Paul Miller Racing downsizes; tweaks line-up for 2026 IMSA season

After a brief expansion to a two-car program in 2025, Paul Miller Racing enters the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with only a single BMW M4 GT3 EVO, and a revised line-up for the upcoming season.

Connor De Phillippi will join Neil Verhagen in the No. 1 Paul Miller BMW for the full GTD PRO season. Verhagen is in his third season with Paul Miller Racing, having joined the team in 2024 as a Michelin Endurance Cup driver before stepping up to full-time competition in 2025. He took his first IMSA win in August at Road America, alongside Madison Snow, who left the team after nine seasons.

Snow’s replacement is De Phillippi, who spent two seasons driving the BMW M Hybrid V8 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, including the car’s first-ever victory at Watkins Glen in 2023. He moved back to GT3 racing this season, taking the GT World Challenge America Pro title for Random Vandals Racing, and competing in the Michelin Endurance Cup for Paul Miller Racing where he finished third at Sebring.

De Phillippi also finished second in LMP2 at Road America, filling in at Inter Europol Competition for an injured Tom Dillmann.

"I can't wait to contest the full IMSA season with Paul Miller Racing in 2026,” said De Phillippi, the 2017 Nürburgring 24 Hours overall winner and 2019 Rolex 24 At Daytona GTLM winner. “I think we have a very strong driver line-up, which proved last season that it can win races and regularly compete at the front. With Neil at my side, the goal is to win the first overall title for Paul Miller Racing in GTD PRO.”

"I'm thrilled to be competing with Paul Miller Racing for my second full IMSA season,” added Verhagen. “Last year I learnt a lot about the championship. While 2025 had a lot of good moments, there was also a lot to improve on. I'm looking forward to working with Connor and our new engineer throughout the season. I can't wait to start 2026 in this constellation.”

Though the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing car will not continue next season, its young factory drivers, who won the 2025 Michelin Endurance Cup title, will feature in select endurance races: Max Hesse will be the team’s driver for the Michelin Endurance Cup events, and Dan Harper will round out the four-driver line-up at Daytona.

Harper was also announced as one of Team WRT’s LMGT3 drivers for the upcoming 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship.