– You have to be careful with the choice of words. In the IMSA SportsCar Championship, the same gag order regarding comments on the Balance of Performance (BoP) has applied since the 2026 season as in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). So the message has to be hidden between the lines. And that message is: Porsche is anything but happy with how the 2026 season has gone since Long Beach.
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After the wins by Porsche Penske Motorsport at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Porsche 963 received the mother of all BoP clubs for Long Beach. Twice the factory cars had to compete with the maximum weight of 1,100 kilograms – a record value in the GTP/Hypercar category.
Since then, the Porsche factory team has only achieved one more podium and has been without a podium for four races, while Laurin Heinrich in the private JDC-Miller Porsche with 2025 specifications, which ran with a different classification, took three podiums in the same period – including the sensational victory at Laguna Seca Raceway. And that, although according to ACO chief Pierre Fillon, the BoP should account for less than 30 percent of the result.
Informed fans now mock the BoP as a “Balance of Results.” Behind closed doors, it is also rumored that Cadillac is supposed to win the IMSA title this year – whether for patriotic reasons or motivated by the desire to give the long-time customer General Motors a little thank you again.
Laudenbach “not 100 percent satisfied” with IMSA
Porsche motorsport chief Thomas Laudenbach responds to the declining form curve since Long Beach: “Yes, compared to the past two years, we have won everything that could be won, but now you can probably talk about problems. Yes, we are definitely no longer in the position we were in last year.”
“Before I answer, I want to emphasize that we greatly appreciate and respect IMSA’s work in providing such a competitive platform. We know that this is not an easy task. At the same time, I consider it extremely important – for the fans, for us as a team and as a manufacturer – that there is a transparent, consistent, and predictable platform.”
“Looking at the 2026 season, that has not always been the case. I would also say that there is room for improvement. All in all, it has to get better. We are not 100 percent satisfied.”
Putting the flower aside, the message is clear: If Porsche continues to be treated in IMSA as it has been so far, IMSA will certainly not help convince the board in Stuttgart to stay beyond 2027 when the contracts expire.
And IMSA is in no position to afford that: The “pause” of the Acura factory program has hit the championship hard, as no programs have yet materialized from the new WEC entrants.
Genesis has postponed its program originally planned for 2027 to 2028, there are currently no IMSA intentions from McLaren and Ford, and Stellantis has rejected a US program with a Peugeot 9X8 rebranded as Dodge. If the update at Aston Martin does not take off, the question must also be asked how long they want to keep getting beaten with the Valkyrie.
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“At the same time, we all know that the world is not perfect. That is why it is important that we continue to have a very constructive dialogue to bring things to where we all want them. We need to return to a competitive platform, exciting races, and equal opportunities. But the core point is that we have to work on this together with the sporting authority,” Laudenbach continued.
Situation not comparable to WEC exit
When asked by Motorsport.com USA, a sister publication of Motorsport-Total.com in the Motorsport Network, whether this now reflects what led to Porsche Penske Motorsport’s exit from the FIA WEC, Laudenbach rejects any comparison between the two series:
“No, I don’t want to compare that. It is a different situation and the approach to it is different. I would not want to compare it with the WEC. We treat IMSA separately. And if you ask me if we are satisfied with everything there? No, we are not.”
“But again: We have regular talks with IMSA, and as I said, you have to try to put yourself in their position. They are trying to do a good job and deliver what we want. Is the result always what we or probably even IMSA want? I don’t think so. It is not easy, but for me it is something completely different from what we saw in the WEC.”
“It is also a different situation in terms of the cars competing there. Would I like to be able to win races again? Yes.”
Jonathan Diuguid is also not satisfied with the situation and points out the fact that Porsche has not secured a pole position since Detroit – in 2024. “The team continues to work at a very high level on the race track, but we lack a bit of performance,” said Diuguid.
“From an engineering perspective – Thomas and I are both engineers – we are in motorsport because we want to go fast. The fact is that the 963 has not secured a pole position since 2024. So we are heading towards more than two years in which we have not been able to show better qualifying performance than our competitors.”
“So we have focused on what we can control, and that is race execution. We have competed in these races at a very high level. The reliability of the 963 was fantastic. I think that was shown in Daytona, Sebring, and in our performances there.”
“But when it comes to sprint races, we lack a bit of pace. Everyone on the team has worked extremely hard, and I think it has been seen: If we get everything right and everything runs smoothly, we can fight for wins and podiums. That was our goal and that is what we are focusing on here towards the end of the season.”
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