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Team Porsche Penske Motorsport: The 2026 Race Schedule, Classes, and the 2025 Podium Story That Set the Table

Jan 02, 2026

What Porsche Penske runs in 2026

IMSA: GTP with the Porsche 963

Porsche Penske Motorsport will again field two Porsche 963 prototypes in the GTP class—the top category of IMSA’s WeatherTech Championship.

The 963 is a hybrid prototype built to the LMDh ruleset, and Porsche’s 2025 season wrap-up notes how dominant the platform has been in IMSA since the rules debuted.

What about WEC in 2026?

Here’s the part that catches a lot of fans off guard: while the FIA WEC still has a published 2026 calendar, multiple reports confirm Porsche’s factory Porsche Penske Hypercar effort withdraws from WEC for 2026, meaning the team won’t be contesting those rounds for overall wins next year.

Porsche’s own Night of Champions communications emphasize a revised focus that keeps the factory 963 push centered on IMSA.

2026 Porsche Penske driver lineup: familiar stars, key changes

Porsche and IMSA both outline the 2026 plan clearly:

Full-season drivers

No. 6 Porsche 963: Kévin Estre + Laurens Vanthoor
No. 7 Porsche 963: Felipe Nasr + Julien Andlauer

Endurance “third drivers” (IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup rounds)

For the endurance classics, Porsche adds firepower:

Matt Campbell joins the No. 6 for the endurance events
Laurin Heinrich joins the No. 7 for the endurance events

And if you’re tracking the offseason dominoes: IMSA notes Mathieu Jaminet departs Porsche for Genesis in 2026, which is a major storyline given his recent championship role.

The 2026 IMSA schedule: every race Porsche Penske is pointed at

IMSA’s official 2026 WeatherTech schedule lays it out cleanly. Here’s the calendar you can pin to the fridge.

2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (events Porsche Penske targets in GTP)

Jan 16–18 Roar Before the Rolex 24 (test/preview) -Daytona
Jan 21–25 Rolex 24 At Daytona -Daytona
Mar 18–21 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring -Sebring
Apr 17–18 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach -Long Beach
May 1–3 WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca -Laguna Seca
May 29–30 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix -Detroit
Jun 25–28 Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen -Watkins Glen
Jul 10–12 Chevrolet Grand Prix-Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
Jul 30–Aug 2 Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix (6h)-Road America
Aug 20–23 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR -VIR
Sep 18–20 TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks -Indianapolis
Oct 1–3 Motul Petit Le Mans (10h) -Road Atlanta

All dates/venues above come directly from IMSA’s published 2026 schedule. IMSA

Why this schedule matters for Porsche Penske: it mixes sprint rounds (like Long Beach and Detroit) with endurance pillars (Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Road America, Petit Le Mans). For a team built on pit-stop precision and long-run pace, these are exactly the kinds of weekends where championships are won.

The 2025 podiums and wins that built the 2026 hype

Porsche’s 2025 IMSA story wasn’t “a couple of good weekends.” It was a season where Porsche says it secured six championship crowns, including a repeat of the biggest prizes at the top of the sport.

The headline wins (top step podiums)

IMSA’s team listing for the No. 7 Porsche Penske entry captures the punchline: in 2025 the team won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Sebring, and Long Beach in GTP.

That’s not just “successful.” That’s the kind of start that changes how the paddock views you for the rest of the year.

The consistency podiums that clinched titles

Team Penske’s 2025 IMSA season review describes how the No. 6 program stacked results when it mattered—specifically noting a podium at Detroit and a third at Petit Le Mans, the kind of finishes that turn a tight points chase into a championship celebration.

Porsche’s own recap of the Road Atlanta finale also notes the factory 963s finishing third and tenth, enough to secure the manufacturers title again and cap off that multi-title season.

Why 2025 podiums matter going into 2026

Put simply: Porsche Penske didn’t just win races—they proved they could win different kinds of races:

24 hours (Daytona)
12 hours (Sebring)
sprints (Long Beach)
and still bring home the results needed at season’s end to lock championships.

That’s the blueprint for a repeat.

Classes and “where Porsche Penske fits” for fans following multiple series

IMSA GTP: the main show

In IMSA, Porsche Penske is the factory spearhead in GTP, the headline prototype class.

WEC: watch Porsche, but not Porsche Penske (for overall wins)

WEC still matters to Porsche fans—especially with the Le Mans gravitational pull—but for 2026, the key point is that Porsche Penske won’t be the factory Hypercar presence there.

So if your goal is to follow Team Porsche Penske specifically, the “must-watch” list is IMSA-first in 2026.

The 2026 storyline in one sentence

New driver pairings, the same factory intensity, and a schedule packed with endurance races where execution beats hype every single time.