I have been a Formula 1 fan for decades and still watch it. I also watch other motor sports, like IndyCar and NASCAR and sometime rally or Formula E. I have also watched WEC and IMSA for years and I really enjoy just having a 24 hour race on in the house like a radio and watch a bit over the day and listen to other bits, becasue there is so much time you do get interesting stories.But not to long ago WEC was pretty boring as it was usually just 1 car that cvould win, be it either Audi or Toyota and usually just a hand full of cars that could actually win taking part in the top class (LMP1).
But that changed when they introduced the Hypercar, which are basically 2 types of cars, LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) or LMDh (Le Mans Daytona hypercar). This means both types of cars can both race in WEC and IMSA, giving a lot of manufacturers the option to race in both. What this means is that a manufacturer can choose between 2 options. They can either build their own car from scratch (LMH) or they can buy a chassis and go from there with your own powertrain and bodywork and stuff (LMDh).
There are also all sorts of rules to keep cost down and the balance of performance as well of course, to keep all cars as equal as possible.
This all means there have been a lot of manufacturers that got (back) into endurance racing again. Toyota and Peugeot being the old gaurd basically, but Ferrari and Lamborghini jumping in, but also BMW, Porsche and Aston Martin and many more.
Both WEC and IMSA as set to become a really great series to watch in the next years, with 10 brands already in and another 3 (that we know of now) joining in the next few years.
The list of brands competing in 2025 and the bottom 3 with the year they are supposed to enter
Toyota
Porsche
Peugeot
Lamborghini
Ferrari
Cadillac
BMW
Aston Martin
Acura (Honda)
Alpine (Renault)
Genesis-Magma-Racing (Hyundai) (2026)
Ford (2027)
Mclaren (2027 ?)
I’m wondering what other brands will join, I mean a big one that is not there yet is Mercedes Benz and they had some great cars back in the day and some sort of adapation of the AMG ONE would be really cool. I always wanted to see a brand like Koenigsegg or Pagani join racing, but they have never done that, so I guess they won’t, probably because they are small companies. Other then that I think most brands or brands in the same organization are represented I think