After an off-season that felt like it lasted a lifetime, it feels good to report that the FIA WEC is officially back! This weekend in Imola, the teams and drivers will do battle in the delayed opening round of the 14th season following the postponement of the Qatar 1812KM to later in the year.
The Prologue test is in the books, which means attention shifts to the actual racing and this year it feels like we’re in for a treat once again in Hypercar and LMGT3.
First up in DSC’s two-part preview of the curtain-raiser is Hypercar, featuring 17 cars and eight brands.
The big standout changes? Out are Porsche Penske Motorsport and Proton Competition; in is the latest brand-new entrant to the category, Genesis Magma Racing.
There’s a new range of Michelin tyres in town too, which promise better warm-up and consistency, all while being more sustainable. For the challenge that the hilly, narrow, 21-turn, 4.9km Italian circuit presents, Michelin has brought with it the Soft and Medium tyres, like last year.
Last year, Ferrari built on its success at Le Mans in 2023 and ’24 by claiming a sweep of titles plus a third consecutive win at La Sarthe (albeit with the privately-entered #83 499P). The question mark hanging over the season, clearly, is whether or not any of the other factory teams from the chasing pack can emerge and overcome Prancing Horse this time?
Championships are not won in a single weekend, but we may get a few hints as to how the formbook is likely to sit through the European leg of the season. What we won’t get is a BoP table, as the ACO and FIA have opted to keep that data private for the season.
The race is set to get underway on Sunday at 13:00 local, so make sure you clear space in the diary, because this is an encounter you won’t want to miss! In the meantime, here’s a look at each of the teams as we count down to the green flag.
Alpine Endurance Team
#35 A424 – António Félix da Costa, Ferdinand Habsburg & Charles Milesi
#26 A424 – Jules Gounon, Frédéric Makowiecki & Victor Martins
It’s been bittersweet to see Alpine’s programme come together for 2026. The French marque’s third year with the A424 brings with it plenty of promise and excitement, but also the sad reality that it’s all going to come to an end when the chequered flag falls in Bahrain.
Leaving aside the brand’s hugely disappointing decision to walk away from Hypercar, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about Les Bleus in 2026, starting with the A424 itself.
The car has received a ‘Joker’ update to its aero package, which is visually subtle but should increase the car’s downforce. The A424 suffered from the introduction of the two-stage BoP, which restricts the power levels of each car above and below 250 kph (155 mph) separately, and this evolution’s objective is to combat that. If it works, the team has the potential to fight at the pointy end of the field more often.
Expecting the ‘Joker’ to unlock a title run from Alpine may feel a little too ambitious, but we shouldn’t forget that the team won a race in 2025 (the 6 Hours of Fuji – albeit with a strong dose of luck) and has been trending in the right direction since its tough maiden campaign with the car.
As for the driver pool, there are two key changes in the wake of Paul Loup Chatin’s move to Genesis Magma Racing and Mick Schumacher’s switch to IndyCar.
In the #35, rapid Portuguese racer Antonio Felix Da Costa makes his return to the WEC, and what a joy it’s going to be to have him back in the paddock regularly after two years spent almost exclusively in Formula E. If he finds his feet with the car quickly, then he and his teammates represent one of the more menacing line-ups in the field.
The sister car, meanwhile, sees Victor Martins step into the endurance world after climbing all the way to Formula 2 in single-seaters. The former Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula 3 winner brings speed and maturity to the team, though he’ll likely need time to settle into the new style of racing. Thankfully, he has two highly experienced teammates in Jules Gounon and Fred Makowiecki to help him get up to speed.
Aston Martin THOR Team
#007 Valkyrie – Tom Gamble, Ross Gunn & Harry Tincknell
#009 Valkyrie – Roman De Angelis, Alex Riberas & Marco Sørensen
It’s difficult to gauge how the spectacular V12-powered Aston Martin Valkyries will fare in the second year of the programme.
It was a tough start to life for the effort in the opening rounds of 2025, with the Valkyrie – as expected – off the pace and rough around the edges, but as the season progressed, green shoots began to appear. Both cars finished the toughest test, the Le Mans 24 hours, and the #009 finished the year with points finishes at Fuji and Bahrain.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the season-long performance #007 crew, who bring bags of talent to the party, but were the only full-season crew who failed to score any points and retired from three of the eight races.
2026 sees the team return with the same set of driving talent and no Joker updates to the car. The big change is that with a year of data now gathered and the second IMSA GTP campaign for the team already well underway, the team has a good baseline to work with at every stop on the calendar.
The key question marks remain, though: is the car up to scratch on the software side yet? Is it now more compliant over kerbs and less of a handful to drive? Will it be kind to the new Michelin rubber?
If the answers to those questions are all ‘yes’, and the Balance of Performance across the season keeps the car in the window, then we should see the Valkyrie regularly in the mix for points or better.
BMW M Team WRT
#15 M Hybrid V8 – Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello & Dries Vanthoor
#24 M Hybrid V8 – Robin Frijns, René Rast & Sheldon van der Linde
Is this the year that it all comes together for WRT and the BMW M Hybrid V8 programme? With continuity in its driver line-up and a revamped aero package, WRT hopes that in its first season fighting with BMW on both the WEC and IMSA fronts, standout results (including a first WEC win) will follow.
BMW, like a few of its rivals, is in favour of scaling back to two-driver crews for part of the season at shorter races. The opener, as an example, will see Magnussen and Marciello share the #15, with Frijns and Rast in the #24 while van der Linde and Vanthoor compete at Long Beach in the clashing IMSA race. Overall, it’s a strong roster on paper, but all six drivers have plenty to prove as expectations for the programme rise.
The big talking point is the car itself. After BMW opted to update the car’s brakes in 2025, it shifted its EVO ‘Joker’ focus to the aero kit for 2026. A new-look, smaller kidney grill, and a reprofiled splitter promise to make life easier for the drivers over stints, particularly in traffic, but even with two IMSA races under its belt, it feels a little early to pass judgment.
Some positive signs are there, though. At Daytona, WRT surprised itself at the end of the race in strategising the #24 to a third-place finish in the fog-affected enduro. Daytona is, of course, a unique circuit for these prototypes and IMSA GTP racing has a different identity from WEC Hypercar, but after appointing WRT as its North American service provider, that result will have served as a welcome confidence boost.
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA
#12 V-Series.R – Alex Lynn, Norman Nato & Will Stevens
#38 V-Series.R – Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber & Sébastien Bourdais
With Porsche no longer part of the Hypercar field, everything seems in place for Cadillac to emerge as the leader of the LMDh pack. In 2025, JOTA took no time at all to get comfortable in its new role as a factory team, finishing fourth in the Manufacturers’ standings after a campaign with its fair share of highs.
The #12 was the standout, winning Cadillac its first WEC race in Brazil, taking pole at Le Mans and finishing inside the points at every race. The sister car was strong at times too, finishing second in the team’s 1-2 at Interlagos and crossing the line sixth at Spa and Le Mans. It may have been an even more impressive season for both crews, too, had they not hit each other while running first and second in Qatar during a safety car restart.
For the new season, there has been a shuffle in the driver stable. The #12 is unchanged – though Alex Lynn has been sidelined for the opening races at Imola and Spa due to a procedure on his neck. In the No. 38, meanwhile, Jenson Button’s retirement opened the door for Action Express driver Jack Aitken to add to his busy schedule. He’ll miss Imola due to the IMSA clash, a reverse of Bamber, who is prioritising the world championship over IMSA GTP with AXR. On the management side, there’s been a tweak too, as Leon Price also joins the operation as team manager.
As for the car, the V-Series.R has been updated with a new aero package via an Evo ‘Joker’ that has seen “every bodywork panel” reworked and the adjustable aero device shifted to the rear of the car (the wing). It’s also been treated to a change to its braking system, benefiting from a full Brembo package. Early feedback from Daytona and Sebring suggests the update is working as advertised, but until we see the car race in anger in the Hypercar field, it’s hard to pass judgment.
In year two for the two-car Hertz Team JOTA effort, it feels like all involved can afford to dream big.
Ferrari AF Corse
#50 499P – Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina & Nicklas Nielsen
#51 499P – James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi & Alessandro Pier Guidi
#83 499P – Phil Hanson, Robert Kubica & Yifei Ye
It’s easy to run out of superlatives when writing about the 499P programme as it heads into its fourth year. The Italian marque has achieved so much since it turned up in Hypercar back in 2023, winning Le Mans three times and securing both the Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ titles in 2025.
All three cars have won multiple races over the past three years, and all three, astoundingly, have won Le Mans too, with the #83 privately-entered car from AF Corse winning the 24 last year. There’s a lot to live up to then, in 2026, for the Ferrari concern.
In terms of driving talent, it’s as you were. No changes to report, with all three cars boasting the same combination of experience, chemistry and speed. It’s the car itself that has changed, but even that’s minor.
As Ferdinando Cannizzo told reporters ahead of the season, the first visit to the Windshear wind tunnel with the car prompted various changes to the package. To be clear, no Evo Jokers have been used; instead, the car has required tweaking to ensure it fits in the defined aero window. Nevertheless, it adds a shred of uncertainty over the team’s potential to come out swinging as it did in 2025, dominating the opening rounds of the season.
However, the Prologue earlier this week saw the 499Ps occupy the top spaces on the timing screens throughout, and the general consensus amongst rival teams is that they’ll remain a tough nut to crack.
Ultimately, would it surprise anyone to see Ferrari remain the team to beat in 2026? No. The 499P is a proven package and the team continues to improve operationally and strategically year-on-year. It’s up to the other teams in the field to meet the same standard.
Genesis Magma Racing
#17 GMR-001 – Pipo Derani, Mathys Jaubert & André Lotterer
#19 GMR-001 – Paul-Loup Chatin, Mathieu Jaminet & Daniel Juncadella
When Genesis first launched its Hypercar programme way back in December 2024 at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper, its level of ambition was immediately clear. In an age of spending cuts by major OEMs and drops in digital-only content, Hyundai’s young brand outlined its vision for the future with a glitzy, glamorous event, revealing a scale model of its GMR-001 Hypercar and a timeline of what was to come. That moment seems like only yesterday.
Fast forward to March 2026, and everything is in place for the team and its pair of turbo V8-powered LMDh prototypes to make their debut on the world stage, after an extensive test programme which has seen it complete 25,000 kilometres of running (including 9,000 kms with a single engine) as the team of engineers and drivers has built up.
On the subject of drivers, it’s a really punchy line-up. The #17 features the first two drivers signed up by the brand, Andre Lotterer (back for the first time in WEC since his title season in 2024 with Porsche) and Pipo Derani (who will take on his first full season since 2016), plus 2025 ELMS standout and Trajectory Programme graduate Mathys Jaubert.
The sister car, meanwhile, features two more drivers with recent top-class pedigree: Mathieu Jaminet (formerly Porsche) and Paul Loup Chatin (formerly Alpine).
The third seat features another major talent, Dani Juncadella, whose CV is packed with high-level GT experience, including IGTC and World Challenge Endurance Cup titles (plus a drive with Max Verstappen in his Nürburgring effort). His ability to steer a prototype shouldn’t be questioned either; he was strong all season in the ELMS LMP2 class last year with Jaubert and Genesis’ hypercar reserve Jamie Chadwick, and has F1 simulator experience to draw from too.
It’s hard to gauge just how effective the team’s preparations have been, and arguably, we should wait until the end of the season to assess progress, when Genesis has a body of work to look over. To this point, though, it’s hard to find fault with the way it’s gone about building a factory team from scratch.
Experienced drivers? Check. Young hungry drivers? Check. High-quality technical staff with WEC success on their CV? Check. The only thing left to mark is the car itself, which has had its ups and downs in testing (which car hasn’t, though?) but certainly looks and sounds the part.
Team boss Cyril Abiteboul summarised his level of expectation to DSC perfectly: “It’s easy to flatter ourselves. We’ve got a nice truck, nice car, nice liveries, lots of people. Our mission is not to say we will fight for wins and championships anytime soon. At the same time, we have ambitions to do things in a good way, with faultless execution, without being arrogant. It’s finding a balance. First, we have to be safe, legal and reliable; that’s our main objective for the season.”
Peugeot TotalEnergies
#93 9X8 – Nick Cassidy, Paul di Resta & Stoffel Vandoorne
#94 9X8 – Loïc Duval, Malthe Jakobsen & Théo Pourchaire
Throughout the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar era, the greatest enigma has often been Peugeot TotalEnergies and its 9X8 programme. The French brand’s LMH-spec racer has received major updates since the original “wingless wonder” debuted at the 6 Hours of Monza in 2022 – including, in 2024, a rear wing – yet the team is still searching for its first win.
In 2026, the hope is that the team can make steady gains, find a rhythm, and use any momentum to make a big impact in 2027, when it is expected to bring either a brand-new prototype to the class or a huge update to the current model.
For the season ahead, perhaps the biggest change to the effort – beyond the tweaks to the driver roster, which see Pourchaire and Cassidy join full-time – is the appointment of Emmanuel Ensault as team principal, who joined the team from Iron Lynx and reports directly to Olivier Jansonnie, now the head of Stellantis Motorsport in the wake of Jean-Marc Finot’s retirement.
As for the 9X8 itself, unlike the majority of the other cars in the field – which have been updated with key performance “Jokers” – it heads into the season mostly untouched. Like the 499P from Ferrari, though, there are some minor differences to the 2025-spec car brought on by the car’s first visit to the Windshear wind tunnel in North Carolina.
So what should we expect from the 9X8 in its fifth season of competition? 2025 ended with a string of top-10 finishes for both cars and podiums at Circuit of The Americas and Fuji. Will that form carry over in 2026? Ensault and the team are making no guarantees; they’d rather underpromise and overdeliver.
Ultimately, there are two ways of looking at the 2026 championship for Peugeot: A great opportunity to get that first win and fight for big results, or a holdover before the new/heavily revised car debuts next year.
The pressure, though, will be on regardless. Peugeot’s board has long held high expectations for the 9X8 program and stuck by it through choppy waters. At the very least, Peugeot needs to prove it is on a path to deliver Le Mans wins and titles in future seasons, so that Ensault can make the case that the brand’s involvement in the category into the next decade – when the regulations are expected to evolve – is worth the investment.
Toyota Racing
#7 TR010 – Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi & Nyck de Vries
#8 TR010 – Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley & Ryō Hirakawa
It’s safe to say that everyone in the FIA WEC Hypercar paddock will be keeping an eye on Toyota this year. The Japanese manufacturer heads into the new season eager to reclaim its position as the category’s benchmark, following a lacklustre 2025 campaign (by its lofty standards), which featured just a single win at the very end of the season in Bahrain.
The entire team carried with it both frustration and disappointment throughout last term, stemming from the car’s struggles to fight up front on pace (in part, it would argue, if the rules permitted, because of the BoP hands it was dealt). The mood music in the multiple world championship-winning garage translated into the team’s results, which, in places, were further affected by uncharacteristic errors, both strategic and operational, when the team was under the most pressure, notably at Le Mans and Fuji.
In the end, Toyota snuck into second spot in the Manufacturers’ standings after its Bahrain blitz, but it never truly felt like it was in the title battle, as for much of the season, its crews were forced to get creative to grind out results.
Nevertheless, the Cologne-based outfit, led by team principal/driver Kamui Kobayashi and technical director David Floury, is re-energised and ready to move forward. The team brings both momentum following its 1-2 in the 2025 finale and a heavily revised Hypercar, the TR010, to the fight.
The changes to its LMH prototype for ’26 go far beyond its new name and the shift to a striking red-and-white livery. It’s received an aerodynamic overhaul via an EVO ‘Joker’, which had been in the works since 2024. The changes to the front clip and rear wing, in particular, stand out when comparing the 2025 and 2026 cars.
If it achieves its aims, it’ll be “easier to drive” and “more consistent in all conditions”, according to Floury. With the new aero package, the team looked to make the car more recognisable as a Toyota too, in line with the original push for OEM’s to adopt clear styling cues that mirror their road car range when the regulations debuted. Beyond aerodynamic improvements, Toyota also believes it has found gains in reliability over the off-season.
How Toyota and its returning sextet of drivers navigate the challenges and setbacks it faces in 2026 will ultimately define their season. The majority of cars in the Hypercar field have matured, rival teams have caught up on the operational and strategic side, and the rule-makers remain as keen as ever to create parity. It’s a tough combination to deal with for a team that was consistently the top dog for years until Ferrari and, to a lesser extent, Porsche, turned up and disrupted the party.
Toyota knows that having the best car and the best-drilled team no longer automatically translates into wins, so it must look inward and make adjustments to give itself the best chance of becoming the benchmark again.
