While all 18 competing manufacturers won at least one IMSA-sanctioned race in 2024, three from one country dominated the championships: Germany.
It was a staggering run from each of the three German brands – Porsche, Mercedes-AMG and BMW – as they won 17 of 18 available IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship crowns, between the full-season and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup championships.
Porsche led the way with nine of those 18 titles, six achieved by Porsche Penske Motorsport and three by AO Racing.
The Porsche Penske squad claimed six driver, team and manufacturer titles in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), sweeping both the full-season and Michelin Endurance Cup. AO Racing’s trio of driver, team and manufacturer titles in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) came in the full-season categories.
Mercedes-AMG owed much of its Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) success to Winward Racing, which delivered driver, team and manufacturer championships across the full-season and Michelin Endurance Cup. Fellow Mercedes-AMG customer teams Korthoff/Preston Motorsports and Lone Star Racing added to the manufacturer success.
BMW kept up the title-winning form, with Paul Miller Racing’s move to GTD PRO delivering both the driver and team titles in the Michelin Endurance Cup. Chevrolet was the lone non-German outlier in the three WeatherTech Championship classes with manufacturer competition, winning the Michelin Endurance Cup manufacturer title in GTD PRO.
German brands won five of nine GTP races (four Porsche, one BMW), four of 10 in GTD PRO (three Porsche, one BMW) and seven of 10 in GTD (five Mercedes-AMG, one BMW, one Porsche) for a total of 16 WeatherTech Championship wins in 29 races this season.
Their on-track success and championships revealed the importance of IMSA, globally, to these brands.
Porsche’s Return to Prototype Glory, along with AO’s GTD PRO Honors
It is often said for Porsche, there is no substitute. And the intentional naming of its latest prototype challenger as the 963 was meant to extend the lineage of other iconic race cars in its history like the 911, 917, 919, 935, 956 and 962, among others.
Its last IMSA prototype championship honors also came with Penske, but not with a car featuring the “9” in the front of its chassis name. It occurred 16 years ago in 2008 with the open-top RS Spyder, which competed in the American Le Mans Series Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class.
The GTP mission established from the collective efforts in the U.S. and Germany was to see the 963 take its place among Porsche’s rank of champions. A class-high four wins was proof of that as Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron in the No. 7 Porsche led Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy in the No. 6 Porshe to a 1-2 finish in the standings.
AO Racing, too, proved a revelation across multiple aspects of the sport. AO brought fun off track – the team was awarded IMSA’s first Team Marketing Achievement Award for its prevalent party atmosphere in the paddock – while also delivering on track as Laurin Heinrich won three races and a crucial Motul Pole Award at the season finale that clinched the GTD PRO title by just four points.
“It’s fantastic to see how happy the whole team is about the titles. We brought home everything we’d hoped for,” said Detlev von Platen, Porsche member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing. “It’s obvious from everyone involved that it was incredibly hard work: everyone is shedding tears of joy – what a wonderful sight!”
“It doesn’t get much better than this: We won all titles in the top GTP class. Nothing was left on the table,” added Thomas Laudenbach, vice president, Porsche Motorsport. “The impressive performance of the entire team and our crews in Weissach, Mannheim (Germany) and Mooresville (North Carolina) laid the foundation for this – these incredible accomplishments are no coincidence. I’m very proud!
“I’m also thrilled about AO Racing’s title wins in the GTD PRO class and Laurin Heinrich’s championship crown. I think it’ll only really dawn on us in the coming days what we have achieved today and throughout the entire season.”
Mercedes-AMG’s Two Full-Season Teams Control GTD
Winward’s season of excellence and Korthoff’s consistent presence in the top five delivered Mercedes-AMG the GTD manufacturer’s championship a race early. Lone Star added its name to the success when it took its first pole at Motul Petit Le Mans.
Similar to Porsche winning the most races in GTP, Mercedes-AMG did the same in GTD as Winward (four, including the first three Michelin Endurance Cup rounds) and Korthoff (one) gave Mercedes-AMG five wins from 10 races. No other manufacturer won more than once.
“First of all, congratulations to Winward Racing and our three drivers on winning the GTD class championship,” said Christoph Sagemüller, head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. “This great success means a lot to us as a brand and concludes our most successful season in IMSA since the start of our customer racing program.”
“I’ve been at the Motul Petit Le Mans, and it was a great end to the season in a wonderful family atmosphere. I can only thank everyone involved,” added Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing. “The Mercedes-AMG GT3 scored its victories at the beginning of the season, but also impressed with good results on more difficult race weekends.”
Paul Miller Racing’s Endurance Points Push Delivers BMW Two Titles
Paul Miller Racing has, for several years, focused its efforts on scoring Michelin Endurance Cup points if it either wasn’t running a full-season program or realistically outside full-season championship contention. As the team made its biggest step up to GTD PRO after a dominant GTD title season in 2023, its title-winning prowess continued in the hands of longtime co-drivers Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow.
While their best race-end finish in a Michelin Endurance Cup race this year was third at the Rolex 24, circumstances outside the team’s control often negated potential strong results. They maximized in-race results at designated hourly scoring marks to win their second set of driver and team Michelin Endurance Cup titles (2020), with newcomer Neil Verhagen joining for the endurance rounds.
It was an important year for PMR in its flourishing relationship with BMW, now at the end of its third year with a jump up to two GTD PRO cars in 2025 and with Sellers capping off his nine-year run with the team after Motul Petit Le Mans.
“Congratulations to Paul Miller Racing, who, after their GTD title win last year, have now also won the Endurance Cup title in the higher GTD PRO category right away,” said Andreas Roos, head of BMW M Motorsport.
IMSA Wire Service PR
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