- Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced Wednesday that they will return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's GTD Pro class in 2026. They will field one McLaren 720S GT3 Evo running the No. 59.
"As someone who has always valued the rich history of motorsport, partnering with a brand as
iconic as McLaren is truly exciting," team co-owner Bobby Rahal stated. "The Rahal legacy began with my father Mike’s passion for sports car racing, and to now launch this new chapter with such a storied partner is something we take tremendous pride in."
The move comes after the team had raced the BMW M Hybrid V8 in the GTP class for the last three years. This past season saw
Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor finish fourth in points with a victory at Road America and multiple pole. Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann were eighth in points with a best finish of second at Road America behind their teammates.
BMW chose to move the GTP program for 2026 to the Belgium-based Team WRT. They will be doing triple-duty as they also race the car in the FIA World
Endurance Championship's Hypercar class while also fielding BMW M4 GT3 Evos in the LMGT3 class.
For McLaren, it marks their return to WeatherTech after a year away. Pfaff Motorsports ran the McLaren in 2024 but left the manufacturer in favor of Lamborghini for this past season.
The team did not announce any drivers for the upcoming season. However, they will debut their new 720S GT3 Evo in IMSA's November test, scheduled for Nov. 14-16.
- The recent good form for The Heart of Racing continued Thursday morning in Bahrain. Marco Sorensen was fastest overall in WEC Free Practice No. 1 in Bahrain with a lap at 110.366 mph. The lap
was a full 1.455 seconds faster than the customer Ferrari of AF Corse's Robert Kubica. The second Aston Martin Valkyrie of Ross Gunn was third, then Peugeot TotalEnergies' Paul di Resta. Ferrari AF Corse's Antonio Giovinazzi was fifth.
In LMGT3, Proton Competition's Ben Barker was fastest in his Ford Mustang GT3 with a lap at 98.685 mph. The lap was .056 seconds faster than the Lexus of Akkodis ASP Team's
Jose Maria Lopez. Ben Barnicoat was third in the second Lexus, followed by Team WRT's Kelvin van der Linde and Augusto Farfus in the BMWs.
Picture is courtesy of our own Phil Allaway. This will not be the car that RLL will run, but a similar one.