DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – To say it has been a tumultuous last few months for Porsche Penske Motorsport would be an understatement.
Championships, driver departures and an exodus from the World Endurance Championship have left all eyes on the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar branch of what has become an absolute juggernaut of a team since the dawn of the LMDh era. Back-to-back Rolex 24 championships, back-to-back series championships and 11 victories between their No. 6 and 7 Porsche 963s in the last three seasons.
The manufacturer announced back in October of this year that the 2025 World Endurance Championship season would be their final with a factory outfit on the grid, seeing the end of the Penske Porsche 963s on the world stage, as they planned to restructure their motorsport programs.
The team’s full season lineup in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship has seen quite the shakeup as only one full time driver will remain in the seat for the 2026 season following the departure of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy’s anticipated move back into the GT ranks.
The Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 during the 2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona (Photo: Jared Bokanoski | The Podium Finish)
In the No. 7 will be the only one of those returning full time drivers as Felipe Nasr will once again return to the team, this time joined by Julien Andlauer, who will get his first crack at a full IMSA campaign in 2026. The pair will be joined for the Michelin Endurance Cup by Laurin Heinrich, who makes the jump up from the GTD Pro ranks where he won the 2024 series championship behind the wheel of AO Racing’s “Rexy”.
The 2026 Rolex 24 will mark Heinrich’s second start in a Porsche 963 following his debut in the car at the World Endurance Championship Season finale during the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
As for the No. 6 entry, it will mark a new pair of drivers taking over the full-time reins. Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor will find themselves slotting in as a duo once again, taking over the seat from the aforementioned Mathieu Jaminet, who announced his move to the new-for-2026 Genesis WEC program. Joining the pair for the Michelin Endurance Cup events will be Jaminet’s former full time teammate Matt Campbell as Porsche Penske’s shuffling of the deck is carried out.
Whilst it currently sits unconfirmed on whether or not the pair of cars will field a four-driver lineup, it should be noted that Team Penske NTT Data IndyCar Series stars Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden both took part in the IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona with the team.
