Two races into the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, and the picture at the top of the GTP class is crystal clear: Porsche Penske Motorsport is the team to beat. The #7 Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr, Laurin Heinrich, and Julien Andlauer has won both opening rounds — the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring — and leads the championship by 80 points. No other team has been able to match their combination of pace, reliability, and pit stop execution across 36 hours of racing.
GTP Standings After Round 2
| Pos | Drivers | Team / Car | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andlauer / Heinrich / Nasr | Porsche Penske Motorsport (#7 Porsche 963) | 755 |
| 2 | Estre / Campbell / Christensen | Porsche Penske Motorsport (#6 Porsche 963) | 675 |
| 3 | Aitken / Bamber / Vesti | Whelen Cadillac (#31 Cadillac V-Series.R) | 675 |
Porsche Penske holds the top two positions. The #7 crew leads with two wins from two races. Nine rounds remain.
Full Results: Both Races
Round 1: Rolex 24 at Daytona (Jan 24-25)
| Pos | Drivers | Team / Car |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nasr / Heinrich / Andlauer | Porsche Penske (#7 Porsche 963) |
| 2 | Aitken / Bamber / Vesti | Whelen Cadillac (#31 Cadillac V-Series.R) |
Margin of victory: 1.5 seconds. Porsche Penske's third consecutive Rolex 24 overall win. Read the full Rolex 24 recap.
Round 2: 12 Hours of Sebring (Mar 15)
| Pos | Drivers | Team / Car |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nasr / Andlauer / Heinrich | Porsche Penske (#7 Porsche 963) |
| 2 | Estre / Campbell / Christensen | Porsche Penske (#6 Porsche 963) |
| 3 | Aitken / Bamber / Vesti | Whelen Cadillac (#31 Cadillac V-Series.R) |
Porsche Penske 1-2 finish. Margin of victory: 1.515 seconds. Whelen Cadillac qualified on pole but couldn't match Porsche's race pace. Read the full Sebring recap.
The Story of the Season: Porsche Penske's Dominance
It is difficult to overstate how thoroughly Porsche Penske Motorsport has controlled the opening two rounds of the 2026 season. At Daytona, they won the Rolex 24 for a third consecutive year — joining Chip Ganassi Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing as the only teams to achieve a Rolex 24 three-peat. At Sebring, they went a step further, locking out the top two positions at one of the most punishing circuits in the world. Across 36 total hours of racing, the #7 Porsche 963 has led more laps than any other car and has not suffered a single mechanical issue.
Felipe Nasr is the driver of the season so far. The Brazilian is now a three-time consecutive Rolex 24 winner and a four-time Sebring winner, and his ability to deliver flawless anchor stints in the closing hours of endurance races is unmatched in the current field. Alongside co-drivers Heinrich and Andlauer, the #7 crew has found a level of consistency that the rest of the GTP class simply cannot match.
The Closest Challenger: Whelen Cadillac
If anyone is going to challenge Porsche Penske this season, the Whelen Cadillac team appears to be the most likely candidate. The #31 Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, and Frederik Vesti has been the second-fastest car at both events. They finished second at Daytona and qualified on pole at Sebring, proving that the Cadillac has the raw speed to fight at the front. The gap, however, has been in race execution. Porsche Penske's pit stops have been faster, their strategy calls sharper, and their tire management superior. Until the Cadillac team closes those operational gaps, they will continue to be the bridesmaid.
What Is Multi-Class Racing?
For fans new to IMSA, the most distinctive feature of the series is its multi-class format. Multiple classes of cars race on the same track at the same time, each competing for their own class victory. The top class, GTP, features purpose-built prototype race cars from manufacturers including Porsche, Cadillac, Acura, BMW, and Lamborghini. Below that, LMP2 runs spec Oreca chassis for privateer teams. GTD Pro and GTD field production-based GT cars — Porsche 911s, Ferrari 296s, BMW M4s, and more.
The result is a constantly shifting puzzle of traffic management and relative pace. A GTP car laps several seconds faster than a GTD car, meaning the fastest prototypes are regularly threading through packs of GT traffic. Class leaders must navigate slower cars while simultaneously racing their direct competitors. It adds a layer of complexity and unpredictability that no single-class series can replicate, and it makes every IMSA race feel alive with action from start to finish.
What's Next: The 2026 Calendar
The sprint portion of the season begins with the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 12 — a shared weekend with IndyCar that makes Long Beach one of the best single-day motorsport experiences in America. After that, the calendar moves to Laguna Seca (May 4) and the Detroit Grand Prix (May 31) before the endurance season resumes with the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen in June.
New for 2026: the Road America 6 Hours in August adds a sixth endurance event to the calendar. The 4.048-mile circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is one of the great natural road courses in North America, and the addition of a 6-hour race there gives the Michelin Endurance Cup five events for the first time. The season culminates with Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in October — the 10-hour race that crowns the champion.
How to Watch
Peacock is the streaming home of IMSA in 2026, carrying flag-to-flag coverage of every race and over 140 hours of exclusive content including practice, qualifying, and pre-race shows. Select marquee events air on NBC and NBCSN. IMSA Radio provides free live audio at imsa.com for every session. Check our complete how to watch guide for full broadcast details across all four series we cover.
For the full 2026 schedule, GTP standings, and series overview, visit the IMSA hub page.