The Vaucher Analytics State of Motorsport 2025: The WEC and IMSA
This article is the second in a series looking at the state of several major motorsport organizations:
Endurance racing doesn’t dominate global motorsport conversation the way Formula 1 does, but in 2025 it nevertheless delivered impressive results: sustained, organic growth across multiple continents and two major rulebooks. Indeed, although the WEC and IMSA now operate within a broadly shared prototype ecosystem, they’re still distinct products with different audiences, commercial structures, and internal priorities.
Nevertheless, their successes were shared and come from a phenomenal on-track product, showcasing multi-class action, manufacturer storytelling, and the kind of racing purists swear by. And crucially, unlike some other series, the WEC and IMSA genuinely seem to understand what they are and how they appeal to people.
But beneath that success, three separate fault lines began to emerge in 2025. Each one matters not because endurance racing is struggling (it isn’t), but because the future depends on navigating these issues without breaking the momentum the sport has finally built.
Keeping in mind that a fully granular breakdown would require an analysis for both the WEC and IMSA, for the sake of clarity I’m treating them together here, and in fact they share the key areas to watch in 2026: safety, technical agreements, and commercial prospects.
Safety in motorsport has grown in leaps-and-bounds, what about crowd safety?
Track and car safety have come a long way since the earliest days of motorsport, but after attending the WEC’s 6 Hours of Spa in 2025, I’m not certain that crowd safety has followed suit.
This is not an endurance-racing-specific problem, but with crowds growing at many motorsport events (and with demand increasing for access to paddock and pit areas), it is crucial that all series, including the WEC and IMSA, have mechanisms in place to study crowd mitigation on an ongoing basis, as well as enforce existing laws and guidelines (which, unfortunately, are based on past tragedies).
Noticeable changes in the metrics that matter
It is undeniable that IMSA and the WEC are riding a wave of unprecedented popularity. Most likely fueled by a mix of “spillover” from F1 fans looking for even more racing action as well as people drawn directly to top-class prototype competition, the numbers don’t lie:
Three of the first four IMSA events of the 2025 season set all-time attendance records
In 2025 IMSA’s YouTube channel hit the million subscriber milestone
Nearly 100,000 people attended the WEC’s 6 Hours of Spa, up from under 90,000 just a year prior in 2024
This is the “blue skies” moment that every racing series dreams of.
But momentum alone isn’t enough. It has to be supported by stable regulations, sustainable costs, satisfied manufacturers, and a product that remains compelling even when the competitive balance shifts.
The two certainties in racing: lap times will fall, costs will rise
Costs in racing will go up, that is certain, so it’s key for organizers to set up structures to mitigate those cost increases. Motorsport history is filled with examples of series that could not go the distance, usually because spiraling costs pushed teams out and discouraged new organizations from replacing them.
The current Hypercar and GTP regulations were created in response to the unsustainable cost escalation of the LMP1 era. In 2018 the target for a two-car WEC season under the new Hypercar rules was €20 million, and even eight years later, that price tag looks like a fair ask compared to F1’s €200+ million cost cap.
Despite a few withdrawals (Glickenhaus, Isotta Fraschini, Lamborghini’s limited presence, and Porsche’s exit, which we’ll return to shortly), the grid remains remarkably healthy. The 2026 WEC and IMSA schedules look nearly identical to 2025’s, which signals that both series understand how important predictable costs and calendar stability are.
It says a lot that Peugeot, whose parent company, Stellantis, is facing its own difficulties, not only remains in the WEC but has plans for a successor to the 9X8.
Though neither series can control what teams pay for equipment or personnel, it’s encouraging to see them control what they can; the arrival of Genesis, Ford, and McLaren in Hypercar is testament that the investment case makes sense.
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In less than 500 words.
Porsche and Ferrari, a tale of two legends on diverging paths
Ford vs Ferrari may be Hollywood’s favorite rivalry, but the real one is Porsche vs Ferrari.
That rivalry is now playing out in opposite directions across the WEC and IMSA.
Ferrari opened the 2025 WEC season with an utterly dominant run: a 1–2–3 in Qatar, and victories in every race in the first half of the season, including a third consecutive Le Mans win. Unsurprisingly, this spiked renewed fan concern about Balance of Performance (BoP), an ongoing backdrop to any modern endurance racing discussion.
Meanwhile, Porsche, the 2024 WEC drivers’ champions, struggled in 2025, even as they thrived in IMSA. Porsche won the first four IMSA races, took the Teams’ Championship, and saw Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet crowned Drivers’ Champions.
This divergence would typically be chalked up to the normal ebb and flow of motorsport.
But it didn’t end normally.
Porsche announced it was leaving the WEC.
Ferrari had both racing success and commercial momentum. Porsche had little (or none) of either.
Porsche’s decision was as nuanced as the factors contributing to it, because they didn’t exit endurance racing entirely, rather they chose to leave the WEC but remain in IMSA, a move that reflects commercial strategy as much as it does regulatory protest.
Costs between the two series being broadly comparable, IMSA apparently delivers a firmer foothold in the North American market at a time when Porsche’s road-car business is under pressure.
Whether they ultimately stay solely in IMSA, return to the WEC, or scale back further remains to be seen, but the likelihood of the move being fully down to cost is surprising, since I’ve written before about how Porsche’s racing costs could have been mitigated.
Viewed through this lens, Porsche’s exit is a positive indicator insofar as they left because of internal issues; at present, this decision is neither the canary-in-a-coalmine for the spiraling costs that have doomed other series, nor an indictment of the WEC’s value proposition.
Regardless, their exit now forces the FIA, ACO, and IMSA to accelerate conversations about BoP and the long-term convergence of LMH and LMDh.
Porsche aside, the BoP works…for now
I am on record as saying I have no real issues with BoP. It is necessary, but it’s not really at the root of a serie’s health.
Manufacturers need cost control once they’ve committed to racing, but before anything else, a series must attract teams.
If a series can do that, grids will be full, racing will be engaging, and fans will follow. Conversely, weak manufacturer engagement leads to weak racing, full stop.
Regardless of online noise, WEC grids are packed, and despite Porsche’s exit (arguably due more to their own finances than regulations), Genesis, McLaren, and Ford will soon join the Hypercar class.
The only metric that ultimately matters is:
Are grids full of different cars?
Right now, with the BoP in place, yes.
But Porsche’s exit may force endurance racing to confront questions it was hoping to avoid for several more years.
A racing series is a business model disguised as a ruleset
While hardcore fans say “only the racing matters,” the reality is that a racing series must be financially sustainable. “Passion” doesn’t pay circuit fees, security, logistics, or insurance.
The coexistence of LMH and LMDh was a masterstroke in its early years. It kept costs down, allowed manufacturer identity, and filled grids on both sides of the Atlantic. That success is why the Hypercar rules have already been extended to 2032.
But Porsche’s withdrawal, and manufacturers’ occasional frustration, will accelerate the convergence debate.
Will it matter to fans?
Not directly.
Most of us just want fun racing.
But from a commercial point of view, regulatory decisions are existential. If the ruleset alienates multiple marquee manufacturers, the entire ecosystem comes under strain.
So it would appear that enduracing racing’s future course will be determined by the answers to two opposing questions:
Is there really a need to risk changing something that is working?
Is Porsche’s exit from the WEC a one-off, or the first crack in the façade?
Do the WEC and IMSA need their own Drive To Survive?
I’ve argued before that IMSA and the WEC are arguably the best platforms for manufacturers wishing to showcase racing DNA. A Ferrari 499P overtaking a Ferrari 296 GT3 is brand storytelling you cannot buy elsewhere.
Now that both series have full grids, justifiable costs, rising attendance, and multiple new manufacturers joining, is this the moment to go after F1-level mainstream visibility?
Not quite.
Endurance racing is fundamentally more complex than F1:
more drivers per car
multi-class traffic
race lengths ranging from 2 to 24 hours
a storytelling structure built around machinery, not personalities
Growth is absolutely possible, but not necessary.
If WEC and IMSA turn a profit and teams are satisfied, the priority should be maintaining the on-track product and fan experience, then adapting if that growth materializes rather than chasing it as a primary goal.
GT3: The financial engine of endurance racing
GT3 (LMGT3 in the WEC, GTD/GTD Pro in IMSA) often confuses newcomers (“why are there two races on the same track?”). But it is absolutely essential.
GT3 cars look like what you can buy in the showroom. That makes them a key form of brand outreach, and it’s because of this that Mercedes-AMG’s return to endurance racing in 2025 was one of the year’s major stories.
And for the series, GT3 grids are not just a nice-to-have, they are a financial backbone. The bronze drivers who populate much of the category keep the ecosystem healthy.
Because of this reality, one emerging dynamic worth watching is the bronze-driver pipeline itself. WEC and IMSA grids depend on them, and history has shown that it’s the privateers that can pull series through lean times. The supply of capable amateur drivers with the means to race is not infinite, and while this is only hypothetical at the moment, it does represent a structural constraint on future financial viability if both top-flight sportscar series can’t attract a maximum of LMGT3 and GTD entries.
In 2025, GT3 grids remained full, and early signs suggest 2026 will be no different, with Lamborghini’s new Temerario being a highlight to watch (and costs will require attention as well, I have recently put together an audit GT3 teams can perform on themselves to uncover savings as high as six figures).
Endurance racing is strong, but stewardship needs to remain careful
The WEC and IMSA are doing very well. Their on-track product is excellent, their calendars stable, their grids full, and their growth undeniable.
They are positioned better than at any point in the last two decades.
But the future depends on three things:
Safety for everyone at a race event being top-of-mind
Behind-the-scenes technical governance navigating convergence wisely
Commercial discipline ensuring sustainability rather than chasing F1-style growth
Porsche’s exit from the WEC may be an isolated case.
Or it may be the early warning sign of deeper issues.
How the rule makers respond will determine whether endurance racing’s shining moment becomes a permanent “Platinum Era”, or a brief peak.
Either way, endurance racing in 2025 proved something important:
Not every form of motorsport needs to be F1 to be successful, it just needs to deliver excellence both on and off-track.
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Main image credit: Alexander Ediker via Unsplash