WEC 2026 drops to 17 Hypercars without Porsche and with Genesis debut

The WEC has published its entry list for 2026 with a notable absence: Porsche will not be in the Hypercar category. The grid for the top class is down to 17 prototypes from eight manufacturers, one fewer than in the season that just ended.

Porsche Out of Le Mans

Porsche Penske Motorsport ended its official program last October after road car sales fell and Stuttgart decided to cut competition costs. The customer team Proton Competition tried to continue but failed to secure the necessary budget to comply with the regulations, which require a minimum of two cars to maintain manufacturer status.

The departure has concrete consequences beyond the sporting aspect. Penske won the IMSA GTP Championship this year, which granted an automatic invitation to Le Mans 2026. However, WEC regulations state that to participate at La Sarthe, it is mandatory to contest the full eight-round season. Without that commitment, the 963s will not be on the Circuit de la Sarthe on June 13-14.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

Genesis Partially Offsets the Exit

Genesis Magma Racing debuts with two GMR-001 LMDh cars built on Oreca chassis. The #17 will be driven by Andre Lotterer, Pipo Derani, and Mathys Jaubert. The #19 will be in the hands of Daniel Juncadella, Mathieu Jaminet, and Paul-Loup Chatin.

Ferrari fields three 499Ps to defend the drivers' and manufacturers' titles it secured in 2025. Toyota will keep two updated GR010 Hybrids. Cadillac continues with two V-Series.Rs, as does BMW with two M Hybrid V8s and Alpine with two A424s. Aston Martin runs with a single Valkyrie AMR-LMH, the same as Peugeot with its 9X8.

The #83 AF Corse entry is the only privateer Hypercar on the list. For now, only Yifei Ye is confirmed as a driver; Robert Kubica and Phil Hanson, who won Le Mans with him this year, are not yet officially entered for the new season.

Photo By DPPI

Major Changes in LMGT3

Iron Dames left the championship after two seasons. Their Porsche 911 GT3 R passed to Manthey DK Engineering, which will now operate two cars aiming for its third consecutive title in the Pro/Am category. Ayhancan Guven, freshly crowned 2024 DTM champion, will lead the German team's second entry.

United Autosports stopped operating the McLaren Artura GT3 to focus entirely on developing the British manufacturer's Hypercar, which will debut in 2027. Garage59 took over the GT3 program for this season. Heart of Racing kept both Aston Martin Vantage GT3s after Racing Spirit of Leman decided not to continue after a single season in the championship.

Racing Team Turkey returns to the WEC in partnership with TF Sport to operate the Corvette Z06 GT3.R #34. ASP will keep the Lexus RC F GT3 for one more season before switching to the new Toyota GR GT3, which was presented last week but will not hit the track until 2027.

The LMGT3 category maintains its format of 18 cars divided among nine manufacturers: Aston Martin, Ferrari, BMW, Corvette, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, Ford, Lexus, and Porsche.

Photo By Dacia

The Eight-Race Calendar

The season will start on March 28 with the 1812km of Qatar. After that comes Imola on April 19, Spa-Francorchamps on May 9, and Le Mans on June 13-14. The second half includes Interlagos on July 12, COTA on September 6, Fuji on September 27, and the finale in Bahrain on November 7.

HYPERCAR - WEC 2025 entries (17 teams)

#	Team	CAR	Drivers
#007	ASTON MARTIN THOR TEAM USA	ASTON MARTIN Valkyrie	Harry Tincknell Tom Gamble Ross Gunn
#009	ASTON MARTIN THOR TEAM USA	ASTON MARTIN Valkyrie	Alex Riberas Marco Sørensen Roman De Angelis
#7	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	TOYOTA GR010 Hybrid	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Nyck De Vries
#8	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	TOYOTA GR010 Hybrid	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryō Hirakawa
#12	CADILLAC HERTZ TEAM JOTA	CADILLAC V-Series.R	Alex Lynn Will Stevens Norman Nato
#15	BMW M TEAM WRT	BMW M Hybrid V8	Kevin Magnussen Raffaele Marciello Dries Vanthoor
#17	GENESIS MAGMA RACING	GENESIS GMR-001-Hypercar	André Lotterer Luis Felipe Derani Mathys Jaubert
#19	GENESIS MAGMA RACING	GENESIS GMR-001-Hypercar	Mathieu Jaminet Paul-Loup Chatin Daniel Juncadella
#20	BMW M TEAM WRT	BMW M Hybrid V8	Robin Frijns René Rast Sheldon Van der Linde
#35	ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM	ALPINE A424	António Félix da Costa TBC TBC
#36	ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM	ALPINE A424	Frédéric Makowiecki TBC TBC
#38	CADILLAC HERTZ TEAM JOTA	CADILLAC V-Series.R	Earl Bamber Sébastien Bourdais Jack Aitken
#50	FERRARI AF CORSE	FERRARI 499P	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen
#51	FERRARI AF CORSE	FERRARI 499P	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi
#83	AF CORSE	FERRARI 499P	Yifei Ye TBC TBC
#93	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	PEUGEOT 9X8	Paul Di Resta TBC TBC
#94	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	PEUGEOT 9X8	Loïc Duval TBC TBC

LMGT3 - WEC 2025 entries (18 teams)

#	Team	Car	Drivers
#10	GARAGE 59	McLAREN 720S LMGT3 Evo	Antares Au Thomas Fleming Marvin Kirchhöfer
#21	VISTA AF CORSE	FERRARI 296 LMGT3 Evo	François Hériau Simon Mann Alessio Rovera
#23	HEART OF RACING TEAM	ASTON MARTIN Vantage AMR LMGT3	Gray Newell TBC TBC
#27	HEART OF RACING TEAM	ASTON MARTIN Vantage AMR LMGT3	Ian James TBC TBC
#32	TEAM WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo	Darren Leung TBC TBC
#33	TF SPORT	CORVETTE Z06 LMGT3.R	Nicky Catsburg TBC TBC
#34	RACING TEAM TURKEY BY TF	CORVETTE Z06 LMGT3.R	Charlie Eastwood TBC TBC
#54	VISTA AF CORSE	FERRARI 296 LMGT3 Evo	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon
#58	GARAGE 59	McLAREN 720S LMGT3 Evo	Alexander West Finn Gehrsitz Benjamin Goethe
#61	IRON LYNX	MERCEDES-AMG LMGT3	Martin Berry Rui Andrade Maxime Martin
#69	TEAM WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo	Anthony McIntosh TBC TBC
#77	PROTON COMPETITION	FORD Mustang LMGT3	Ben Tuck TBC TBC
#78	AKKODIS ASP TEAM	LEXUS RC F LMGT3	Esteban Masson TBC TBC
#79	IRON LYNX	MERCEDES-AMG LMGT3	Johannes Zelger Matteo Cressoni Lin Hodenius
#87	AKKODIS ASP TEAM	LEXUS RC F LMGT3	José María López TBC TBC
#88	PROTON COMPETITION	FORD Mustang LMGT3	Giammarco Levorato TBC TBC
#91	MANTHEY DK ENGINEERING	PORSCHE 911 GT3 R LMGT3	Güven Ayhancan TBC TBC
#92	THE BEND MANTHEY	PORSCHE 911 GT3 R LMGT3	Richard Lietz TBC TBC