Doonan sees a rising tide continuing to lift all IMSA’s boats

IMSA President John Doonan is looking forward to continuing the momentum that’s been building in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for a few years now, kickstarted by the current GTP era and further energized by the growth of IMSA’s non-American audience through the proliferation of live, free coverage of the series’ races on multiple outlets including YouTube.

“We’ve all seen the sport evolve over time. There’s been some super-high highs and some challenging times,” Doonan said. “But we have an amount of momentum right now for endurance sports car racing that is very encouraging. And as a staff, as a community, I think we have collectively done an incredible job with taking really good care of it. Making methodical decisions, making choices about the schedule, how many days people are at the track, and making adjustments in the actual cadence of the races – so that we make a West Coast swing and people can do those races back-to-back.

“We’ve got into a cadence of announcing the schedule early. We’ve got into a cadence of opening registration early, and allowing stories to be told about when people are committed, and who the drivers are, and things like that. For me, all of those things combined has created a very stable platform for all of us. And so carrying that into ’26 is really important.”

There’s excitement about the season to come, and the potential for more manufacturers to get involved. Porsche Penske Motorsport and the factory 963s remain involved in IMSA GTP despite the factory’s exit from the FIA World Endurance Championship in Hypercar, as well.

“There’s no doubt, across IMSA’s history, the Porsche brand has had a significant impact since year one, 1969,” Doonan said of the German manufacturer. “The decision [to leave WEC], of course, is ultimately theirs – and they made it for a lot of reasons that I’m not privy to.

“We don’t want to see any programs come to an end, whether that’s in IMSA, in WEC or ACO, Le Mans, you name it. Obviously, we’re excited to have Porsche Penske back (in IMSA) for 2026.”

On the horizon, Genesis plans to enter IMSA sometime in 2027, and there’s always the possibility that Ford and McLaren could follow them into the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“Hyundai, of course, came here. Six manufacturers’ championships in a row in (Michelin Pilot Challenge) TCR. They’ve established their brand here,” Doonan says of the Korean automaker which owns the Genesis luxury brand. “To have them come here is another statement about the opportunities that IMSA has, both at the Pilot Challenge level, as well as the WeatherTech level.

“What they’ve have done with the Genesis brand, to essentially do similar in creating the Magma brand, like BMW M, AMG – it’s an example of what we stand for. Premium brand, with the performance version of that. It’s huge for us. I think it’s huge for them.”

Asked if Doonan is hopeful that Ford Racing will bring its upcoming LMDh prototype to IMSA one day, he added, “Certainly hope so. Obviously, this is Ford’s home turf in the U.S.

“We continue to think about McLaren. Thrilled that they’re back in GT with Rahal Letterman Lanigan. That’s exciting, and we’ll see how it develops through either Rahal Letterman Lanigan, United Autosports, you name it – but once again, McLaren’s top market for sales of road cars is here, and hopefully we can be part of helping them growing that.”

During the November IMSA Sanctioned Test, four out of five GTP manufacturers significantly updated their cars through the use of Evo "jokers" allotted to them by the FIA in the life cycle of each car. It’s something that Doonan admits he is conflicted about.

“Paramount to us is keeping costs in check," he noted. "At a 30,000-foot view, the concept of Evos is something that we’re very sensitive to. And I would suggest – if there was a vote, we would suggest that Evos aren’t something we would vote for on a regular basis.

“However, if there is a styling change on a road car or through the brand, by all means, we want that. If there is a demonstrated performance deficit, and a car needs some sort of an update to get it in the window we make, that makes sense. Of course, anything safety related.

“As the future of the top category evolves, I think our position is to limit or only allow Evos in those areas that I just suggested. Because I think one of the beautiful things about the technical regulations of LMDh that we share with the ACO has been this tight window of performance, development, such that the costs don’t go through the roof. And I believe that’s a significant reason why there’s that many manufacturers that have adopted it around the world.”

Shepherding the next generation of LMP2 is one of the top items on the agenda for Doonan and IMSA. Brandon Badraoui/Lumen via Getty Images

Along with the future of the top categories of prototype racing, there’s also the impending launch of a new generation of LMP2 cars to come in 2028. With LMP2 in IMSA as strong as it’s ever been, Doonan is fairly optimistic that the next generation of the class will have an “on time arrival” in America in two years.

“We’ve talked very clearly with the ACO,” Doonan said. “Kicking off any new race car at the Rolex 24 – and I did that for many years [as the head of Mazda Motorsports], sometimes successfully, sometimes not – is difficult. So whatever we do, we’d want to make sure that the new car is ready for a 24-hour race, has had enough testing, and there’s enough cars and supplies and spares for the competitors.

“That’s really going to be a vote by the independent teams in terms of their uptake of the new car, but we would be ready for it in ’28 if it was ready: With proper testing, development, and then the cars have enough spares and things like that to launch it properly.”

As for the 2027 calendar, Doonan said that the series will continue to announce the upcoming season’s dates at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

"We're fortunate we've gotten into a cadence to announce the next season's calendar at Sebring in March. It's our intention to do the same for 2027, with the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge calendars. It just allows teams and promoters to plan in advance,” he said.

IMSA has also been looking at ways to accommodate all its series, including more standalone dates similar to Michelin Pilot Challenge’s June showcase round at Mid-Ohio, and VP Racing SportsCar Challenge’s new Airbnb Endurance Cup.

“We have a lot of iconic venues on our schedule, but at the same time, we want to look at other places we could go,” Doonan continued. “We’re having deep conversations with our colleagues at NASCAR. In recent years, they've gone to a few more road courses, and they've even done the street races in my hometown of Chicago, and now they're going to a temporary circuit at a naval base [in Coronado, Calif.]. The more we can find ways to collaborate with them, with the 10 platforms we sanction, we have lots of content on the weekends.

"8am to 8pm, there's content on track, so we will need additional weekends to place some of those other championships to fit their whole season schedule in. We're working with Ben Kennedy (EVP, Chief Venue & Racing Innovation Officer) and Julie Giese [former president of the Chicago street race] on the NASCAR side to see what's possible. And from a WeatherTech and Pilot Challenge standpoint, we want to know where we could join them to do an absolutely incredible multi-discipline motorsport weekend. There's a lot at play.

"We've done a couple of feature weekends for Pilot Challenge too, at Mid-Ohio, and a peek under the curtain is that we'll need at least another one of those to fit everything in with a full calendar in 2027.

“2027 is going to be the 75th anniversary of Sebring, the Twelve Hours – we’re very excited about that. I think the Road America six-hour being part of the Michelin Endurance Cup is going to be really incredible. It’s going to be a great season – I’m looking forward to it.”