gradient Racing has Joey Hand and Jake Walker together in the #66 Ford Mustang. 

DragonSpeed is back in the category with the #81 Corvette for Giacomo Altoè and Henrik Hedman. 

Callum Ilott has added full-time IMSA driver to his IndyCar responsibilities. Ilott will be in the #120 Porsche for Wright Motorsports with Adam Adelson. 

What is the Same?

GTP

None of the three Cadillac teams changed its drivers. Whelen Racing will have Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber in the #31 Cadillac while Wayne Taylor Racing has kept Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque together in the #10 Cadillac. Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz remain a pair in the #40 Cadillac. 

Meyer Shank Racing has kept Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun together in the #60 Acura, and unchanged is the #93 Acura of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly.

Aston Martin THOR Team will run Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn in the #23 Aston Martin.

LMP2

The champions are back with Dane Cameron and P.J. Hyett together in the #99 Oreca for AO Racing.

Dan Goldburg will be in the #22 United Autosport Oreca with a co-driver for the full season still undecided. 

Sébastien Bourdais and John Farano remain together in the #8 Oreca for Tower Motorsport.

CrowdStrike Racing by APR continues with George Kurtz driving alongside Malthe Jakobsen, Alex Quinn and Toby Sowery.

Inter Europol Competition has Jermey Clarke and Bijoy Garg together in the #43 Oreca.

Pratt Miller Motorsports will continue with Pietro Fittipaldi and Chris Cumming in the #73 Oreca.

GTD Pro

Corvette is unchanged. Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims will defend the class championship in the #3 Corvette. Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg will drive the #4 Corvette.

Paul Miller Racing has kept the #1 BMW with Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen, but the #48 BMW is gone. However, Max Hesse remains as an endurance driver. Dan Harper will run Daytona only. 

Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch remain together in the #65 Ford Mustang. 

GTD

Winward Racing is keeping the band together. Russell Ward and Philip Ellis attempt to win a third consecutive GTD championship in the #57 Mercedes-AMG.

Turner Motorsport keeps Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher together in the #96 BMW.

Wayne Taylor Racing will continue to run the #45 Lamborghini for Danny Formal and Trent Hindman.

What is fun about Daytona?

Every year the first round of the IMSA season brings out top drivers from around the world of motorsports to compete in the first major endurance race of the season. 

Álex Palou and Scott Dixon are back with Meyer Shank Racing with Palou in the #93 Acura and Dixon in the #60. Palou has Kakunoshin Ohta also joining the #93 Acura for Daytona while A.J. Allmendinger is back in the 24 Hours of Daytona for the first time since 2021 as the fourth driver in the #60 entry.

Colton Herta will still run the endurance races in the #40 Cadillac despite his new Formula Two endeavor. 

BMW has Robin Frijns and René Rast rounding out the #24 BMW's lineup while Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello will be in the #25 BMW.

Connor Zilisch joins the #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac team alongside Aitken, Bamber and endurance driver Frederik Vesti.

In LMP2, Inter Europol Competition has entered a one-off for Nick Cassidy, Nolan Siegel, Jakub Śiechowski and Georgios Kolovos. AF Corse is back with François Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxivière, Nicklas Nielsen and Dylan Murry. Enzo Fittipaldi will join his brother Pietro in the Pratt Miller entry. Christian Rasmussen and Jonny Edgar round out the AO Racing #99 Oreca lineup.

Triarsi Competizione will have the #033 Ferrari entered in GTD Pro for James Calado, Miguel Molina, Riccardo Agostini and Alessio Rovera. Winward Racing will give GTD Pro a crack with the #48 Mercedes-AMG for Maxime Martin, Jason Hart, Luca Stolz and Scott Noble. Risi Competizione is back after a year away from Daytona. Alessandro Pier Guidi, Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra will drive the #62 Ferrari. 

Kenny Habul's 75 Express Mercedes-AMG has brought together Will Power for his Daytona debut along with Chaz Mostert. Maro Engel is the lone non-Australian in the #75 Mercedes-AMG lineup. Bartone Bros with GetSpeed is running the #69 Mercedes-AMG for Maximilian Götz, Jules Gounon, Fabian Schiller and Anthony Bartone. 

James Hinchcliffe and Mirko Bortolotti will round up the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini entry. Kyle Kirkwood is back as the #14 Lexus' third driver.

GTD will see Romain Grosjean (#16 Myers Riley Ford), Scott McLaughlin (#36 DXDT Racing Corvette) and Marcus Ericsson (#45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini) all compete in the class as additional drivers. 

AF Corse has Antonio Fuoco heading up the #21 Ferrari along with Lilou Wadoux, Simon Mann and Tommaso Mosca. Triarsi Competizione will run the #023 Ferrari for Kenton Koch, Robert Megennis, Onofrio Triarsi and Yifei Ye.

Manthey Racing will bring out the #912 Porsche for Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera, Ryan Hardwick and Morris Schuring. 

What is at stake at Daytona?

Porsche has won the last two years with the #7 entry and six different drivers. The only consistent participant has been Felipe Nasr. The Brazilian will attempt to become the third driver with with three consecutive Daytona victories joining Peter Gregg and Hélio Castroneves. Porsche has not won at Daytona in three consecutive years since an 11-year run from 1977 though 1987. 

Prior to this two-year run for Porsche Penske Motorsport, Wayne Taylor Racing won three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021 and Meyer Shank Racing won consecutive years in 2022 and 2023.

Whelen Racing ended the 2025 season with a pair of victories at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta. However, Whelen Racing has never won the 24 Hours of Daytona. Action Express Racing, which operates the program, won the race three times, most recently in 2018 with the Mustang Sampling Racing program. 

BMW's only win as a constructor was in 1976 when Peter Gregg, Brian Redman and John Fitzpatrick won in a Brumos Racing BMW 3.0 CSL. BMW won twice more as an engine manufacturer during the Daytona Prototype era. Both those victories came powering Riley chassis for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2011 and 2013.

There has not been an all-European driver lineup to win at Daytona since 2002 when Doran Lista Racing won with Belgian Didier Theys, Swiss Fredy Lienhard, and Italians Max Papis and Mauro Baldi. That does not bode well for the #25 BMW group, which hosts four Europeans.

Wayne Taylor Racing is one victory away from tying Brumos Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing for most 24 Hours of Daytona victories at six. 

Scott Dixon could become the seventh driver to win the 24 Hours of Daytona on four occasions. Dixon won in 2006, 2015 and 2020. This will be Dixon's 23rd consecutive 24 Hours of Daytona start, tying with him Hurley Haywood and Andy Lally for second all-time. Boris Said holds the record with 25.

Twenty-three of the 226 drivers will be making their IMSA debut.

2026 Sports Car Predictions

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. 

2025 Motorsports Christmas List

It is Christmas Eve, and you likely wondered if we were going to pass out some Christmas presents this year, but here we are! The last month or so has been rather difficult. It was an active month with Formula One finishing up its season. Then the 23XI/Front Row Motorsports vs. NASCAR was underway and took about a week-and-a-half our attention before the case was settled and the teams were the big winners. Sadly, the last week has been marred with the fatal plane crash that claimed the lives of Greg Biffle and his family.

This December never really settled down. Now Christmas is here. These next few days should be a little more peaceful. It should be a chance to detach for a moment and not be consumed with anything all that important. This should be time for ourselves. 

Before the festivities get going with family visiting, meals shared and gifts exchanged, let’s cover what we are handing out to those in the motorsports world. 

To Denny Hamlin: Immunity for untimely cautions

To Michael Jordan: Cigars

To Denny Hamlin, Michael Jordan and Bob Jenkins: Thank You cards from every other NASCAR team owner

To Lando Norris: Jet-ski

To Oscar Piastri: Restored confidence 

To Zak Brown: Humility

To Max Verstappen: Patience in Barcelona 

To Lewis Hamilton: A Time Machine back to December 24, 2023.

To Charles Leclerc: Acceptance when it it time to move on

To Oliver Bearman: Catching another team’s attention

To George Russell: A trip to Bali

To Andrea Kimi Antonelli: No sophomore slump

To Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez: Smooth development

To Cadillac F1: Respectable results

To Colton Herta: His time being worth the switch to Formula Two

To Isack Hadjar: A full season at Red Bull

To Arvid Lindblad: There actually being a change of philosophy at Red Bull with Helmut Marko gone

To Liam Lawson: Continuing to outscore the second Red Bull entry

To Carlos Sainz, Jr.: His best race of the season being in Madrid

To Alexander Albon: Quickly ending his point-less streak

To Nico Hülkenberg: Another podium finish

To Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon: Making up

To Yuki Tsunoda: A dabbling in IndyCar

To Franco Colapinto: Being ready to jump

To Fernando Alonso: A few entries into the record book

To Gabriel Bortoleto: Continuing his development

To Leonardo Fornaroli, Jak Crawford, Luke Browning and a host of other junior drivers: Formula One sprint weekends becoming a separate championship for reserve/development/non-full-time drivers to compete

To Alex Dunne: Less contact

To Marc Márquez: A good challenge in track

To Álex Márquez: A few memorable battles where he beats his brother Marc

To Jorge Martín: Not being rusty

To Marco Bezzecchi: A better start to the season

To Francesco Bagnaia: Staying up right

To Johann Zarco: A few more rainy days

To Fabio Quartararo: Not needing to be majestic just to get average results

To Pedro Acosta: Not getting stuck at KTM if things take a turn

To MotoGP: The Brazilian Grand Prix returning without a hitch

To Daniel Holgado and David Alonso: Becoming title contenders in Moto2

To Supercars: A mulligan for 2025

To Broc Feeney: A clean weekend at Adelaide

To Chaz Mostert: NASCAR Cup weekends at Austin and Watkins Glen

To Kyle Larson: Comfortability in failure

To Chase Elliott: Legos

To William Byron: Reasonable expectations

To Alex Bowman: The first Hendrick Motorsports victory of 2026

To Brad Keselowski: A speedy recovery

To Chris Buescher: More laps led

To Shane van Gisbergen: A top 20 average finish on ovals

To Connor Zilisch: No broken bones

To Corey Heim: A NASCAR Cup Series ride

To Joey Logano: Sunscreen

To Ryan Blaney: Razors

To Austin Cindric: That lost road course ability

To Josh Berry: More than two good races

To Kyle Busch: A clear path for 2027 and beyond

To Austin Dillon: Sustained success at Richmond

To Richmond Raceway: Regulations that allow for competitive racing

To Watkins Glen: A lovely spring weekend for May 9-10

To Bubba Wallace: More road course practice

To Tyler Reddick: Mental clarity

To Christopher Bell: Being on the right side of the cutline after Martinsville

To Chase Briscoe: A pinball machine

To Daniel Suárez: Keeping up with his new teammates

To Ty Gibbs: The ability to be a good teammate

To Erik Jones: Short-track speed

To John Hunter Nemechek: Three consecutive top ten finishes at some point in 2026

To Kaulig Racing and RAM: Not screwing up year one in the Truck Series

To Parker Kligerman: A Daytona victory that counts in the record books

To A.J. Allmendinger: More sports opportunities and an Indianapolis 500 entry with Meyer Shank Racing

To Sheldon Creed: Finally winning a NASCAR national series race 

To Matt Crafton: A peaceful retirement

To Nick Sanchez: Landing on his feet in a competitive seat

To Justin Allgaier: Slippers

To Jesse Love: A fitting championship result 

To Austin Hill: Deep breathing exercises 

To Corey Day: Not being replaced midseason due to results

To Aric Almirola: Full-time in NASCAR’s second division

To NASCAR Brasil Series champion Rubens Barrichello: A NASCAR Cup entry at Austin

To Chicagoland Speedway: Proper-running plumbing

To Iowa Speedway: A better connection with the local area

To Formula E: Their races on a proper channel in the United States and races on weekends and at times when nothing else is going on. 

To Jake Dennis: A sports car role

To Aston Martin: Results that justify the attention drawn to its LMDh program

To Porsche: Better luck on the next set of FIA World Endurance Championship regulations

To Hertz Team Jota: No contact between its cars

To the 24 Hours of Le Mans: A real battle with multiple manufacturers until the checkered flag

To Lone Star Le Mans: Moving to any other weekend but Labor Day weekend. Open the season in Austin.

To IndyCar: A 2028 car that stands out and attracts more attention from manufacturers and viewers

To Álex Palou: As much success in the courtroom as he has on the racetrack

To Scott Dixon: A victory where the leader didn’t drive off course on his own

To Scott McLaughlin: Taking the green flag for every Indianapolis 500 for the rest of his career

To Will Power: Showing it to Team Penske

To Kyle Kirkwood: A complete season

To Marcus Ericsson: A return to 2022 form

To Josef Newgarden: No finishes outside the top twenty 

To David Malukas: Maturity

To Patricio O’Ward: A home race that IndyCar properly supports

To Christian Lundgaard: Better oval results

To Ryan Hunter-Reay: A development role in the McLaren Hypercar program

To Callum Ilott: Two full seasons in IndyCar and IMSA 

To Robert Shwartzman: Road course pace that matches his oval for,

To Prema: A charter and some financial support

To Dennis Hauger: Giving Andretti Global a good headache

To Marcus Armstrong: A few days when he is the best Kiwi in IndyCar

To Felix Rosenqvist: Races where he starts in the top five and finishes better than where he finishes 

To Conor Daly: A good role as an ambassador

To Alexander Rossi: A tire advantage in the final stint at Milwaukee

To Christian Rasmussen: Remaining on Ed Carpenter’s good side

To Mick Schumacher: Fun days at the racetrack

To Graham Rahal: Better tire strategy when leading the Grand Prix of Indianapolis

To Louis Foster: A top ten finish

To Myles Rowe: A real shot at IndyCar

To Caio Collet: Not becoming the next Matheus Leist at A.J. Foyt Racing

To Santino Ferrucci: Proper pit entry at every race

To Rinus VeeKay: Not sweating out a Last Row Qualifying session for the Indianapolis 500

To Kyffin Simpson: Results that do the Sunoco livery justice

To Sting Ray Robb: A snowblower

To Jack Harvey: Lincoln City promotion to the Championships. Currently second in League One

To Romain Grosjean: More weekends at the racetrack as Prema’s reserve driver

To Hélio Castroneves: 112 laps in the Indianapolis 500

To Takuma Sato: Kitchen remodeling

To Victor Martins: Half the success Dennis Hauger had in Indy Lights

To IndyCar’s new street races in Arlington and Markham: No hiccups

To IndyCar’s new officiating panel: Team Penske being in its best behavior

To Tim Cindric: Quiet days at home

To Jack Benyon: A full-time podcast co-host

To Dario Franchitti: A 24 Hours of Le Mans entry

To all the Meyer Shank Racing Acura GTP Drivers: Honda supporting the program to take it to Le Mans

To Kakunoshin Ohta: Honda making up its damn mind over what it wants to do with him in the United States

To Ben Barnicoat: A swimming-based training program

To Kelvin van der Linde: A BMW GTP/Hypercar opportunity

To Kamui Kobayashi: A Super Formula victory

To Genesis Magma Racing: Respectable first-year results

To António Félix da Costa: Making Porsche jealousy

To Richard Verschoor: Peace in sports car racing

To James Calado: Proper recognition from his home country that he is a world champion with Ferrari

To Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi: Proper recognition from their home country that they are world champions with Ferrari 

To Louis Delétraz and Jordan Taylor: Top five finishes

To Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy: Strong finishes

To Frederik Vesti: More than just the endurance races in IMSA

To Jack Aitken: A scooter

To Earl Bamber: Noise-cancelling headphones

To Tower Motorsport: Clearing post-race inspection at the 24 Hours of Daytona

To Dane Cameron: A return to GTP competition. 

To Ricky Taylor: New patio furniture

To Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor: Race results matching qualifying results

To Kevin Magnussen: Replicating some of his father’s success

To Nick Cassidy: Peugeot having it figured out

To IMSA LMP2 category: A weekend with a split pro race and amateur race. That would be fun to see. 

To Sébastien Bourdais: Heating pads

To Tom Blomqvist and a host of other sports car drivers: No clashes between IMSA and the European Le Mans Series. I don’t understand how or why a series with six-race weekends would clash with another multi-class series with so many shared drivers.

To Jack Hawksworth: A few breaks

To James Hinchcliffe: No race cars let down on his feet

To Logan Sargeant: Joy at the racetrack

To Memo Gidley: A 24 Hours of Daytona return

To Road America: A stellar IMSA endurance race weekend 

To Dover Motor Speedway: A points-paying NASCAR Cup race

To Zandvoort: A fitting end to this stint on the Formula One calendar

To Sébastien Ogier: A season where it is clear whether or not he will be full-time or part-time

To Kalle Rovanperä: A personal training program to develop the right muscles

To the NHRA: The ability to postpone the final round of the season to another weekend if it is going to rain for the entirety of the scheduled date

To Jim France: A rocking chair and some thick blankets

To Jett and Hunter Lawrence: A tandem bike

To Eli Tomac: One more trip to the fountain of youth

To Cooper Webb: A motocross season that matches his Supercross success

To the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters: Reinforcements after a number of its top drivers announced they would not be returning for 2026

To Antonio García: A championship finish other than first or third

To Jack Doohan: A full-time ride somewhere. DTM?

To Mac Clark: Support up to Indy Lights

To Liam McNeilly: No visa issues and a full season in Indy Pro 2000

To Max Garcia: Enough patience to realize he doesn’t need to be in IndyCar by the time he turns 18 years old 

To Elfyn Evans: Coming back in another time where he isn’t stuck finished second in the World Rally Championship… and a return of Wales Rally GB

To Valentino Rossi: A 24 Hours of Daytona entry

To Kaden Honeycutt: Full-time job security

To Rockingham Speedway: Lights and a NASCAR Cup date in late-spring

To North Wilkesboro Speedway: Its NASCAR Cup race moving to Saturday night. There is no reason for IndyCar and NASCAR to be clashing post-World Cup final

To Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Realizing we have heard enough about the pavement in turn two. Were good.

To Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course: Facility updates. Come on, now! This has been too long.

To Lime Rock Park: A proper sports car round. Either IMSA GT only or Michelin Pilot Challenge

To Superstars Racing Experience: A NASCAR-funded resurrection that has it compete at a half-dozen short tracks 

To World Superbike: A competitive championship

To Nicolò Bulega: A challenge for the entire season

To the Grand Prix of Indianapolis: Using oval turn one

To Laguna Seca: A crowd worthy of hosting the IndyCar finale

To the Milwaukee Mile: IndyCar realizing it is the best event currently on the schedule for its finale

To Chip Ganassi Racing’s Indy Lights program: Many spare parts

To NASCAR: A championship format that rewards winning, is a season-long aggregate and accepting that the championship might not go down to the final lap of the season

To the NASCAR In-Season Tournament: Some stakes worth a damn

To the Canadian Grand Prix: Moving to the Sunday before the Indianapolis 500 or the Sunday after the Indianapolis 500 in 2027 and from there onward. 

And that is it! The bag is empty. 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a fun few days. We have a few more sets of predictions left before we close out 2025, and soon we will be entirely locked in on the new seasons, which will be here in a flash.