OEMs on IMSA GTP Grid: “We All Want It to Be Stronger”

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Current IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP manufacturers and teams are hopeful the class will return to, or potentially increase, the current car count by 2028 following an expected loss of two entries for next year.

While currently featuring 11 cars in the top class of the series, spread between five OEMs, that number is poised to decrease to four brands and an expected nine-car grid following the news of Acura’s withdrawal from factory GTP competition at the end of the season.

It compares to the current 17-car Hypercar field and eight manufacturers active in the FIA World Endurance Championship, with at least 19, or potentially as many as 21 cars set to take part in the series next year with the additions of Ford and McLaren, although Signatech’s future, potentially with BYD or another Chinese manufacturer, has yet to be confirmed.

While both Ford and McLaren, along with fellow WEC newcomers Genesis, have been working on possible full-time or partial season GTP campaigns, it’s understood none of them would debut until 2028 at the earliest.

“I read that Genesis basically confirmed they will not participate in 2027,” BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos told Sportscar365. “Clearly, in 2027, as far as I know, we will only have four manufacturers in the championship.

“Clearly it’s not ideal. But still, I think the competition in the IMSA championship is super high and it’s still super nice races.

“For sure we have to have a look that it’s not getting even less than this.

“I have the big hope and I’m super happy if Genesis or Ford or whoever, would maybe participate in 2028 and then we will have again a great field and competition in IMSA.”

BMW, along with Cadillac and Porsche, have all reaffirmed its commitments to IMSA GTP competition through at least the end of the 2027 season.

Cadillac Racing program manager Keely Bosn said Acura’s withdrawal hasn’t changed its approach.

“I wouldn’t say it changes Cadillac’s opinion of the series,” she told Sportscar365. “I will say it’s unfortunate for the series. We always look to run with the best of the best and it is a little unfortunate to not have them there to compete with.”

When asked on the prospects of having a fourth Cadillac V-Series.R on the WeatherTech Championship grid, Bosn said that’s currently not in the plans.

“Obviously we have three teams and having five cars [globally] already, it’s a lot to manage,” she said. “I think as we look forward to the future in IMSA, we’ll continue heading in the same direction that we are now.”

Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach, whose department has been the only LMDh brand to offer customer cars, told Sportscar365 that he’s not aware of any new 963s to the GTP ranks next year.

This comes despite the recent success of JDC-Miller Motorsports, which became first privateer entry to win a GTP race last month at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

“You need a significant amount of money to do that on a proper level,” Laudenbach told Sportscar365. “Even so, if customer teams are encouraged [by JDC-Miller’s success], you need to be able to finance it.”

Heart of Racing team principal Ian James, meanwhile, confirmed its Aston Martin Valkyrie effort is a long-term project but noted that the V12-powered cars have been “a bit more competitive” on a “regular basis” in the WEC.

James previously told Sportscar365 that the team wouldn’t expand into a two-car Valkyrie program in the series until the car is competitive on a “consistent” basis in North America.

The LMH-based prototype will be running 10kg below the platform’s homologated weight, in what’s believed to have been a concerted effort by IMSA’s technical team to put the car on a more level playing field.

“IMSA has a bit of stuff to work on right now,” James told Sportscar3565. “Hopefully they can do a bit of work on that class. We all want it to be stronger.

“I don’t really see where the cars are coming from in the short-term.

“I think long-term, the viability seems better. Internally, they’ve got some work to make it a really strong class.”

James, meanwhile, believes Genesis is the most likely OEM to enter the series next but expressed his desire to see Ford and McLaren also race Stateside.

“Genesis, I would have thought, would be the strongest candidate, as they seem to have a readily available budget, it seems,” he said.

“I don’t know if McLaren would gear up to run a whole another program. That’s a question for them, and Ford, as we’ve seen, they can really do what they want, when they want.

“It would be great to have all those manufacturers there.”

Doonan: IMSA Ready to Welcome “Any And All Comers” to GTP

While having recently unveiled a landmark single set of top-class regulations in partnership with the FIA and ACO for 2030, IMSA President John Doonan said the door is still wide open for additional manufacturers and entrants, particularly those with LMH cars, to compete in the WeatherTech Championship in the short-term.

“Announcements will come as those folks are ready. But we will be ready to accept any and all comers,” he told Sportscar365 last week in Le Mans.

“The current regulations are still in effect until the end of 2029, so we would continue to welcome any of the current LMH competitors in IMSA competition and we’d balance the platforms as we do today.”

As revealed by Sportscar365 earlier this week, High Class Racing, as the new operators of the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 LMH-C, has expressed interest to potentially mount an entry by as early as next year, although it’s unclear if the car would be eligible given the brand’s lack of current production car sales worldwide.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John