Future of WEC/IMSA?

Hello everybody, and welcome back to another edition of Steve’s Motorsports Blog!

As I previously wrote a little while back, we are living in a platinum age of sportscar racing. With Genesis (Hyundai), Ford and McLaren finally all confirming LMDH programs for 2026 & 2027+, there will be upwards of 6 additional entries in the WEC and another 4 entries in the IMSA GTP class for 2027/2028. This is assuming Ford comes to IMSA as well (as of writing it has not been confirmed yet).

With more Hypercar/GTP teams coming, where do all those teams fit in? These entries won’t add additional LMGT3 entries in the WEC, as Ford and McLaren already have entries and Hyundai/Genesis don’t have a GT3 car to enter (yet?). So these will purely be HY/GTP entries.

However with all the talk of bumper grids and Le Mans already having a dozen or so long waiting list as it is, the question has to be asked; where are these cars going to fit in? WEC would rise to 24-26 HY class cars (Lamborghini would make 26, assuming no other current entries back out) and if they don’t shrink the LMGT3 class, that would make the total 42-44 entries.

Over in IMSA, the full time season entry list stands currently at 47 (2024) for Sprint rounds and 56 (2025) for the Endurance rounds. This could rise to 49 and 58 for 2027 and possibly 53 and 62 by 2028 (assuming no entry drop-outs).

Certain tracks only have certain number of pit spots, which you can see below. This list is based on google searches, entry lists for certain series/events or counting pit stalls on Google Earth, so take these numbers with a grain of salt.

Circuit	Maximum Number of Pit Stalls
Daytona (IMSA)	61
Le Mans (WEC)	60
Monza (WEC)	46
Imola (WEC)	43
Bahrain (WEC)	50
Qatar (WEC)	38*
Spa-Franchorchamp (WEC)	67
Fuji (WEC)	45
Silverstone (WEC)	38*
Interlagos (WEC)	38*
COTA (IMSA & WEC)	38*
Indianapolis (IMSA)	57
Road America (IMSA)	47
Watkins Glen (IMSA)	57
Kayalami (WEC potentially)	40
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (IMSA)	39
Sebring (IMSA)	68
Road Atlanta (IMSA)	54
	*Max entries for 2025 WEC Season. Track may have more capacity

Based on the list above, even Daytona would have a problem not having to turn away entries in 2028. For the sprint rounds, even COTA will have issues (potentially). A lot of tracks in WEC would have potential issues as well. So what to do?

For series like IMSA and WEC, obviously you have to guarantee a full season entry list, otherwise you’ll have to resort to having teams qualify to make the race, like recently in NASCAR or the Indianapolis 500. I would imagine that for the premier/endurance events like the Rolex 24 of Daytona, you could have an invitation and waitlist like Le Mans does.

Another solution could be that teams from other classes have to share pit stalls and have to take turns during FCY’s. This could potentially add lengthy time to any FCY procedure and of course the two teams would have to communicate their pit stops so not to impede the other. It would be quite messy.

IMSA could follow WEC’s lead and dump the LMP2 class, which would eliminate close to a dozen entries. However, a number of the LMP2 teams would then potentially look at entering customer cars in GTP (AO Racing Spike Porsche 963 anybody!?), so it wouldn’t be a complete removal of entries.

IMSA already limits which classes attend certain tracks, presumably based on this reason. For example, the GTP class is no longer coming to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, but the LMP2 class headlines. There are GTD-only rounds or GTP/GTD (non-pro only) rounds already, so they will likely continue this strategy, but that won’t eliminate the problem for the Endurance season races.

This is all to say that the tracks in question can’t add pit stall capacity for any particular reason. Some might be financial barriers, some might be that they physically are unable to make modifications to make this happen. This would vary from a track to track basis, but nothing is impossible.

Time will only tell if any of this comes true, but I would bet that it’s likely to happen in some way.

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