– The upcoming weekend (September 4 to 6, 2026) will see the so-called “Lone Star Le Mans” in Austin (Texas) as the fifth season race of the 2026 World Endurance Championship (WEC). The championship is thus entering the crucial phase of this year’s season.
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After the cancellations of the Middle East races, four races remain on the schedule: After the race in Texas, the series returns to Fuji (Japan) before the last two season rounds take place in Barcelona and Monza. A total of 104 points are still up for grabs, keeping the championship fight wide open.
Before the Lone Star Le Mans 2026, two teams are tied at the top of the Hypercar class standings: Robin Frijns and Rene Rast have collected 75 points so far in the BMW M Hybrid V8 #20, level with Le Mans winners Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, and Mike Conway in the Toyota #7.
In the manufacturers’ standings of the Hypercar class, Toyota leads by five points ahead of BMW, with Ferrari in third place, 44 points behind. In the LMGT3 class, the TF-Sport Corvette #33 holds a comfortable lead after the class win at Le Mans, and in the drivers’ standings, Jonny Edgar (also TF Sport) is the sole leader.
WEC Austin 2026 Schedule (all times CEST)
Note: Texas is seven hours behind German time.
Friday, September 4
18:30 – 20:00: 1st Free Practice
23:00 – 00:30: 2nd Free Practice
Saturday, September 5
18:00 – 19:00: 3rd Free Practice
22:00 – 22:30: Qualifying and Hyperpole LMGT3
22:40 – 23:10: Qualifying and Hyperpole Hypercar
Sunday, September 6
20:00 – 02:00: Race
In the supporting program, the Mustang Challenge North America and the Radical Cup North America will start, running two and three races respectively. Additionally, there will be demonstration laps of exotic vehicles on the track as well as a colorful show program in the fan zone area.
TV Times & Livestream Lone Star Le Mans 2026
Unfortunately, there will be no free livestream for the WEC 2026 season, as the exclusive TV rights in Germany are held by Eurosport this year. Therefore, the Sport1 livestream will not be available in Germany, but parts of the races can be seen on ORF Sport+ in Austria.
Additionally, there is the streaming offer from HBO Max (formerly Eurosport Player/Discovery+) starting at 5.99 euros per month, and the official streaming service FIAWEC+. Here, offers range from 9.99 euros per race up to 49.99 euros for the whole year. The livestream of the third free practice remains freely accessible and will again be streamed on the WEC YouTube channel.
Streams FIAWEC+/HBO Max
Saturday, 18:00 – 19:00: 3rd Free Practice (also on WEC YouTube)
Saturday, 22:00 – 23:10: Qualifying
Sunday, 19:30 – 02:30: Full race
Eurosport (Free TV)
Sunday, 23:00 – 02:30: Final phase
Monday, 08:30 – 12:00: Summary
Eurosport 2
Monday, 22:00 – 24:00: Summary
ORF Sport+
Sunday, 20:30 – 02:05: Race
Entry List Lone Star Le Mans 6h Austin 2026
There are no surprises in the entry list for the fifth WEC round in Austin (Texas). The biggest highlight: Ricky Taylor will drive the Cadillac V-Series.R with the number 12 alongside Norman Nato and Will Stevens, replacing the injured Alex Lynn.
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For the two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona, it will be the first race for the Cadillac factory team Jota, although the American already drove for the team last year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the rookie test in Bahrain.
For Taylor, it will be a unique opportunity: The Cadillac driver will only race in Austin. Jota has already announced that Lynn will be back behind the wheel for the last two season races in Barcelona and Monza. However, it is not excluded that Taylor will become a regular driver next year.
Two other changes affect the LMGT3 class, where Nicky Catsburg will return to the wheel of the TF-Sport Corvette #33 after an IMSA scheduling conflict at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo. The same applies to Eduardo Barrichello, who will drive the Heart of Racing Aston Martin #23 again in Austin.
Hypercar – 17 cars
#007 – Aston Martin Thor Team – Harry Tincknell/Tom Gamble – Aston Martin Valkyrie
#009 – Aston Martin Thor Team – Alex Riberas/Marco Sörensen – Aston Martin Valkyrie
#7 – Toyota Racing – Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/Nyck de Vries – Toyota TR010 Hybrid
#8 – Toyota Racing – Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa – Toyota TR010 Hybrid
#12 – Cadillac Hertz Team Jota – Will Stevens/Norman Nato/Ricky Taylor – Cadillac V-Series.R
#15 – BMW M Team WRT – Kevin Magnussen/Raffaele Marciello/Dries Vanthoor – BMW M Hybrid V8
#17 – Genesis Magma Racing – Andre Lotterer/Luis Felipe Derani/Mathys Jaubert – Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar
#19 – Genesis Magma Racing – Mathieu Jaminet/Paul-Loup Chatin/Daniel Juncadella – Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar
#20 – BMW M Team WRT – Robin Frijns/Rene Rast/Sheldon van der Linde – BMW M Hybrid V8
#35 – Alpine Endurance Team – Antonio Felix da Costa/Charles Milesi/Ferdinand Habsburg – Alpine A424
#36 – Alpine Endurance Team – Frederic Makowiecki/Jules Gounon/Victor Martins – Alpine A424
#38 – Cadillac Hertz Team Jota – Earl Bamber/Sebastien Bourdais/Jack Aitken – Cadillac V-Series.R
#50 – Ferrari AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen – Ferrari 499P
#51 – Ferrari AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi – Ferrari 499P
#83 – AF Corse – Yifei Ye/Robert Kubica/Philip Hanson – Ferrari 499P
#93 – Peugeot TotalEnergies – Paul di Resta/Stoffel Vandoorne/Nick Cassidy – Peugeot 9X8
#94 – Peugeot TotalEnergies – Loic Duval/Malthe Jakobsen/Theo Pourchaire – Peugeot 9X8
LMGT3 – 18 cars
#10 – Garage 59 – Antares Au/Thomas Fleming/Marvin Kirchhöfer – McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo
#21 – Vista AF Corse – Francois Heriau/Simon Mann/Alessio Rovera – Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo
#23 – Heart of Racing Team – Gray Newell/Eduardo Barrichello/Jonny Adam – Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3
#27 – Heart of Racing Team – Ian James/Zacharie Robichon/Mattia Drudi – Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3
#32 – Team WRT – Darren Leung/Sean Gelael/Augusto Farfus – BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo
#33 – TF Sport – Ben Keating/Jonny Edgar/Nicky Catsburg – Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R
#34 – Racing Team Turkey by TE – Peter Dempsey/Salih Yoluc/Charlie Eastwood – Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R
#54 – Vista AF Corse – Thomas Flohr/Francesco Castellacci/Davide Rigon – Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo
#58 – Garage 59 – Alexander West/Finn Gehrsitz/Benjamin Goethe – McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo
#61 – Iron Lynx – Martin Berry/Rui Andrade/Maxime Martin – Mercedes-AMG LMGT3
#69 – Team WRT – Anthony McIntosh/Parker Thompson/Daniel Harper – BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo
#77 – Proton Competition – Eric Powell/Ben Tuck/Sebastian Priaulx – Ford Mustang LMGT3
#78 – Akkodis ASP Team – Tom van Rompuy/Hadrien David/Esteban Masson – Lexus RC F LMGT3
#79 – Iron Lynx – Johannes Zelger/Matteo Cressoni/Lin Hodenius – Mercedes-AMG LMGT3
#87 – Akkodis ASP Team – Petru Umbrarescu/Clemens Schmid/Jose Maria Lopez – Lexus RC F LMGT3
#88 – Proton Competition – Stefano Gattuso/Giammarco Levorato/Logan Sargeant – Ford Mustang LMGT3
#91 – Manthey DK Engineering – James Cottingham/Timur Boguslavskiy/Ayhancan Güven – Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3
#92 – The Bend Manthey – Yasser Shahin/Riccardo Pera/Richard Lietz – Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3
Balance of Performance (BoP)
The Balance of Performance (BoP) will no longer be published in 2026 but kept secret. More information can be found here.
Weather Forecast, as of September 1, 2026
The weather forecast for the Austin weekend is positive: Only for the first practice on Friday is there still nearly an 80 percent chance of rain, but it clears up during the day and the rain clouds will disappear for the rest of the weekend.
At the latest, qualifying on Saturday will take place in dry conditions with temperatures up to 35 degrees Celsius. For Sunday, race day, temperatures of up to 37 degrees Celsius are even expected. Fans can therefore look forward to a hot race in Texas.
Data for the Circuit of The Americas
Track length: 5.513 kilometers
Turns: 20
Opened: 2012
WEC in Austin since: 2013 (with interruptions)
Track record Hypercar: 1:50.390 (Antonio Giovinazzi, Ferrari 499P, 2024)
Track record LMGT3: 2:04.707 (Augusto Farfus, BMW M4 LMGT3, 2024)
Address: 9201 Circuit of the Americas Blvd, Austin, TX 78617, USA
All WEC Winners in Austin
2013: Kristensen/McNish/Duval (Audi R18 e-tron quattro)
2014: Fässler/Lotterer/Treluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro)
2015: Bernhard/Webber/Hartley (Porsche 919 Hybrid)
2016: Bernhard/Webber/Hartley (Porsche 919 Hybrid)
2017: Bernhard/Bamber/Hartley (Porsche 919 Hybrid)
2020: Senna/Menezes/Nato (Rebellion-Gibson R13)
2024: Kubica/Schwarzman/Ye (Ferrari 499P)
2025: Estre/L. Vanthoor/Campbell (Porsche 963)
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