AUSTIN, Texas — For IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) competitors, both the Circuit of The Americas race track and the race length will be bigger than the last time they were there at the end of February.
As part of the full IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season, LMP3 ran alongside Grand Sport X (GSX) competitors at COTA during the series’ most recent sprint weekend featuring two 45-minute races.
That took place at the COTA National Course, a 2.4-mile, 20-turn circuit with a cut-through near the end of the Esses and going onto the backstraight.
In the Airbnb Endurance Challenge event this weekend, they get the full COTA experience: all 3.4 miles of the Grand Prix track and the two-hour race length for the single Saturday race.
That makes what was gained at the end of February useful for the majority of the circuit, with still a fair bit to learn for the rest of the track. Additionally, warmer mid-May temperatures both ambient and track should greet the field as the end of February temps ranged from high 70s to low 80s degrees Fahrenheit. Austin should be in the high 80s/low 90s ambient with track temperatures well north of 100.
There is also a new regulatory update where two timed pit stops will be required. The window opens for the first stop after the first 15 minutes and concludes 15 minutes before the checkered flag.
Whatever the weather, and whatever the format, Toney Driver Development will look to complete its Texas two-step in style in P3 with either of its two entries.
Wyatt Brichacek was added aboard Toney’s No. 30 Ligier JS P325 in February and proceeded to take like a duck to water, posting a doubleheader sweep of the two sprint races. Brichacek was poised to extend that win streak in the Airbnb Endurance Challenge opener at Sebring in March, before a fuel mileage issue dropped him and Lincoln Day to an unrepresentative sixth place finish in their No. 95 Ligier JS P325.
Either way, Brichacek is the only driver who could win IMSA races at COTA in 2026 driving two different car numbers, in two different race lengths and two different circuit configurations. Toney’s other car, featuring IMSA veterans Ari Balogh and Garett Grist, will look to keep the No. 30 car in top form after finishing third at Sebring.
Overall and Airbnb Endurance Challenge points leader Oscar Tunjo has a third chance to finally get a COTA win on his resume after heartbreak in 2025 and a pair of third place finishes in the two COTA sprint races earlier this year. Together with teammate Valentino Catalano, they’ll look to win their second straight endurance race aboard the No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Duqueine D08.
Forte Racing’s Brian Thienes ranks second in both championships after a runner-up result with Patrick Kujala at Sebring in the team’s new No. 77 Ligier JS P325; he also leads the Bronze Cup. The team made an in-weekend switch from the previous generation Ligier JS P320 at COTA in February, following an incident, to move to the new model.
Three other lineup or entry changes occur within the 10-car entry, up two from Sebring.
Forbush Performance welcomes French driver Jules Caranta alongside Matt Forbush in its No. 18 Duqueine D09, a new third generation chassis.
Longtime IMSA competitors Performance Tech Motorsports, past winners in multiple IMSA series including in Prototype Challenge (PC) at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, make an LMP3 return with their traditional No. 38 Ligier JS P320 and drivers Daniel Oliver and Martin Bruhat.
Newcomers Crown Racing also bring in a Ligier JS P320, with another IMSA veteran in Chris McMurry – driver and father of two-time WeatherTech Championship champion Matt McMurry – sharing the No. 17 car with Canadian Brady Clapham.
Clapham is one of four Canadians in an international field that also includes drivers from Colombia, Germany, France and Finland beyond the U.S.
