HOUSTON, Tx. (January 12, 2026) – With an eye toward GT3 and endurance racing ambitions, Rafa Martinez will contest the 2026 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge with RAFA Racing Team, starting at the Roar Before the Rolex 24.

Martinez will compete in the team’s Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 as part of a development-focused season centered on increased seat time, continuity, and long-term progression within IMSA competition.

The Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway will serve as the opening chapter of the campaign, providing an early benchmark ahead of the championship schedule.

“I’m super excited for it,” Martinez said. “It’s going to give me the opportunity to spend a little bit more time in the car. This is really a transition year for me. My goal for 2027 is to be able to compete in GT3, with the ultimate goal of endurance racing.”

“The ability to get extra seat time and focus more on testing instead of just having so many races is going to be really key for me, especially with how limited my schedule actually is. It’s honestly pretty unbelievable that I was able to do six races, let alone the ten we did last year.”

The VP Racing SportsCar Challenge format is expected to play a central role in Martinez’s development, with two sprint races per weekend allowing drivers to immediately apply lessons learned rather than waiting until the next event.

“When you split the weekend into two races instead of one longer race, it gives you the opportunity to correct things,” Martinez said.

“You actually get the chance to learn from the first race and apply it straight away instead of just moving on to the next weekend.”

“That’s a big part of why this series makes sense for me. It gives me the chance to really focus on becoming a better driver and to hone in on the details when I’m in the car.”

Continuity will be a defining theme of Martinez’s 2026 season. After racing multiple cars and platforms across his first two seasons in North American competition, the upcoming year marks the first time he will return to many of the same circuits in the same car.

“This is the first time I’ve been able to stay with the same platform,” Martinez said. “Every year that I’ve raced so far, every time I jumped in the car it was a new field and a new car.”

“Last year, at least half the tracks we went to I’d never been to before. Now I get to go back to tracks I’ve already been to in the same car, and that’s huge for confidence.”

The Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 proved to be a demanding but rewarding platform during Martinez’s previous season, particularly as it marked his first experience in a front-engine GT car.

“It was my first time driving a front-engine car,” Martinez said. “It has a short wheelbase, it moves under braking, and it’s on edge all the time. You really have to drive the car hard to extract the lap time.”

“But when you do, it’s very rewarding. It gives you the time, it holds, and it sticks. For me, getting back into the same car and building confidence is going to be huge.”

Limited track time during previous Michelin Pilot Challenge weekends further reinforced the value of continuity and additional seat time in 2026.

“There were weekends last year where I was getting maybe 45 minutes total at a brand-new track before qualifying,” Martinez said. “That’s a really small window to understand the car when you’re splitting time and setting it up with a teammate.”

“Being able to come back this year, stay on the same platform, and actually build on what we learned instead of starting from zero again is massive.”

RAFA Racing Team enters the 2026 season with a strong IMSA roster across multiple championships, with Martinez’s VP Racing SportsCar Challenge effort forming part of a broader, aligned program.

In VP Racing SportsCar Challenge competition, Martinez will be joined by Westin Workman as his RAFA Racing Team teammate, with the two drivers contesting the season in parallel entries.

Alongside the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge program, RAFA Racing Team has also confirmed its IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge lineup for 2026, with Kiko Porto and Varun Choksey set to share the team’s Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 in GS competition.

Porto enters the season following championship success in VP Racing SportsCar Challenge competition, while Choksey brings continued experience from multiple seasons at the national GT level.

“This is the kind of environment that really helps you grow,” Martinez said.

“Having Westin as a teammate in VP and then having guys like Kiko and Varun running in Michelin Pilot means there’s always data, always references, and always something to learn from.”

“It raises the level for everyone. You’re not just racing your own race. You’re constantly measuring yourself against people who are pushing hard in different programs.”

As the 2026 season approaches, Martinez’s focus remains firmly on development, consistency, and building toward future GT3 and endurance racing opportunities within IMSA competition.

“My goal is to be competitive, fight for podiums, and really establish myself in the series,” Martinez said. “If I can win races, that would be incredible.”

“But if I’m consistently battling at the front and competing with some of the top drivers in the class, I think that’s mission accomplished.”

• Awareness and fund-racing effort returns to the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge in 2026 in partnership with Stephen Cameron Racing, and adds select VP Racing SportsCar Challenge events beginning this weekend
• Founder Phil Frengs awarded prestigious So Cal golf accolade

LOS ANGELES (January 12, 2026) – The Racing to End Alzheimer’s with Stephen Cameron Racing team hits the ground running at the Daytona International Speedway this weekend, looking to get the 2026 racing season off to a productive start. The traditional visit to Daytona will feature a doubleheader in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge as well as six and a half hours of IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (IMPC) testing ahead of next weekend’s four-hour IMPC season opener.

Racing to End Alzheimer’s drivers Sean Quinlan and Greg Liefooghe are back behind the wheel of the No. 19 Ford Mustang GT4, their eighth straight season with Stephen Cameron Racing. The Mustang is now adorned in even brighter red and purple Racing to End Alzheimer’s colors – but with the familiar “names” on board, honoring loved ones who have suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s. Entering the Roar Before the Rolex 24 weekend, more than 50 names are on the car (add a loved ones’ name here).

Racing to End Alzheimer’s founder Phil Frengs eagerly anticipates the start of the 2026 campaign, one that will continue to honor his late wife Mimi, the inspiration for the program.

“After Mimi passed last April, we vowed to continue Racing to End Alzheimer’s in her honor,” said Frengs. “We have made a difference in the fight against this disease, raising over $1.2 million since we began in 2017. And this year, we will have two cars on select IMSA weekends, giving family and friends the chance to honor their loved ones on not just one, but two race cars.

“We are grateful to be back with Cameron Racing in 2026,” continued Frengs. “Steve Cameron, Sean Quinlan, Greg Liefooghe, and the entire team, have been outstanding to work with. They’re dedicated to racing and they have become dedicated to this fight, with many of the team members adding their own loved ones’ names to the car.”

The VP Racing series is in its third season, with races that feature the multi-class prototype GT mix that IMSA is known for, pitting LMP3 prototypes against GT cars, just like the main WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“Having a Ford Mustang identical to our main Michelin Pilot Challenge car in the VPRC gives us double the opportunity to honor these precious loved ones, and we can’t wait to get underway, especially since we’re adding a new series to our history!” added Frengs.

Quinlan will contest the pair of 45-minute VP Racing SportsCar Challenge events this weekend, as well as the doubleheaders at Mid-Ohio, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, VIRginia International Raceway, and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (schedule permitting). Liefooghe looks forward to the additional track time to dial in both car and driver.

“This is our third year racing the Ford Mustang, so I think we’re poised more than ever to have a great Daytona,” said Liefooghe. “The Mustangs have been good there historically. And with 34 cars in the Grand Sport class, it’s one of the biggest fields in years. It’s going to be good for us to do the VPRC sessions as well, to get the whole team back into race shape before the main event and to have that much more track time to work on setup and get back into the feel of the car. Off-season testing is great, but nothing replaces track time on the race weekend.”

Off-season accolades

Late last year, Frengs received the prestigious Ken Venturi “Spirit of Giving” award from the Southern California-based Friends of Golf (FOG). The Spirit of Giving award, named in honor of legendary golf announcer and philanthropist Ken Venturi, honors individuals for contributions to golf and to the greater good – which describes Frengs to a tee (pun intended!) Past award recipients include Al Michaels and the late, great Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully.

Full story here.

A board member and past president of the SCGA Junior Golf Foundation, Frengs hosts annual tournaments at both the Pebble Beach Golf Links and his home Palos Verdes Golf Club that have raised millions of dollars for the women’s golf team at UCLA, his alma mater, and has helped create hundreds of thousands of college scholarships through the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA) Junior Golf Foundation.

“I was very proud and honored to be the recipient of the 2025 Ken Venturi Spirit of Giving Award from Friends of Golf,” said Frengs. “Ken was known as the ‘First Gentleman of Golf,’ and while I might not have that same accolade, I certainly share Ken’s commitment to giving back and I am truly grateful to be recognized with an award in his name.”

The No. 19 Racing to End Alzheimer’s Mustang gives families the chance to honor loved ones who have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. For a $250 donation, the family member’s name and hometown is placed on the car, and their photo can be posted on the Racing to End Alzheimer’s website’s tribute page.All donations are matched by Frengs’ company Legistics, with 100% going to the program’s two beneficiaries – the Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist, and the UCLA Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program.

Donate now at this link.

Racing to End Alzheimer’s with Stephen Cameron Racing begins the 2026 Michelin Pilot Challenge season at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test weekend January 16-18, with the season opener Saturday, January 24, 2026. The race will be broadcast live in the U.S. on Peacock TV, and internationally on IMSA.TV and on IMSA’s YouTube channel – ad-free courtesy of Michelin.

About Racing to End Alzheimer’s

In 2013, Phil Frengs’s late wife Mimi was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Their experience with the disease led Frengs to a seminal moment: his company, Legistics, had long sponsored a team in IMSA sports car racing and he realized an opportunity to raise money and awareness for the fight against the disease. In 2017, he formed Racing to End Alzheimer’s, giving fans the opportunity to honor loved ones by putting their names on the race car via donation – with Legistics matching each donation. 100% of those donations go to the two organizations the team supports:

The Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist is exploring cutting edge strategies in therapy, care and research to find a cure for these dementias. NNAC was founded by longtime CBS Sports broadcaster Jim Nantz and his family in honor of his father, Jim, Jr., who passed away after a 13-year battle with Alzheimer’s.

The UCLA Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program is a nationally-recognized grant-funded program designed to help patients and their families with the complex medical, behavioral and social needs associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.

Five full-season Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs ready for pre-Rolex 24 testing to start 2026

DETROIT (January 13, 2026) – Five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs and seven Corvette Racing factory drivers are set to kick off 2026 during the next two weeks at Daytona International Speedway. Things kick off for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with the annual three-day Roar Before the 24 starting Friday.

It leads straight into the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona with Corvette Racing eager to capture another class victory – or two – in the opening round of the season.

Five full-season Corvette GT3s from four teams are part of the 60-car entry across two of the four classes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Corvette collective will test Friday through Sunday on the 3.56-mile Daytona Road Course ahead of next weekend’s season-opening round:

· Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports – GTD PRO: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Marvin Kirchhöfer(No. 3 Corvette); Nicky Catsburg, Tommy Milner, Nico Varrone (No. 4 Corvette)

· 13 Autosport – GTD: Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern, Ben Green (No. 13 Corvette)
· DXDT Racing – GTD: Charlie Eastwood, Mason Filippi, Salih Yoluc, Scott McLaughlin (No. 36 Corvette)
· DragonSpeed – GTD: Giacomo Altoé, Henrik Hedman, Casper Stevenson, Matteo Cairoli (No. 81 Corvette)

(Factory drivers in bold)

This year’s group matches last year’s entry of five Corvettes at Daytona; the biggest change is that all five will contest the entirely of the IMSA season. In addition to returning teams Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in GTD PRO and GTD customer teams 13 Autosport (formally AW) and DXDT Racing, new Corvette team DragonSpeed will debut its Z06 GT3.R at Daytona.

As a program, Corvette Racing has a deep and successful history at the Rolex 24 and includes five GT-class victories – one of those an overall win in 2001. The Corvette Racing factory team scored additional class wins in 2015, 2016 and 2021, and 13 Autosport won in GTD last year under the AWA banner for the Z06 GT3.R’s first Rolex 24 triumph.

In addition, Corvette’s successes at Daytona have bolstered Chevrolet’s impressive record of 125 wins at the circuit across IMSA and NASCAR’s national series.

Corvette Racing and its teams are looking to build on the global success of the Z06 GT3.R from 2025 into the new season. Corvette teams captured 16 race victories across six different global championships, and Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports swept the full-season GTD PRO Manufacturers, Drivers and Teams titles.

The Roar Before the 24 is set for January 16-18 with seven sessions scheduled across the three days. The Rolex 24 goes green at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 24 with qualifying on Thursday, January 22.

SELECT CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTES

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “In a lot of ways, the Rolex 24 each year at Daytona feels like the championship. I think not many people who are there think about the championship very much during the week. That’s something you think about Monday. Last year when we finished second, it wasn’t that great until Monday and we realized we had second-place points! It seems like there everyone is fighting all-out for the win, which is classic Daytona. It will be good to be back there with Alex and bring in Marvin. If he brings to us something of what he had last year in the race, we’ll be very happy! He and the AWA guys did a great job to end up winning the race, which was great for all of Corvette. He’s been around the paddock and in a lot of the big races here and in Europe. The experience is there and the speed is there as he showed last year. We’re happy to have him and looking forward to working with him this year.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It’s nice to have continuity again going into a third season with the same main team, and it’s a great addition having Marvin with us. The core group of people on our car are mostly staying the same… Andy Ramsey our race engineer and obviously myself and Antonio, plus Tommy, Nicky and Nico in the other Corvette. That’s a huge bonus and should give us strength. I think that’s probably the first time in my career that I’ve had three years in a row with the same co-driver and engineer, so that’s very nice.

“We were second last year at Daytona, and I’m quite keen to try and go one better. As with all of the races, the championship is the No. 1 focus and then race wins and other things would be fantastic along the way. That generally tends to happen if you win the championship so we obviously need to try and maximize every race. Daytona being the big one straight off the bat is an immediate opportunity and a great challenge.”

MARVIN KIRCHHÖFER, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was really nice being back behind the wheel of the Corvette (at November test at Sebring). I was generally quite impressed by the whole setup of the team. I got a nice welcome, too, from my teammates as well. I already knew Nicky from previous racing before, too. That was very nice and I really, really enjoyed working with them. Everyone has been very supportive and very helpful getting me up to speed within the team and getting reacquainted with the Corvette. I also had the DIL test a couple of weeks ago in Charlotte, which also was quite interesting. I must say overall that it has been very good and very positive… good preparation for the Rolex coming up in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we’ve done our parts and our work well and can make it a good 2026 Daytona 24 race.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Hopefully this Daytona is a boring one! Boring in the sense that we are three laps ahead by Hour Six and it’s the most boring GT race ever! Last year was disappointing on a number of levels for us on the No. 4 side. We had a great race going for a majority of it and then unraveled a little bit there at the end. I’m hopeful we can have another strong race as we did last year. There’s no reason why that should change. Daytona is always that crown jewel event and first race in the U.S. each season with a lot of emotions around it. For me, this race and the GTD PRO class in particular gets more and more competitive each year, and the excitement ramps up as we get closer.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It’s good to be back and start working with everyone. I’m looking forward to being back in Daytona as always. Like every year it’s an amazing beginning of the season with one of the most important races of the year. At the start, I feel like this year on the No. 4 side we need to take a little bit more of a cautious approach to the race. It’s very important that we finish well because it kind of sets you up for the rest of the season. I feel like sometimes people can get a little over-excited because it’s Daytona. I really want to do well in the championship. The dream is to win the driver championship with the 4 car this year rather than 3! So I’m looking forward to realizing that. Daytona is always a very fun time with the teammates, as well. We have a couple of days off between the Roar and the race which is always a good time to sharpen up our Pickleball skills or paddle skills or mini-golf skills or whatever else we can do!”

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m really looking forward to defending our Daytona 24 win from last year. It’s very exciting to be coming back under the new 13 Autosport banner while essentially keeping the same group of people that we succeeded with 12 months ago. There are not many teams that have defended their 24-hour win in the past, so our objective is to join the few that have.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m very excited about this new 13 Autosport venture heading into Daytona. We’re going into our third year as a part of Team Chevy, and over the course of the past two seasons we have learned so much and made significant leaps with our No. 13 Corvette. We’re all very eager to continue to further contribute to Chevrolet’s success at Daytona and into the rest of the rounds. I’m ready to kick off another season with Matt and Lars, and we’re all looking forward to bringing Ben into the family.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m really looking forward to being back at Daytona with DXDT and the Corvette. Last year wasn’t what we hoped for in my first race with the team in our first race in IMSA. There were a lot of things to learn and ultimately we didn’t end up finishing the race. But throughout the year the team made some massive strides and everyone is super motivated to get a good result. I think everyone knows if you can do that at Daytona, it really starts your championship off well. We have a great lineup. Having Scott is brilliant as he brings a lot to the team with his previous experience with the Corvette and in big races. I think we have a really good shot at it.”

GIACOMO ALTOE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It’s a new beginning for me with DragonSpeed and Corvette. I’m very excited for what’s coming. The project is a big one and we committed properly to do everything in the best way possible. It will be great to race together with Henrik for his comeback to racing and we have high goals in GTD. It’s a very competitive class and it’s always special to start at Daytona, with a 24-hour race. I can’t wait to be with the crew again and to get to know everyone at Chevy and Corvette Racing to start this new project together!”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future. Learn more at GM.com.