So, a week after it was originally supposed to be announced - due to WEC and Proton Competition's last-ditch efforts to get a customer Porsche 963 effort on the grid for next year - we finally have the WEC entry list for 2026.
With the major news around Proton's unfortunate failure in coming to an agreement with Porsche about a customer programme next year already announced, there's no real genuine surprises on next year's list. But, let's take a look anyway.
Ferrari
#50 Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco / Miguel Molina / Nicklas Nielsen
#51 Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi / James Calado/ Antonio Giovinazzi
#83 Ferrari 499P: Yifei Ye / TBA / TBA
The two factory Ferraris will retain the same driver lineups the Italian manufacturer has had since 2023, with both sets returning for a fourth consecutive campaign.
All six drivers are Le Mans winners and at the top of their game, so this isn't hugely surprising. Calado and Nielsen have been secured to long term contracts with Ferrari, and the other four drivers are locked in for 2026 at least, and possibly longer.
The "customer" #83 car, run by AF Corse on a private basis, is a bit more tricky to pin down. We know Yifei Ye, a Ferrari "official driver" nominally on the same level as the guys in the factory cars, will return for a second year in the yellow satellite car.
Whether his 2025 teammates with which he won Le Mans with, and finished runners-up in the drivers' championship, will return, is a different matter. Both Phil Hanson and Robert Kubica are contracted to AF Corse, not Ferrari, although it's not entirely clear how long their contracts are or were.
Kubica brings the majority of the funding to the car through his links with Orlen, a Polish oil company. If he doesn't return it's not clear where the funding for the car would come from, although it's understood the car's return doesn't hinge on Kubica returning. He's been coy on whether he'd be racing in WEC in 2026, initially saying after winning Le Mans that he'd prefer to go back to rallying, but later saying he's not decided. So we'll have to see.
It's similar for Hanson, with his return to the car not clear either way. It's understood that an announcement about Hanson's programme in 2026 will come in January.
Toyota
#7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid: Kamui Kobayashi / Nyck de Vries / Mike Conway
#8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi / Ryo Hirakawa / Brendon Hartley
Like Ferrari, Toyota will keep the same driver lineup for another year.
Kamui Kobayashi will once again perform double duties as both a driver and Toyota's team principal. He'll partner Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway in the #7.
The #8 will be crewed by the now familiar lineup of Ryo Hirakawa, Sebastien Buemi, and Brendon Hartley.
However, what will change for Toyota is a major evolution of the Toyota GR010 Hybrid, with which the Japanese-German team has raced with for the last 5 seasons, going into its sixth. It was due an update and Toyota have delivered.
We'll have an article out later this week going in-depth into what we can see from our spy spots on the revised Toyota, so watch out for that. In the meantime, check out the gallery of shots below.
Phil Oakley
Cadillac
#12 Cadillac V-Series.R: Alex Lynn / Will Stevens / Norman Nato
#38 Cadillac V-Series.R: Jack Aitken / Sebastien Bourdais / Earl Bamber
Cadillac's sophomore year with JOTA will feature a driver change and a revised car.
On the driver side, 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button has retired from professional motorsport, and so leaves the #38 car lineup. Replacing him will be Jack Aitken, who's very familiar with the Cadillac machinery as he's been racing thew car in IMSA full-time for the last few seasons.
Phil Oakley
He'll be tag-teaming both championships, prioritising IMSA in case of a clash. Earl Bamber will be doing similar, except he'll prioritise WEC, alongside Seb Bourdais.
The #12 lineup of Alex Lynn, Will Stevens, and Norman Nato will remain the same, with the three taking Cadillac's first ever WEC win at Interlagos earlier this year.
BMW
#15 BMW M Hybrid V8: Kevin Magnussen / Dries Vanthoor / Raffaele Marciello
#20 BMW M Hybrid V8: Rene Rast / Sheldon van der Linde / Robin Frijns
The BMW lineups remain, essentially, the same as in 2025, with Kevin Magnussen partnering Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello in the #15 car, and Rene Rast, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns in the sister #20 car.
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Like Cadillac and Toyota, BMW have used a joker to update the car's nose and front splitter, which they're hoping will solve the car's tendency to understeer.
BMW and WRT had a tough 2025, with no win coming for the partnership in its second year of operation. It's hoped the revised car and WRT taking over BMW's IMSA campaign from RLL will yield better results in both championships.
Alpine
#35 Alpine A424: Antonio Felix da Costa / TBA / TBA
#36 Alpine A424: Fred Makowiecki / TBA / TBA
Alpine is likely to be the team which undergoes the biggest changes going into 2026, as the French team tries to go from midpack to the front of the field.
Antonio Felix da Costa will join the team after a couple of years out of WEC. At the same time, Mick Schumacher, consistently one of Alpine's best performers in 2026, will leave the team to pursue a future in IndyCar. He'll be in car #35, while Fred Makowiecki will continue in the #36.
Phil Oakley
Paul-Loup Chatin will also leave as he heads to Genesis Magma Racing.
It's believed Jules Gounon and Charles Milesi will also remain at Les Bleus into 2026, but they've not been confirmed yet.
Less clear is Ferdinand Habsburg, who may or may not remain at Alpine.
As for new drivers, Alpine has talked to both Nick Tandy and Kevin Estre about a seat, but were unsuccessful with both, as they opted to stay within the Porsche fold in IMSA for next year.
Alpine will also deploy a joker to improve the car next year.
Peugeot
2026 drivers: Stoffel Vandoorne, Theo Pourchaire, Nick Cassidy, Paul di Resta, Loic Duval, Malthe Jakobsen
#93 Peugeot 9X8: Paul di Resta / TBA / TBA
#94 Peugeot 9X8: Loic Duval / TBA / TBA
Like their French compatriots, Peugeot's driver line up will also be tweaked for 2026.
Mikkel Jensen has left – possibly on his way to McLaren for 2027 if you believe paddock natterings – to be replaced by Theo Pourchaire. The Frenchman won the F2 championship in 2023 but slipped through the cracks in getting a seat in F1.
Also leaving is Jean-Eric Vergne. However, he is staying within the Stellantis fold, and will race in Formula E for the Citroen (neé Maserati) team. He will be a test and development driver for Peugeot, and with Peugeot heavily rumoured to be developing an all-new LMH-rules car for 2027, he'll probably have a lot of work on his plate. He'll also be joined by Alex Quinn as test and development driver.
Replacing Vergne is Nick Cassidy, his Citroen Formula E teammate.
Paul di Resta, Loic Duval, Malthe Jakobsen and Stoffel Vandoorne return for another year with Peugeot. It's not been confirmed which of the two cars each driver will be in, and with Peugeot's habit of switching up the driver crews year-on-year it's hard to predict.
What won't change for 2026 is the 9X8 itself. It's widely believed Peugeot have used all their jokers on overhauling the "original" wingless 9X8, and cannot further modify the 2025 version. This updated version has proven tricky to get a handle on, but signs in the latter half of 2025 indicate maybe Peugeot are understanding it more and more. We'll have to see how they do in 2026.
Tim Fullbrook
Aston Martin
#007 Aston Martin Valkyrie: Harry Tincknell / Tom Gamble / Ross Gunn
#009 Aston Martin Valkyrie: Alex Riberas / Marco Sorensen / Roman de Angelis
Aston Martin will head into their second WEC Hypercar season with an unchanged driver line up.
Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble will be in the #007 for the full season, with Ross Gunn joining for the longer endurance rounds. In the sister #009, Alex Riberas and Marco Sorensen will again team up, joined by Roman de Angelis for the 8, 10 or 24 hour races.
The Valkyrie had a good debut season, with Aston Martin and factory partner team The Heart of Racing taking their time to find performance, but when they did, they really performed.
The #009, generally the better-performing of the two over the year, finished fifth in Fuji, a season-best for Aston Martin, then followed this up with seventh in Bahrain. That should set the British manufacturer up well for 2026, which will be the true test of just good the Valkyrie is.
Genesis
#17 Genesis GMR 001: Andre Lotterer / Pipo Derani / Mathys Jaubert
#19 Genesis GMR 001: Daniel Juncadella / Paul-Loup Chatin / Mathieu Jaminet
And so, finally, onto WEC's newest Hypercar manufacturer: Genesis. Or, to give the team its full title, Genesis Magma Racing.
The Korean-flagged cars will race with numbers #17 and #19. Andre Lotterer, Pipo Derani, and Mathys Jaubert will race in the former, with Daniel Juncadella, Paul-Loup Chatin, and Porsche refugee Mathieu Jaminet in the latter.
The car, the Genesis GMR 001, is an LMDh-rules machine built on the Oreca chassis, the same as the Alpine and the Acura ARX-06 in IMSA competition – you can clearly see the similarities between the three.
Tim Fullbrook
The engine in the back of the car, meanwhile, is a 3.2-litre V8 twin-turbocharged unit. The engine was originally designed for rally use in parent company Hyundai's WRC programme, as an inline-four unit. You can read a lot more about the technical specifics of the engine on Genesis's website.
Other WEC 2026 details
The 2026 WEC season will begin on 28th March at Lusail International Circuit, in Qatar. It'll be followed by rounds at Imola, Spa, Le Mans, Interlagos, Circuit of the Americas, Fuji, and Bahrain.
Check the full entry list on WEC's website.
We can't wait!
