A record 29-car provisional entry has been confirmed for the 2026 Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour, which will conclude both the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge seasons at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 8-10 October.
The initial list features nine manufacturers across six Pro, 20 Pro-Am and three Am entries, surpassing the 25-car grids seen at Indianapolis in each of the previous two years. Most of the field comes from the full-season GTWC America paddock, although Tsunami RT, High Class Racing, Herberth Motorsport and GetSpeed Team PCX Racing will add an international presence as the IGTC title fights reach their conclusion.
The race will also bring Indianapolis’ seven-year run on the IGTC calendar to an end before the North American round moves to Circuit of The Americas for a new Texas 8 Hour in 2027.
Indianapolis produces largest field in event history
The 29 confirmed cars represent the strongest Indianapolis 8 Hour entry since the event joined the IGTC calendar in 2020. The inaugural race began a sequence that has since established the Brickyard as the traditional championship finale, with the latest entry comfortably exceeding the 25 cars that contested the previous two editions.
Porsche has the largest presence with 10 cars spread across Pro and Pro-Am, while Mercedes-AMG follows with six entries across all three classes. BMW and Ferrari each have three cars, Chevrolet brings two Corvettes, and Aston Martin, Ford, Lamborghini and McLaren complete a nine-manufacturer field. The official list remains provisional, with several driver combinations still to be announced before race week.
The race begins at 12:30pm local time on Saturday, 10 October and runs into darkness before finishing at 8:30pm. Three qualifying sessions and the Pole Shootout take place on Friday following testing and Free Practice earlier in the week.
Six cars make up compact Pro field
The outright Pro category currently contains six entries, with McCann Racing, AF Corse USA, Turner Motorsport and JMF Motorsports representing the regular GTWC America field. Mercedes-AMG Team Lone Star Racing returns as a factory-supported contender, while DragonSpeed provides the most notable late addition with its Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
DragonSpeed’s appearance comes shortly before the team concludes its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship programme. The Indianapolis entry forms part of the closing stage of its 2026 GT campaign and gives Chevrolet a second car alongside Chouest Povoledo Racing’s Pro-Am Corvette.
JMF Motorsports’ #34 Mercedes-AMG also enters Indianapolis with championship significance after spending much of 2026 at the front of GTWC America’s Pro standings. The Canadian operation expanded to a two-car programme for this season, adding a Pro entry alongside its established Pro-Am car as the series moved to a three-hour regular-season format.
Dollahite Racing is absent from the Pro field despite running there throughout the regular season. Instead, the #6 Ford Mustang GT3 EVO is provisionally listed in Pro-Am, leaving the American squad as Ford’s sole representative after a separate projected manufacturer-supported entry failed to appear on the first list.
JMR absent despite earlier Indianapolis commitment
One of the most significant omissions is JMR Johor Racing, which had previously committed to competing at Indianapolis with two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs.
The Malaysian team announced earlier in the year that it intended to enter both a Pro and Pro-Am Corvette as part of a renewed focus on the Intercontinental GT Challenge. JMR subsequently contested Bathurst and Suzuka, with its Chevrolet programme producing strong results during the global campaign.
Neither car appears on the provisional Indianapolis list, although the entry remains subject to change before the final version is released. The absence reduces Chevrolet’s representation to DragonSpeed’s Pro car and Chouest Povoledo Racing’s Pro-Am entry.
Team WRT’s three-year winning streak ends without Indianapolis entry
Team WRT will not attempt to win the Indianapolis 8 Hour for a fourth consecutive season after BMW reduced its factory-backed involvement for the final rounds of the 2026 IGTC campaign.
The Belgian squad won the race in 2023, 2024 and 2025, making BMW the dominant force at Indianapolis in recent seasons. Last year, Kelvin van der Linde, Valentino Rossi and Charles Weerts delivered WRT’s third successive victory, while BMW also secured the IGTC Manufacturers’ title.
BMW has instead moved towards using local customer operations for the final part of the season. Turner Motorsport therefore carries BMW’s Pro-class hopes, while Riley Motorsports and Random Vandals Racing provide two additional M4 GT3 EVOs in Pro-Am.
Porsche brings 10-car Indianapolis attack
Porsche accounts for more than one-third of the provisional field, with 10 911 GT3 Rs split between the Pro and Pro-Am categories.
McCann Racing holds the marque’s sole Pro entry, while Kellymoss brings three cars to the Pro-Am field. Wright Motorsports has two, joined by single entries from RS1 and GMG Racing. European visitors Tsunami RT, High Class Racing and Herberth Motorsport complete Porsche’s unusually deep representation.
The manufacturer also arrives in command of the IGTC Manufacturers’ Championship after AO by Absolute Racing won the Suzuka 1000km with Laurin Heinrich, Julien Andlauer and Alessio Picariello. Porsche scored the maximum manufacturer points in Japan and now holds a strong advantage over Mercedes-AMG with only Indianapolis remaining.
That position means Porsche enters the finale with control of its own championship fate, while Mercedes-AMG requires a strong Indianapolis result combined with trouble for the leading manufacturer to overturn the deficit.
Heinrich remains part of IGTC Drivers’ title fight
Heinrich also remains mathematically capable of taking the IGTC Drivers’ Championship after his Suzuka victory.
The German heads to Indianapolis still within reach of the championship lead and will join Dave Musial Jr. and Ryan Yardley in Wright Motorsports’ #31 Pro-Am Porsche. The 24-year-old has twice previously contested the Indianapolis 8 Hour with Wright and was part of the team’s 2024 class-winning effort. Musial and Yardley, meanwhile, have been among the leading GTWC America Pro-Am contenders throughout the season.
Wright’s sister #242 Porsche will add Kévin Estre alongside Therese Lahlouh and Thomas Merrill. Indianapolis marks Estre’s first appearance in the eight-hour race and his first outing with Wright since the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Pro-Am swells to 20 entries
Pro-Am comfortably forms the largest category, with 20 of the 29 cars entered.
The class brings together nearly the entire regular GTWC America Pro-Am field with several international IGTC additions. Tsunami RT enters the #79 Porsche for a programme featuring Independent Cup contender Johannes Zelger, while High Class Racing’s #86 Porsche provides already-crowned Independent Cup champion Kerong Li with another appearance. Herberth Motorsport’s #91 Porsche brings Ralf Bohn into the same contest, while GetSpeed Team PCX Racing adds another Mercedes-AMG.
Li secured the 2026 Independent Cup at Suzuka with one round remaining after taking his third class win from four events. His advantage is already sufficient to guarantee the title, although the contest for the remaining positions continues into Indianapolis.
The large Pro-Am field also contains many of the teams that have shaped the GTWC America season, including Wright Motorsports, GMG Racing, RS1, JMF Motorsports, TR3 Racing, Kellymoss, Random Vandals Racing, Riley Motorsports and Archangel Motorsports.
Dontje strengthens TR3 Racing’s endurance line-up
TR3 Racing has already completed its #9 Mercedes-AMG line-up by adding Indy Dontje to full-season pairing Brayton Williams and Daniel Morad.
Williams and Morad arrive at the finale after taking their breakthrough Pro-Am victory at Road America, where Morad charged through the field late in the race to put the #9 Mercedes-AMG third overall.
Dontje provides extensive Mercedes-AMG endurance experience and reunites with Morad after the pair won the GTD class together at the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Morad also has previous success at Indianapolis, having won the event outright with Craft-Bamboo Racing in 2022.
TR3 consequently arrives with a line-up that combines Williams’ full-season experience, Morad’s previous Indianapolis victory and Dontje’s record across major endurance races.
Ericsson brothers set to join forces at Indianapolis
Random Vandals Racing is also preparing a high-profile addition to its #99 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
Derek DeBoer and Hampus Ericsson have shared the car throughout their first full GTWC America campaign together, while NTT IndyCar Series star Marcus Ericsson is expected to join them for the eight-hour finale.
The appearance would put the Ericsson brothers in the same GT3 line-up while giving Marcus another sports car outing alongside his IndyCar commitments. Hampus entered 2026 as the reigning Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Pro champion and has spent the year adapting to GT3 competition with Random Vandals.
Their #99 is one of three BMWs on the provisional grid alongside Turner’s Pro entry and Riley’s Pro-Am car.
Mercedes-AMG fields six cars across all classes
Mercedes-AMG has the second-largest manufacturer presence with six entries and is represented in Pro, Pro-Am and Am.
Lone Star Racing returns with its traditional Pro entry, joining JMF Motorsports’ #34. TR3, JMF’s #27 and GetSpeed Team PCX Racing make up the Pro-Am group, while MAD Joker Racing provides one of the marque’s Am entries.
The manufacturer enters Indianapolis second in the IGTC standings and faces a difficult task to deny Porsche the title. However, Mercedes-AMG remains strongly represented in the Drivers’ Championship and has several experienced factory-supported combinations capable of challenging for outright honours.
The marque also has strong Indianapolis history despite BMW’s three-year winning sequence, with Morad, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello giving Craft-Bamboo Racing victory in 2022.
Am class reaches season-high three cars
The Am category expands to three entries for Indianapolis after spending much of the GTWC America season with a significantly smaller field.
MAD Joker Racing’s #11 Mercedes-AMG will be joined by the #67 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 296 GT3 and championship-leading #163 AF Corse USA Ferrari. AF Corse has controlled the Am standings throughout the regular season, while Scuderia Corsa made an immediate impact when it joined the championship at Road America and won the class on debut.
The larger class gives the Am championship finale a different dynamic from the regular three-hour rounds, with all three entries needing to balance class competition against a 29-car multi-class field over eight hours.
Provisional 2026 Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour entry list
Pro — 6 entries
- #8 McCann Racing — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #12 AF Corse — Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo
- #29 Turner Motorsport — BMW M4 GT3 EVO
- #34 JMF Motorsports — Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
- #80 Lone Star Racing — Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
- #81 DragonSpeed — Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
Pro-Am — 20 entries
- #6 Dollahite Racing — Ford Mustang GT3 EVO
- #9 TR3 Racing — Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
- #13 Kellymoss — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #14 Riley Motorsports — BMW M4 GT3 EVO
- #017 Kellymoss — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #27 JMF Motorsports — Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
- #28 RS1 — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #31 Wright Motorsports — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #32 GMG Racing — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing — Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
- #64 Chicago Performance and Tuning Co. — Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2
- #69 Archangel Motorsports — McLaren 720S GT3 Evo
- #71 Rebel Rock Racing — Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo
- #79 Tsunami RT — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #86 High Class Racing — Porsche 911 GT3 R
- #88 Kellymoss — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #91 Herberth Motorsport — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #99 Random Vandals Racing — BMW M4 GT3 EVO
- #242 Wright Motorsports — Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #999 GetSpeed Team PCX Racing — Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
Am — 3 entries
- #11 MAD Joker Racing — Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
- #67 Scuderia Corsa — Ferrari 296 GT3
- #163 AF Corse — Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo
The official provisional list confirms all 29 teams and cars, while the full driver combinations will be published closer to the event.
Indianapolis prepares for final IGTC chapter
The record field provides a fitting conclusion to Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s time as the North American round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
The race joined the championship in 2020, when Walkenhorst Motorsport won with BMW. Saintéloc Racing followed for Audi in 2021 before Craft-Bamboo Racing delivered Mercedes-AMG victory in 2022. WRT then began its three-year run of BMW victories from 2023 through 2025.
The 2026 edition will decide both the IGTC Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championships alongside the remaining GTWC America titles. Porsche arrives with a commanding manufacturer advantage, while several domestic championships remain unresolved before the final eight-hour contest.
With a record 29 cars, 20 Pro-Am entries and several international teams joining the regular American grid, Indianapolis is therefore set for its largest eight-hour race yet before the IGTC’s United States round moves south to COTA in 2027.
