Champions Crowned to Cap 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Season
By Tony DiZinno
BRASELTON, Ga. – A wild and eventful Motul Petit Le Mans saw a new overall winning car and champions crowned to cap off the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Ultimately, Laurens Vanthoor’s pass of former co-driver Earl Bamber – with whom he shared a GT Le Mans class title in 2019 – netted the Belgian an overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) win in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963. Vanthoor darted to the inside while Bamber was balked by a slower car.
Vanthoor shared the car with Kevin Estre, who scored his first IMSA win, and Matt Campbell – the 2025 GTP champion. While Porsche and Penske have won at Motul Petit Le Mans before, it has largely been in class. The manufacturer’s most recent overall win at the race came with a GTLM specification Porsche 911 RSR in 2015.
Bamber’s co-driver Jack Aitken secured the WeatherTech Championship GTP title, although a late-race incident for the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R denied the team its eighth podium result of the season. Instead, the No. 24 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 and No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R completed the GTP podium.
In a wild race, Alex Quinn, George Kurtz and Toby Sowery captured the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) win in their No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07. This also ensured Quinn and Kurtz won the LMP2 title.
Car Blanche scored its first win in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) with the trio of Mattia Drudi, Valentin Hasse Clot and Marco Sorensen in their No. 68 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. The win came in its first IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup start in the category.
Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi, meanwhile, finished third in the race which was enough to wrap the GTD PRO championship in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
The trio of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje secured a pole-to-win triumph in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD), which ensured Ward and Ellis won their historic third straight GTD title in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.