Story and photos by Tim Adams
Road America is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The first weekend of August brought the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship into town for a 2-hour and 40-minute sprint race. The support series Michelin Pilot Challenge, Mustang Challenge, Porsche Carrera Cup, and Lamborghini Super Trofeo also joined in on the action. It was very full weekend of racing. Road America does not announce attendance figures, but it was said to be a record crowd on Sunday.
Every off-season Road America continues to make improvements for the fans and race teams. This past off-season the old pedestrian bridge over the front straight was replaced with a brand new, two-lane wide bridge. This is a huge improvement over the old bridge, which could barely fit two people walking side by side on it. With the nice wide bridge now, it can accommodate golf cart traffic that used to crowd the pedestrian tunnel that runs under the front straight. Traffic flow is now fantastic at both crossing points. Also expanded was the pit lane entry, and the road to the false grid.
In late June Motul came on as the title sponsor of the race, signing a multi-year agreement. This makes more sense now with the race in 2026 becoming part of IMSA’s Michelin Endurance Cup. Starting in 2026, the race will be 6-hours. Something Road America fans have been clamoring for years for. Motul has been a sponsor of the season ending 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta for years. More on what the 6-hour race could bring later.
After fans suffered through a brutally hot and humid weekend for IndyCar at Road America, they were greeted with cooler and less humid conditions for the IMSA weekend. All good, with one large caveat, smoke, a lot of it, from wildfires in Canada. The air quality was atrocious all weekend. Hazy ugly skies, it was terrible.
Many have described the situation that sportscar racing currently finds itself in as another golden age. Well, there are storm clouds on the horizon it seems. The day after the race, Lamborghini said that it is pausing its SC63 LMDh program for 2026. This shocked no one. Currently Lamborghini is only competing in the Michelin Endurance Cup races. My advice to all the Lamborghini fans out there is to get to the Indy 6-hour race, or the season finale at Road Atlanta, Petit Le Mans. Despite Lamborghini just saying they are pausing the program, it is over, you will never see the SC63 again. Lamborghini has said they plan to concentrate on the new Temerario GT3, and the Super Trofeo series.
In other not so good news in the top class GTP, BMW has announced that after 17 seasons with Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) they are splitting, and someone else will campaign the car in IMSA. BMW has committed to staying in both IMSA and the WEC, but they have not officially committed to the full season in IMSA. If they just run the Endurance Cup races this would be a huge mistake. At this time, it is unknown who will campaign the cars in IMSA in 2026. All the rumors right now point to Team WRT based in Europe. They campaign the BMW in the WEC. This would make the most sense, with the team already familiar with everything.
Rumors are also floating about Team Penske and Porsche. Porsche has stated they are committed through the 2027 season in IMSA and the WEC. Rumors are floating that they would only run the Endurance Cup races or just pull the plug completely and not run at all in 2026. Again, this would be a colossal mistake.
Thankfully, we have the new Aston Martin Valkyrie in GTP. Aston Martin is currently running two cars in the WEC, and one in IMSA. It looks like no other Hypercar on the grid, and sounds incredible with its naturally aspirated, high revving V-12. Thankfully in IMSA it runs unrestricted exhaust, so all the fans can hear that screaming V-12. The WEC mandates that they must use mufflers. The words muffler and racecar, should never be used in the same sentence.
With the silly season coming up quickly, we really do not know what the GTP grid will look like in 2026. Hopefully, things work out for full season efforts from BMW and Porsche. There is hope on the horizon. Genesis, Ford, and McLaren are all building Hypercars to compete, in the WEC. Now all three have made mention of IMSA programs, but only WEC cars and teams are being put together currently. I will not believe that any of them are going to race in IMSA until I see the cars on the track. It makes zero sense to me that an American company like Ford is not going to start in the WEC and IMSA at the same time.
AO Racing, of Rexy and Spike fame, is looking at stepping up into the top class, GTP. Could they replace Penske, or the Proton Competition which is only running the Endurance Cup races this year? Do Spike and Rexy have a sibling?
On to the race. Like last year’s caution-filled race, this race was also a disaster from the fans’ point of view. The race was 66 laps, 22 were under caution. Absolutely ridiculous. Something must be done about the full course caution procedures IMSA uses. The WEC safety periods are much shorter and tidy, allowing for more racing. The driving standards of the racers are also being called into question. They must stop driving like maniacs and running into each other. They could not even make it to turn 3 on the opening lap without a wreck. From a fan standpoint, it is just ridiculous to watch caution laps that take almost 5 minutes. I cannot state this more clearly, it was a terrible race to watch.
A good race can be run. Last year at Petit Le Mans, with a slightly larger field, on a tight track Road Atlanta, which is only just over 2.5 miles, they managed to run over 4-hours without a caution flag. It was glorious. Imagine from a fan standpoint how exciting it would be to watch a 2-hour and 40-minute race with no cautions.
With the race moving to 6 hours next year, the drivers must behave themselves, because the madness of the past two years will be very hard for any race fan to stomach. We do not need 3 hours of caution flag laps.
Team RLL is doing its best to go out on a high note, taking the win and second place in GTP Sunday. AO Racing and Spike took the win the LMP2. In GTD Pro Paul Miller Racing in the BMW M4 took the win, and in GTD the Ferrari 296 from Triaris Competizione took its first win in IMSA home.
Everyone is looking forward to 2026, and the 6-hour race. Let us hope that calmness prevails, and IMSA puts on the classic endurance race that all the fans have been waiting for. See you next year!
