Palou v. McLaren court case concludes
If you somehow missed it yesterday, the court case between McLaren Racing and reigning IndyCar Series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Álex Palou has concluded, with McLaren being awarded just over $12 million USD in damages sought for breach of contract when Palou signed with the Formula 1 constructor and IndyCar Series competitor in 2022.
McLaren had originally sought over $30 million in damages for breach of contract pertaining to both the Formula 1 and IndyCar side of the agreement. But while the $20 million portion related to Formula 1 was dismissed on Friday, the $12 million related to IndyCar – which would have seen Palou leave Chip Ganassi Racing for Arrow McLaren in 2024 – was upheld.
“This is an entirely appropriate result for McLaren Racing,” said McLaren CEO Zak Brown – who is here at Daytona as the Chairman of United Autosports. “As the ruling shows, we clearly demonstrated that we fulfilled every single contractual obligation towards Alex and fully honored what had been agreed. We thank the court for recognizing the very significant commercial impact and disruption our business suffered as a result of Alex’s breach of contract with the team.”
“McLaren Racing has been awarded damages of well over $12 million to compensate the business for the commercial loss and disruption suffered following IndyCar driver Alex Palou’s breach of contract with the team,” McLaren wrote.
“In addition to the damages awarded, McLaren Racing will be seeking interest and reimbursement of its legal expenses at a further hearing. As the judgment records, Alex Palou had the backing of Chip Ganassi Racing in attempting to deny McLaren Racing’s claims.”
Palou, who will drive the pole-sitting #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06, said in his statement: “The court has dismissed in their entirety McLaren’s Formula 1 claims against me which once stood at almost $15m,” Palou said. “I’d like to thank (former F1 team principal) Otmar Szafnauer for his expert assistance.
“The court’s decision shows the claims against me were completely overblown. It’s disappointing that so much time and cost was spent fighting these claims, some of which the Court found had no value, simply because I chose not to drive for McLaren after I learned they wouldn’t be able to give me an F1 drive.
“I’m disappointed that any damages have been awarded to McLaren. They have not suffered any loss because of what they have gained from the driver who replaced me. I am considering my options with my advisors and have no further comments to make at this stage. I look forward to the upcoming season with Chip Ganassi Racing.”
IMSA revises Full Course Yellow protocol
IMSA has announced a revision to the 2026 Sporting Regulations, declaring that the “Standard” Full Course Yellow (safety car) protocol will not be used during the first 30 minutes of the race, or the final 30 minutes of the race.
Under a Short FCY, the pit lane remains closed, though IMSA may convert to a Standard FCY process and open pit lane if the “short” full course yellow exceeds 15 minutes.
IMSA had revised its FCY procedures in the off-season, only allowing the Short FCY to be used in the final 30 minutes of a race, or if the FCY comes within 15 minutes of the previous green flag restart.
AO Racing announces Champion Porsche as new sponsor
AO Racing’s “Rexy” will have a new sponsor starting this weekend as Champion Porsche joins the team to sponsor the #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Champion Porsche’s motorsports division, Champion Motorsport, famously won the 2005 Le Mans 24 Hours as a privateer, and domestically, won five consecutive American Le Mans Series LMP1 championships.
“Bringing Champion Porsche on board Rexy for the 2026 season is a full circle moment for me,” said AO Racing team principal Gunnar Jeannette. “I grew up in South Florida with Champion running their iconic Porsche 993 GT2’s & GT1 cars. I even crewed for the team as a teenager for a few races! For AO Racing to be partnering with one of the most iconic Porsche Dealerships seems like a match made in heaven.”
Porsche Penske heritage liveries coming soon?
What’s in store to celebrate Team Penske’s 60th anniversary and Porsche’s 75th anniversary in motorsport?
Roger Penske admitted that there was a chance that the 963s could have been sporting heritage liveries here in Daytona, but the team ultimately decided against the idea to keep the identity of its cars clear for its push to win three straight Rolex 24s. However, it appears the PPM team still plans to mark the occasion later in the season.
“We were thinking about bringing a livery here,” Penske explained. “It was a big discussion, but with our cars, you know who we are. It’s continuity, and Porsche likes that. But you’ll see something as we go forward.”
Felipe Nasr documentary premieres at Daytona
A new documentary centred around Porsche Penske Motorsport driver Felipe Nasr had a special premiere showing at Daytona Beach for media on Friday evening.
2DIE4 follows Nasr in his bid to win the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans. The film is directed by brothers Salomão and André Abdala and was made by a crew of only eight people. Other key figures at Porsche Penske Motorsport appear throughout the documentary (and even DSC Editor-In-Chief Graham Goodwin makes a brief audio-only appearance!)
Nasr is attempting to become only the third driver to win three Daytona 24 Hours in a row, joining Peter Gregg (1973/75/76, with the race cancelled in ’74) and Hélio Castroneves (2021–2023).
Caldarelli motivated to win in final race with Huracán GT3
As the site of Lamborghini’s first-ever 24-hour race victory back in 2018, the Daytona International Speedway is an important place in the story of the Huracán GT3. It feels fitting, therefore, that the car’s likely final outing in factory-supported hands is taking place this weekend, with Pfaff Motorsports fielding the #9 Huracán GT3 EVO22 in GTD Pro.
“[It’s] definitely a little bit emotional,” says Pfaff’s Andrea Caldarelli. “The fact that I debuted here with the Huracán as a factory driver back in 2017, and being the last race, I’m going to do it in the same place, it’s a full circle.”
This weekend, Caldarelli is wearing a special helmet to celebrate his time aboard the Huracán, with it listing statistics and achievements from the past nine seasons and 163 races. One memory stands out above all others for the Italian: sweeping all three Pro class GT World Challenge Europe drivers’ titles in 2019 with FFF Racing Team and Marco Mapelli, the so-called SRO Triple Crown.
“I have to say, 2019, winning three championships in Europe in the same year was definitely special,” he reflects.
“It was the first year of the Evo car, so it was tough. We had a great team behind us…there was a flow. We were really feeling good, everyone was there for the same target, and the result came along with it. Only the last race I remember was really tough, because we had to win the race to win the third title, so we had to give it everything, and finishing with the win was really good.”
Looking forward to this weekend, Caldarelli is cautiously optimistic about Pfaff Motorsports’ chances in the ultra-competitive GTD Pro class.
“This car never disappointed in the last 10 years,” he says. “It’s going to be tough. The competitors, they’re really, really strong, but we saw this race, a lot of things can happen, so I think we just have to do a proper execution. She’s an old lady, but I think she’s still out there and giving punches.”
Drivers give feedback of new Michelin tyres
16,000 tyres, 176 cars, 25 staff, 35 transporters, six races. That’s the scale of Michelin’s operation at this year’s Rolex 24 Hours, the biggest test in North American sportscar racing for its organisation.
This weekend, not only is it servicing the majority of the paddock, but it is also debuting new tyres for GTP and the two GTD classes.
For the new GTP tyre’s debut, the Soft and Medium compounds are in use, with the Softs reserved exclusively for the race in a defined window between 5 pm and 10 am.
Daytona is a unique circuit on the IMSA calendar because of the loads that the banking places on each car’s right-side rubber. While there’s nowhere else like it for the GTP cars in IMSA and Hypercars in WEC, it represents an important first test for the new product to pass.
The big selling points were an increase in sustainability and an improvement to warm up. The days of GTP and Hypercar drivers struggling to switch on their tyres at restarts and on outlaps and getting passed by the GT cars aren’t necessarily over, but there’s a firm belief that it’s a significant step forward.
Aaron Teliz from Lexus’ GT team Vasser Sullivan explained to DSC: “I’ve seen GTP cars leave the box with brand new tyres, and they seem to be in a better place. In the past, they were moving chicanes; now they’re behaving more in line with what you’d expect from a car on cold race tires.”
The GTD classes are as large and competitive as ever this year, and Michelin is not resting on its laurels in that department either. For this year, it has developed an evolution of its IMSA-specific product, the Pilot Sport Pro, which the teams are getting up to speed with here in Florida.
“This is a true evolution of the tyre,” Michelin Motorsports’ sports car boss in North America, Raymond Cotton, adds. “We’ve made it easier to mount because some of the team’s wheels made it hard to mount, so from a safety perspective, we refreshed that. And while we were at it, we did a bit of tuning for wear and endurance.
“It’s super minor, most tracks you wouldn’t notice much difference, but we wanted to ultimately get more even wear with profiling changes. Hopefully, it equalises the chassis playing field a little better, because some are hard on tyres.”
HSR Classics race in the fog
Finally, this morning’s HSR IMSA classic ran in moderate fog, with Jim Matthews winning in the 1996 Riley & Scott Mk. III-A/Oldsmobile that won the “36 Hours of Florida” at Daytona and Sebring in period.
He beat Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley, driving a 2002 Riley & Scott Mk.III-C, by 8.7 seconds in a race interrupted by a few full course yellows. Todd Sloan in the former Michael Shank Racing Riley Mk.X1 Daytona Prototype, finished third overall.
GT class honours went to Florent Moulin in the 2000 Daytona 24H overall winning #92 Team ORECA Dodge/Chrysler Viper GTS-R.
Images © Jack Webster/dailysportscar.com
