– The second half of the 2026 World Endurance Championship (WEC) season promises an intense battle, as four races are scheduled within just over two months. The race calendar had to be rearranged twice due to the Iran war. The effects of the recent changes are diverse.
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The 1,812 kilometers in Qatar, initially postponed from spring to autumn, have now been completely canceled. The race is replaced by the WEC debut in Barcelona. And as the new season finale, a return to Monza replaces the canceled 8 Hours of Bahrain (WEC calendar 2026).
The changes to the calendar also affect the championship situation. For the 6-hour races in Barcelona and Monza, the winning teams will each be awarded 25 points, as is usual for regular WEC races. In contrast, the two canceled races – 1,812 km Qatar and 8h Bahrain – would have been endurance races awarding 38 points for the win.
Fewer points to award
Since 26 fewer points are now available, the revised calendar effectively removes the equivalent of an entire 6-hour race from the 2026 WEC season. Moreover, although the season is only halfway through, about 55 percent of the available points have already been awarded. This is because the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which awards 50 points for the win, has already taken place.
The cancellation of the 8h Bahrain increases the importance of the 24 Hours of Le Mans even more. In recent years, a disappointing result at Le Mans could almost be compensated by a strong performance at the eight-hour season finale with its 38 points on offer.
For example, Toyota managed in the 2024 season to catch up the lead from Porsche and secure the manufacturers’ championship at the final race. Such a turnaround will now be significantly more difficult to achieve in the current 2026 season.
However, with four races still to come, there is still much to gain. In total, 104 points remain to be awarded in the upcoming races in America, Asia, and Europe, including the additional point awarded to each pole sitter. Since no driver lineup in the Hypercar class has yet scored more than 75 points, the fight for both world titles – drivers and manufacturers – remains completely open.
Different race tracks
Although the WEC is not entering new territory with the newly added races in Barcelona and Monza this year, both tracks present a very different challenge compared to the circuits originally planned.
Apart from the 2019/20 prologue, the WEC has never been a guest in Barcelona. Although some teams and drivers who participated in that preseason test are still competing, the racing series has fundamentally changed since then. The LMP1 class was replaced by the Hypercar class, the LMP2 class was discontinued (except for the 24h Le Mans), while the two GTE classes were replaced by a single Pro-Am class, namely LMGT3.
Nevertheless, the teams do not have to start completely from scratch. Several manufacturers have already tested their Hypercars in Barcelona in recent years, while some LMGT3 teams have even raced on this track as part of the GT World Challenge (GTWC). So they are not going into the 6h Barcelona in October completely unprepared.
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Monza was a fixed part of the WEC calendar from 2021 to 2023, until the Italian race moved to Imola. Most teams have extensive data on the Monza track. Ferrari recently used the track to compare the current 499P with its 2027 prototype, the 499P Evo.
Top speed and low drag will be crucial in Monza as always, making the Balance of Performance (BoP) particularly influential on the long straights. It must also be considered that Barcelona and Monza are very different race tracks compared to Lusail (Qatar) and Sakhir (Bahrain), respectively.
Ferrari completely occupied the podium at the last WEC race in Qatar, whereas Toyota has won each of the last eight races in Bahrain. It cannot be said how the canceled races this year would have unfolded, but Toyota’s well-known good tire management would probably have made the TR010 Hybrid unbeatable at the season finale. Thus, the changed race calendar delivers a severe setback to Toyota’s hopes for the first drivers’ title since 2023.
The title contenders
At mid-season, two teams are tied at the top of the Hypercar class standings. Robin Frijns and Rene Rast collected a total of 75 points in the first four races in the BMW M Hybrid V8 with car number 20, tying with the Le Mans winners Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, and Mike Conway in the Toyota with car number 7.
Sheldon van der Linde, the third driver in BMW #20, officially ranks third in the standings but can no longer mathematically compete for the title, as he missed the season opener in Imola due to a scheduling conflict with the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Excluding van der Linde, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi, and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the Ferrari with car number 51 effectively hold third place in the standings with their 57 points. They are followed by Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi, and Ryo Hirakawa in the Toyota with car number 8, just one point behind.
This means that drivers from BMW and Toyota are the main contenders for the world championship, while Ferrari, despite not having won a race so far this season, is still in the title fight. Cadillac has had a relatively difficult season so far. Norman Nato and Will Stevens are already 33 points behind the two leading teams in their Cadillac V-Series.R with car number 12, entered by Jota.
In the manufacturers’ standings of the Hypercar class, Toyota leads by five points over BMW, while Ferrari ranks third with a 44-point deficit.
In the LMGT3 class, the TF-Sport Corvette with car number 33 has a comfortable points lead after the class win at Le Mans, although Jonny Edgar is the only driver on the team who has participated in all four races so far. Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera, and Yasser Shahin in the Manthey Porsche with car number 92 are in second place. Their deficit to Edgar is 27 points.
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