Always widely anticipated, and in some cases feared! The Provisional FIA Driver Categorisation for 2026 was released yesterday.
As always, it’s a mixed bag of upward and downward movement within the FIA’s categories with criteria based variously on racing background and results, and on age.
Amongst the most delicate of changes are those between Silver and Gold, with young drivers in particular hoping to avoid an upgrade for as long as possible in order to preserve as many racing opportunities within the notoriously complex Pro-Am systems of the world’s key Sportscar and GT packages.
In these cases, whilst the charges recognise talent displayed, they also potentially make progress within the sport significantly more difficult, with a significant number of established ‘Gold’ drivers contesting the available seats and, counting those ‘upgraded’ drivers out of seats reserved for Silver-ranked talent.
All regradings are subject to appeal (and further review) with the final 2026 categorisations due to be published next month.
Uprated
Bronze to Silver
- Lichee Han
- Kevin Madsen
- Darius Trinka (IMSA Lamborghini Super trofeo)
Silver to Gold
- Maceo Capietto (ELMS LMP2)
- Hugo Cook (GT World Challenge and British GT)
- Robert de Haan (One-make Porsche racer)
- Elisio Donno (MLMC GT3)
- Jonny Edgar (WEC LM GT3)
- Oliver Gray (ELMS LMP2)
- Loek Hartog (GT World Challenge – NLS – Porsche Motorsport North America Nominated Driver)
- Kiern Jewiss (GT World Challenge and British GT)
- Kenton Koch (GT World Challenge America)
- Jordan Love (GT World Challenge)
- Chris Lulham – (Verstappen.com GT racer and now NLS race winner)
- Alec Udell (IMSA GTD)
- Connor Zilich (NASCAR Xfinity & Craftsmen Truck)
Gold to Platinum
- Bastian Buus – (GT World Challenge and NLS – Porsche Contracted Driver)
- Pietro Fittipaldi – (ELMS & IMSA LMP2 – F1 Reserve Driver)
- Charles Milesi – (Alpine Hypercar – ELMS LMP2)
- Logan Sargeant – (Ex F1 – back to racing via IMSA LMP2)
Downrated
Silver to Bronze
- Christopher Allen
- Eugenio Amos
- Jarett Andretti
- Dominic Ang
- Ricardo Baptista
- Charles Bateman
- Sacha Bottemanne
- Julien Briche
- Steve Caroli
- Demetria Chalkias
- Leona Chin
- Misha Goikhberg
- Elivan Goulart
- Cindy Gudet
- Trent Harrison
- John Ingram
- Elton Julian
- Ryan Keeley
- Stephane Kox
- Edgar Lau
- Evgenii Leonov
- Adrian Lewandowski
- Tengku Djan Ley
- Zhiwei Lu
- Maurizio Mediani
- Giorgio Mondini
- Jamie Morrow
- Jamie Orton
- Sergio Pianezzola
- Luca Pirri
- Mike Robinson
- Chris Salkeld
- Florian Stauss
- Owen Trinkler
- Cass Whitehead
- Marciello Zani
- Wanbg Zhongwei
Gold to Silver
- Bill Auberlen – now aged 56 – BMW racing legend
- Fabio Babini – now aged 55
- Marco Bonanomi
- Felipe Fernandez Laser – (MLMC LMP3)
- Dean Fiore
- Gary Hirsch
- Jonathan Hirschi
- Richard Lyons
- Buddy Rice – 2004 Indy 500 winner, 2009 Rolex 24 winner
- Mike Simpson – Currently Ginetta Head of Motorsport – ex LMP1, LMP3, GT3, GT4 driver
- Jamie Stanley
- Dean Stoneman
- Ho-Pin Tung – Le Mans overall podium finisher and class winner
Platinum to Gold
- Dennis Lind – Ex Lamborghini factory driver
- Stefan Muecke – Long-time Aston Martin factory driver
- Andy Priaulx – Multiple World Touring Car Champion, ex Ford factory driver
There are a slew of talented Silvers though that remain with an unchanged 2025 categorisation including:
- Sebastián Álvarez (IMSA LMP2)
- Rui Andrade (FIA WEC LM GT3)
- Eduardo Barrichello (FIA WEC LM GT3)
- Cem Bölükbaşı (ELMS LMP2)
- Francesco Castelacci (FIA WEC LM GT3)
- Jamie Chadwick (ELMS LMP2)
- Adrien Closmenil (ELMS LMP3)
- Juan Manuel Correa (IMSA LMP2)
- Hadrien David (MLMC LMP3)
- Manuel Espirito Santo (ELMS LMP2)
- Tom Fleming (ELMS LM GT3 and MLMC LMP3)
- Bijoy Garg (IMSA LMP2)
- Finn Gehrsitz (FIA WEC LMGT3)
- Gillian Henrion (ELMS LMP3)
- Mathys Jaubert (ELMS LMP2 – 2026 Hypercar)
- Theodor Jensen (ELMS LMP3)
- Lars Kern (IMSA GTD)
- Rasmus Lindh (IMSA LMP2)
- Manuel Maldonado (ELMS LMP2)
- Robert Megennis (IMSA GTD)
- Simon Mann (FIA WEC LM GT3)
- Hunter McElrea (IMSA LMP2)
- Lorenzo Patrese (IMSA GTD)
- Benjamin Pedersen (IMSA and ELMS LMP2)
- Griffin Peebles (ELMS LMP3)
- Riccardo Pera (currently WEC LMGT3)
- Pedro Perino (ELMS LMP2)
- Nico Pino (WEC Hypercar)
- Valentino Rossi (WEC LMGT3)
- Hugo Schwarze (MLMCV LMP3)
- Toby Sowery (IMSA LMP2)
- Parker Thompson (IMSA GTD)
- Ben Tuck (WEC LMGT3)
- Lilou Wadoux (ELMS LM GT3)
- Salih Yoluç (IMSA GTD and GT World Challenge)
