17 Hypercars and 18 LMGT3 to compete the 2026 FIA WEC season
- Aaron Carroll
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
The World Endurance Championship in 2026 will feature a 35 car grid, made up of 17 Hypercars and 18 LMGT3s.
In the premier Hypercar class, two cars each come from Aston Martin, Toyota, Cadillac, BMW, Genesis, Alpine and Peugeot, while Ferrari will return with their two factory cars and the third privateer No.83 entry.
The most notable absence on the list is of course the Porsche 963, which will not compete in any WEC event this year, after Proton also confirmed that they could not support the required two car entry.
In terms of driver line-ups in the class, both Aston Martin and Toyota will retain their 2025 drivers in the No.007, No.009, No.7 and No.8.
Alex Lynn, Will Stevens and Norman Nato return to the No.12 Cadillac, as will Sebastian Bourdais and Earl Bamber in the No.38. Jack Aikten will join the JOTA crew in place of the retiring Jenson Button.
BMW have also kept a hold of all six of their drivers in the No.15 and No.20 machines, as have Ferrari in the No.50 and No.51 cars. The two factory 499P's remain with the same drivers, as they have had since the beginning of their Hypercar program.
2025's Le Mans winner Ye Yifei will return to the No.83 line-up, but as of now he is the only driver confirmed for that entry. Alpine and Peugeot sit in similar situations, with the No.35 and No.36 Alpine's being filled by just Antonio Felix Da Cost and Frederick Makowiecki respectively for now.
Peugeot have Paul Di Resta and Loic Duval as their listed drivers in the No.93 and No.94 respectively, but they have announced that Nick Cassidy, Stoffel Vandoorne and Theo Pourchaire will drive for them. They have just yet to be assigned to a specific 9X8 entry.
The LMGT3 class is much more sparse in terms of confirmed driver line-ups. Both of the new Garage 59 McLaren 720s' have full driver line-ups, which were announced not long before the release of the entry list.
Former Porsche racer Antares Au will be joined by GT World Challenge Europe (GTWC EU) regulars Thomas Fleming and Marvin Kirchhöfer in the No.10 entry, while team owner Alex West will be joined by former Lexus man Finn Gehrsitz and Garage 59 regular Benjamin Goethe.
Vista AF Corse retain their No.21 and No.54 line-ups from 2025, while Mercedes and Iron Lynx hold the same drivers, bar the introduction of Johannes Zelger in the newly numbered No.79 entry.
Heart of Racing will run both Aston Martin LMGT3s in 2026, after an unexpected exit from Racing Spirit of Lemans. Gray Newell and Ian James are listed as the bronze drivers in the No.23 and No.27 respectively, with no other drivers confirmed at this point.
The WRT BMWs make a return, with the No.32 seeing the return of Darren Leung to the brand in WEC, after racing with United Autosports and McLaren last year. The newly numbered No.69 BMW will feature Anthony McIntosh, with the notable absence of Valentino Rossi.
TF Sport and Corvette will use the numbers 33 and 34 on their cars, with Nicky Catsburg and Charlie Eastwood confirmed so far in the respective machines. The second of the entries has been named 'Racing team Turkey by TF' which likely means Salih Yoluc will make his WEC return there.
Proton will return with the No.77 and No.88 Ford Mustangs. Ben Tuck is the sole confirmed driver for the former, while Gianmarco Levorato is so in the latter.
Akkodis ASP and Lexus return for what could be the RC F's final year in WEC competition, with Esteban Masson confirmed for the No.78 while José Maria López will lead the No.87 crew as their platinum driver.
Last but not least, Porsche will return in the LMGT3 class. Manthey will run both cars, with the lack of an Iron Dames entry this year. DTM champion Ayhancan Guven will be at the helm of the No.91, and Richard Leitz will return to defend the championship title in the No.92.
The No.91 entry has been named 'Manthey DK Engineering' while the No.92 has been named 'The Bend Manthey', which signals that James Cottingham and Yasser Shahin will be apart of those entries respectively.
The WEC grid will take the green flag for the start of the 2026 season in Qatar on the 28th of March.
