The ACO has just unveiled the full-season entry list for the 2026 World Endurance Championship.
The headline, of course, is the most notable absentee: Porsche – not even represented by a single privateer entry, as The Race reported last week.
The surprises may be limited, but there are still some useful takeaways. Here’s what stands out.
35 full-season cars
The 2026 grid will feature 35 full-season entries, down slightly from 36 in 2025. The reduction comes entirely in Hypercar, as Porsche’s exit removes three cars, its two factory 963s plus Proton Competition’s privateer entry. The class will now feature 17 cars alongside 18 LMGT3 entries.
Genesis Magma Racing’s arrival with two GMR-001s partly offsets Porsche’s departure. Interestingly, you have to go back to the 2021 Bahrain 8 Hours to find a grid with 35 cars or fewer, although that season’s depth was nowhere near comparable, with just three cars in the top class.
And despite Porsche’s absence, 2026 still shapes up as compelling as 2025. Several key cars are either entirely new (Genesis GMR-001) or heavily updated, Toyota, BMW, Cadillac and Alpine among them. Now it’s just down to the BoP not throwing everything into chaos…
Stability rules the day
Toyota, Ferrari, BMW and Aston Martin all return with unchanged driver line-ups. AF Corse hasn’t yet formally confirmed Robert Kubica and Phil Hanson on the #83 499P, but that announcement is expected imminently.
Cadillac has replaced Jenson Button with Jack Aitken. Beyond the new Genesis squad, the biggest changes come from France: Peugeot adds Nick Cassidy and Theo Pourchaire, while Alpine brings in Antonio Felix da Costa and – almost certainly – Victor Martins, currently a Williams F1 development driver.
In total, Hypercar will feature 11 former WEC champions (Andre Lotterer, Loïc Duval, Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber, Sebastien Buemi, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Ryo Hirakawa, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi) and just four rookies: Mathys Jaubert, Dani Juncadella, Nick Cassidy and the not-yet-confirmed Martins.
Valentino Rossi steps away
It’s now official: the MotoGP legend will not return for a third WEC season. BMW hasn’t commented, but the disappearance of the #46 entry leaves no room for doubt.
Across two campaigns, Rossi claimed four LMGT3 podiums. His biggest frustration will undoubtedly be the two DNFs at the Le Mans 24 Hours in cars capable of winning the class.
In 2026, Rossi shifts focus fully to GT World Challenge Europe, whose headline event is the Spa 24 Hours, again with BMW and Team WRT. Will we see him again in WEC? Possible – particularly given his long-stated ambition to one day race a Hypercar.
No Sargeant...for now?
Former Williams F1 driver Logan Sargeant hasn’t been announced yet, but The Race understands he is highly likely to contest the full 2026 WEC season in a Ford Mustang GT3 run by Proton Competition, the same car he sampled in last month’s Bahrain rookie test.
After racing LMP2 in the final two IMSA rounds of 2025, Sargeant appears set for a genuine career reset in endurance racing. A full LMGT3 season would also place him well to step into Ford’s Hypercar programme in 2027. With his nationality, profile and raw speed, he fits what Ford is looking for.
His team-mate on the sister Mustang should be factory driver Sebastian Priaulx, son of three-time WTCC champion Andy Priaulx.
With Button retiring, Mick Schumacher heading to IndyCar and Jean-Eric Vergne stepping back, the number of ex-F1 drivers in WEC would drop from 15 to 14. If confirmed, Sargeant would join Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Will Stevens, Kevin Magnussen, Lotterer, Sebastien Bourdais, Aitken, Antonio Giovinazzi, Robert Kubica, Paul di Resta and Stoffel Vandoorne. But he would be the only one racing in LMGT3 rather than Hypercar.
Genesis finalises its line-ups
We already knew the six-driver roster for Genesis Magma Racing’s WEC debut – and now the pairings are confirmed.
“We wanted the strongest balance of experience and youth in each line-up. And we also needed the best compromise in terms of drivers’ height and weight to speed up driver changes and save vital seconds, ” explained sporting director Gabriele Tarquini.
In the #17 car, Lotterer and Pipo Derani – the team’s most experienced pairing – will share the GMR-001 with Mathys Jaubert, the squad’s only WEC rookie. The sister car will be driven by Mathieu Jaminet, Paul-Loup Chatin and Dani Juncadella.
Toyota’s GR GT3 still on hold
Fans will have to wait a little longer to see Toyota’s new GT3 contender in WEC or at Le Mans. Unveiled last week in Japan, the car won’t be homologated in time for the Qatar 1812 km season opener on March 28.
That doesn’t rule out appearances elsewhere, notably in the Nürburgring Endurance Series or Super GT, where mid-season debuts are allowed, unlike in WEC. Akkodis-ASP will therefore continue with the ageing Lexus RC F GT3, whose first competitive outing dates back to 2015. But let's not forget that this is the only LMGT3 alongside Porsche to have won two races this year.
Elsewhere in LMGT3, Aston Martin now has just a single representative: Heart of Racing Team, which also campaigns the Valkyrie Hypercar. United Autosports, shifting its focus to McLaren’s upcoming LMDh project, hands its LMGT3 slot to Garage 59.
Ayhancan Güven, meanwhile, won’t defend his DTM title. He will race a Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R in WEC before likely joining Porsche’s Formula E squad for the 2026-27 Gen4 era.
Will there be female drivers in WEC?
The ACO is very keen to have female drivers competing in its championships. Last year the WEC featured three female drivers, and five at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Unfortunately the pink Iron Dames Porsche will not return for 2026.
And while a few grid slots remain unfilled, it seems unlikely any will go to one of the Iron Dames' member trio that raced with Manthey in 2025. Ideally, Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey, Célia Martin and Sarah Bovy will find seats in ELMS.
At the Le Mans 24 Hours, however – with the return of LMP2 and an expanded LMGT3 field – we should still see at least one or two women. Most likely is Lilou Wadoux, expected to race a Ferrari 296 LMGT3. The French driver is set for dual programmes in ELMS and IMSA, where she claimed this year’s GTD title.
