In a year when there has been so much to report on of a positive nature, it seems odd to focus on the negatives, but there certainly have been some along the way.
Last year’s ‘winner’ here was the fog-out of the Nürburgring 24 Hours, 2025, though, sees some rather more human-created dramas take over the debate.
The delays to both Mercedes AMG’s and Toyota’s next generation GT3 cars have dragged on through the whole year, but at least now we have had the official reveal of the Japanese car and testing shots of the concept version of the AMG. Both may well see some (unhomologated) race action in 2026 ahead of 2027 factory and customer debuts.
The financial ripples from the misadventure of Iron Lynx and Lamborghini, and more recently the Prema IndyCar effort, seem to have swamped, at least for now, the frontline race activities of the fan-favourite Iron Dames. They’ll be missed in the WEC, IMSA and ELMS in 2026.
The confirmation of a ‘pause’ for the Lamborghini SC63 programme after what, for now, can be seen as a farewell tour in IMSA’s Endurance Cup sees the sunsetting of another fan favourite effort. The departure of Maurizio Leschiutta as the Italian supercar brand’s head of motorsport after less than a year in post, given his expertise in LMDh development, is unlikely to hasten the SC63’s return to the track either.
Confirmation came late in the year, too, that Valentino Rossi will not return to the FIA WEC in 2027. The Italian MotoGP megastar is understood to have been a prime mover behind the shift to the rule changes in the LMGT3 tyre, but those changes in the sporting regulations is evidently not enough to persuade him to return for a third consecutive season. A return to GT World Challenge appears to beckon.
Tyre wars are rare in endurance racing nowadays, with Super GT and the Nürburgring endurance races being the hold-outs against the now single tyre supplier norm. The news that Super GT looks set to move away from multiple tyre suppliers after next season has not been well received by many!
There were many anticipated races across the major series that DSC follows that underperformed. The final Sprint race for IMSA at Road America was perhaps the most disappointing of the bunch. Here’s hoping the iconic venue’s switch to an endurance round in 2026 brings a much, MUCH better, and cleaner, race!
The not entirely unexpected ‘WEC-xit’ of Porsche Penske Motorsport was confirmed in October. Its departure was disappointing enough, but some of the messaging and politicking in the background was particularly unbecoming. The financial position of the company forced the changes, but the impact on its WEC Hypercar customer effort from Proton, and an apparent unwillingness to assist in a potential rescue plan, left a bitter taste.
For us here at DSC, though, the disappointment of the year started relatively early and carried on, to a greater or lesser degree, for much of the year.
Dailysportscar’s 2025 Disappointment of the Year
Balance of Performance
It’s Balance of Performance in Hypercar and GTP, not the process, but the quality of debate around it.
Balance of Performance has been a cornerstone of the success of GT3 and GT4 for almost 20 years. The Hypercar and GTP classes of the FIA WEC and IMSA, respectively, adopted the process as a key to cost control for the currently phenomenally successful top prototype classes for both championships.
It’s been a rocky road at times for the process, which is designed to ensure closer racing. At times it has not succeeded, at others it has!
And it’s the lack of that sense of balance in much of the ‘debate’ that is the disappointment of the year here at DSC in 2025.
Criticism is fine, and having a preference for something different is fine too. But the often pointed, even angry, rejection of any balancing factors around a perceived ‘Bad BoP’ has drawn our sport into the often challenging whirlpool of opinion that social media fuels oh so readily.
Baseless memes, brand-focused opinion and, frankly, ill-considered and unsound comparisons between the efforts and results of the WEC and IMSA have added to a fire. It has seen high-ranking officials attempt to explain, only to be shouted down on occasion by some more interested in their own opinions than in any explanation of fact.
BoP has not been perfect in either series, but then neither has been the performance of many of the teams. Had Cadillac Hertz Team Jota’s cars not tripped over each other at Lusail in February, the debate may have been very different, for instance.
Perfection still matters, excellence can be the difference, and that’s why we should sometimes take the time to look more carefully at some of the performances that drew comment, which all too often saw comment singularly focused on BoP.
The performance void between the two factory Porsches, the difference in first and second stint pace by others and a particularly un-Toyota level of team performance by the Gazoo Racing team (until Bahrain!) all fed into the mix in 2025, though, at times you’d have done well to notice that.
There is clearly work underway to tweak the system again for 2026, and there’s time then to consider how we can all contribute to its success.
The rule makers need to communicate clearly and with space to do so, both proactively and reactively, as things progress.
The media need to be inquisitive and fair. Too many have determined there is a market for negativity with almost templated headlines that focus almost entirely of who has been ‘hit’ with what, often without explaining the context for the moves from the system. Those who seek to ‘analyse’ need actually to do so; presenting data in pretty graphics is not analysis.
And the fans need to be fair-minded too. If you don’t like Balance of Performance as a principle, that’s fine, but the fact is that it has been a pillar of the current success of the class.
Whether fans of the sport in general, or a specific team or driver, fine, offer an opinion, but please recognise that there are other opinions too. Let’s make 2026 the year where sportscar racing gives a lesson to much of the remainder of public life – it is still possible to have a debate and not always default to an argument!
