- In Free Practice No. 1 at the Yas Marina Circuit, McLaren's Lando Norris did everything that he needed to in the wee hours of Friday morning. The points leader went fastest in the opening session with a lap at 139.807 mph. That lap was eight-thousandths of a second faster than Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was third, followed by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and Kick Sauber's Nico
Hulkenberg.
Only 11 of the 20 regular drivers participated in the session as an unprecedented nine rookies participated as third drivers. The most notable driver to sit out the session was McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who sat out in favor of Patricio O'Ward.The fastest of the third drivers was Haas F1's Ryo Hirakawa (a regular with Toyota Gazoo Racing in the FIA World
Endurance Championship), who was 11th fastest, .449 seconds slower than Norris.
Free Practice No. 2 was more of the same at the top of the chart. Norris was fastest once again with a lap at 142.166 mph. The lap was .363 seconds faster than Verstappen. Russell was third, then Haas F1's Oliver Bearman. Kick Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg was fifth.
- Toyota officially unveiled two new car models late Thursday night/early Friday morning. First off is the GR GT, a new two-door GT car that will serve as the brand's new flagship
model. It will be powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Horsepower numbers were not released, but the manufacturer is projecting a top speed of 320 kilometers per hour or greater (~199 mph).
To complement the road car, they also took the wraps off of the GR GT3, the manufacturer's new GT3 car that will replace the Lexus RCF GT3. The idea
behind the new GT3 car is that they aim "to [have] a car that is chosen by people who want to win, yet be easy to drive for anyone."
Development of the GR GT3 is ongoing. Test mules have been seen on-track at places like Sebring International Raceway off and on for the past year, running with camouflage. The plan is currently to officially launch both the road car and the race car in
2027.
- Ford Racing revealed their driver lineups for Ford Multimatic Motorsports Thursday. The same six drivers will drive the two Ford Mustang GT3s in 2026, but the lineups have been juggled.
In a press release formatted as a letter written by Dennis Olsen, the outfit announced that Olsen will drive the No. 64 Mustang full-time in 2026 alongside Ben Barker. Mike Rockenfeller will drive in the endurance races. The No. 65 will be shared full-time by Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch, while Sebastian Priaulx will be the endurance driver. Both Olsen and Barker were endurance drivers this past season.
- Manthey Racing revealed their 2026 driver lineups for their Michelin Endurance Cup schedule Thursday. As announced during the IMSA State of the Sport address in October,
the team will race one car each in the GTD and GTD Pro classes.
In GTD Pro, "Grello" will come out to play for the first time in IMSA competition. TThis car will be driven by Porsche factory drivers Klaus Bachler, Thomas Preining and Ricardo Feller.
Bachler comes to the team
after driving full-time for AO Racing alongside Laurin Heinrich in 2025. They finished fifth in points with class victories at Sebring and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Preining and Feller both come to IMSA after racing in both DTM and GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS in 2025.
In GTD, the car will be shared by Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Morris Schuring. Richard
Lietz will be the team's fourth driver at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Hardwick, Lietz and Pera won the FIA World Endurance Championship's LMGT3 championship this year on the strength of two wins (Spa and Le Mans) and consistent runs. Schuring drove for Manthey in DTM this year, but struggled at times to 16th in points.
