New RACER magazine deep-dives into sports car racing’s new golden age

International sports car racing takes center stage in the latest issue of RACER magazine, headed by a booming IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Remember those bleak days, pre-2014, when North American sports car racing was still split, when the Rolex 24 At Daytona was in one championship, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the other, and neither featured all the manufacturers and drivers you wanted to see strut their stuff? Now, heading into the 12th season of unity as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, we can and we do savor the fact that legendary marques and aces from multiple motorsports disciplines want to put their names on the line.

The Sports Car Issue (RACER No. 338) sets the scene on the spectacular action to come in 2026. We know it’s going to be a great year.

Where do you even look? The warp-speed, high-tech GTP cars threading the needle through traffic as they go wheel to wheel for the overall win? The howling pack of LMP2 machinery jostling to be first among equals? Or the stream of GTD Pro and GTD exotica darting out from the slipstream and playing chicken on the brakes, lap after exhilarating lap?

It’s a golden age for North American sports car racing, and the drivers, cars and teams of the WeatherTech Championship are ready to go for gold in 2026. The season begins with a legendary endurance race, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, heads straight to another in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and doesn’t let up the excitement until the checkers fly at the Motul Petit Le Mans finale. The storylines are endless, the racing is going to be furious, and chances are we won’t know the full list of 2026 champions until the final lap at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Adding to the mouth-watering machinery already on the IMSA grid, Lamborghini’s Temerario GT3 will make its global racing debut at Sebring, and we went behind the scenes with Lamborghini and partner team Pfaff Motorsports as they got the latest Italian fighting bull ready for action.

This being our Sports Car Issue, we preview the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship and take a look at progress from an exciting newcomer, namely, Genesis…which looks set to be heading to IMSA GTP with its GMR-001 in 2027, too. We also get the low down from an utterly professional and unerringly enthusiastic amateur racer who’s competed with huge success in both series, namely, Ben Keating. Discovering what makes him tick was a genuinely insightful and inspirational experience.

Genesis’s parent company, Hyundai, is expected to feature strongly in the World Rally Championship this year, although we predict a different team will generate the most intriguing of the battles in our WRC preview, and we’ve also focused on the NASCAR drivers without a Cup Series title who are most likely to make their breakthrough in 2026, including a guy carrying big momentum, Chase Briscoe.

Before testing began for Formula 1’s new-rules era – which is already causing a quiet storm regarding engine regulations and how to deliberately misinterpret them – we’ve been taking a longer view on the Aston Martin team. It now contains something of a holy trinity comprising Adrian Newey, Fernando Alonso and Honda. But how soon can “The Newey Effect” make a difference there? In time for Alonso to claim a 33rd grand prix victory some 13 years after his 32nd? Or, even better, will it allow him to fight for the world championship against the likes of Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri?

Another open-wheel team needing a change in fortune, but on this side of the Atlantic, is Rahal Letterman Lanigan, which showed sparks of promise across the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series, but could never turn up the heat. RLL has signed a phalanx of top-tier, respected personnel to help alter the team’s trajectory, as well as new driver Mick Schumacher. Bobby and Graham Rahal, along with last season’s IndyCar Rookie of the Year, Louis Foster, give us their reasons to be excited for the season ahead.

One driver who could make an RLL car dance, but who moved on after three years is Christian Lundgaard. Seeing how he measured up to Pato O’Ward as teammates at Arrow McLaren last year, we believe Lundgaard is an IndyCar champion-in-waiting. Is McLaren capable of regularly beating the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing entry of four-time champ Alex Palou? That’s the big question. But if so, could Lundgaard be in the frame?

Add in interviews with two 21st century legends of U.S. racing, Will Power and Jimmie Johnson, and a look back at F1’s “Return to Power” in 1966, and we think that, like the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, we’re starting the 2026 racing season with a classic!

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