> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.rennsportreport.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # RSR Intelligence · Issue 019 - URL: https://www.rennsportreport.com/rsr-intelligence-issue-019/ - Published: 2026-10-05T11:00:51.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-05T11:00:51.000Z - Description: Wins and titles for Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-AMG reveal broader customer success, BMW achievement beyond WRT and Winward’s sustained GTD record. - Author: Jean-Paul Hackett - Tags: RSR Intelligence Issue 019 · Monday 5th October 2026 ## A weekend worth celebrating **Porsche** won **Petit Le Mans** in the top class for the first time. **Lionspeed GP** delivered Porsche's first overall **GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup** drivers' title in **Barcelona**. **BMW's** **Paul Miller Racing** (PMR) secured the **IMSA** professional GT3 championship, while **Mercedes-AMG's** **Winward Racing** completed a third successive GTD title campaign. That is a weekend worth pausing over. It also sharpens three different parts of the story we have been following: the breadth of Porsche's successful customer teams, BMW's championship achievements beyond **Team WRT**, and Winward's ability to sustain a winning programme across successive seasons. There was plenty for others to celebrate too. **Cadillac** secured the full-season **GTP** manufacturers' championship, **Car Blanche** won GTD Pro with **Aston Martin**, and **Audi** and **Ferrari** shared Barcelona's race victories. Porsche's prototype milestone came through **Porsche Penske Motorsport**. **Kévin Estre**, **Laurens Vanthoor** and **Matt Campbell** took the No. 6 **Porsche 963** to overall victory at **Road Atlanta**. Porsche says that completed [the first manufacturer sweep](https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2026/motorsports/petit-le-mans--road-atlanta-43403.html?ref=rennsportreport.com) of **Daytona**, **Sebring** and Petit Le Mans overall in one season. Winning three of the major American endurance races in one year is an achievement to savour. The 963 programme supplies the factory chapter of this weekend's Porsche story. Its customer GT3 teams supply another, with Barcelona providing the most consequential new result. **Ricardo Feller** and **Bastian Buus** [ended the Sprint season as champions](https://www.gt-world-challenge-europe.com/standings?filter%5Fseason%5Fid=26&filter%5Fstanding%5Ftype=43%5F0%5Fdrivers&ref=rennsportreport.com) in Lionspeed's **911 GT3 R**, completing Porsche's first overall drivers' title in the competition. That changes the customer-depth picture carried forward from [Issue 018](https://www.rennsportreport.com/rsr-intelligence-issue-018/). **Absolute Racing**'s two-car success at **Suzuka** showed what one organisation could deliver. Lionspeed now adds a completed championship through a separate team. Porsche has another substantial customer success with its own identity. Absolute contributed again this weekend, on **Beijing's** streets. **Huang Ruohan** and **Alessandro Ghiretti** [won Sunday's **GT World Challenge Asia** race](https://www.gt-world-challenge-asia.com/results/2026/beijing-street-circuit/race-2?ref=rennsportreport.com), with **Origine Motorsport's** **Lu Wei** and **Loek Hartog** classified second after an **Audi** penalty. The series organiser, **SRO Motorsports Group**, also reports that Absolute's mechanics [built up a new chassis overnight](https://www.gt-world-challenge-asia.com/news/1019/beijing-poles-for-liu-and-ghiretti?ref=rennsportreport.com) following a fire in Friday's Bronze Test. That overnight work is the detail worth remembering alongside the result. Before the drivers could race for victory, the crew had to put a car underneath them. Absolute's return to the winning story, with Origine alongside it on the classified podium, gives the Asian contribution both substance and a human scale. There were further customer achievements: **Peter Dempsey** and **Eddie Cheever** completed the Bronze drivers' title for **Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing**, while **AO Racing** finished second in GTD Pro at Petit and **Manthey 1st Phorm** second in GTD, the category pairing professional and amateur drivers. Taken together, these results broaden the list of Porsche operators delivering worthwhile outcomes. Our [Manthey explainer](https://www.rennsportreport.com/what-manthey-gives-porsche/) examined retained specialist expertise; this weekend adds recognition for teams beyond that familiar reference. The useful change is a fuller picture of where success is coming from. For BMW, PMR's championship deserves the centre of attention. **Connor De Phillippi** and **Neil Verhagen** [secured the full-season GTD Pro driver and team titles](https://www.imsa.com/news/2026/10/04/car-blanche-wins-motul-petit-le-mans-in-first-imsa-michelin-endurance-cup-gtd-pro-start/?ref=rennsportreport.com), finishing third at Petit with **Dan Harper** in the No. 1 **BMW M4 GT3 EVO**. That gives a North American organisation a substantial place in the account of BMW's GT3 season. WRT remains a major European reference, but PMR has delivered its own championship campaign. Any description of BMW's successful teams needs to give that achievement proper weight. WRT [completed the overall Sprint teams' title](https://www.gt-world-challenge-europe.com/standings?filter%5Fseason%5Fid=26&filter%5Fstanding%5Ftype=43%5F0%5Fteams&ref=rennsportreport.com) in Barcelona, ahead of Lionspeed. Its **Matisse Lismont** and **Ignacio Montenegro** had already secured the Silver honours at **Zandvoort**. The combination is the BMW significance of this weekend: two separate organisations have converted their seasons into GT3 championships, across different competitions and continents. PMR's result strengthens the evidence for success beyond WRT. **BMW M Team WRT** also finished second overall at Petit with the No. 24 **BMW M Hybrid V8**, just 1.205 seconds behind the Porsche. It adds a close factory prototype finish to BMW's celebration. The GT3 titles provide the stronger evidence for this issue's interpretation of its customer programmes. Winward's achievement carries a different weight: repetition. **Russell Ward** and **Philip Ellis** completed their third consecutive GTD drivers' championship, with Winward taking the corresponding team title. **Indy Dontje** joined them for the class victory at Petit itself. Three successful campaigns in succession give this programme a record that deserves recognition in its own right. Winward arrived at another season finale with a championship to finish and left with both the title and the race win. IMSA records four wins and a second place across Winward's final five rounds. Ward credited the crew's determination to recover points after the **Watkins Glen** setback as the start of that response. The recovery matters to the way this season will be remembered. It gives the closing run a beginning: a damaged campaign, people still working to salvage something from it, and results that carried the team back into the championship. Ward's account gives the crew its share of the credit. The Ward/Ellis pairing is [already confirmed for 2027](https://www.imsa.com/news/2026/09/23/winward-racing-returns-its-championship-winning-mercedes-amg-gtd-lineup-for-2027/?ref=rennsportreport.com). That gives the next campaign a recognisable foundation. Our beyond-Winward feature has a separate task, examining sustained success elsewhere in the AMG customer network. This weekend strengthens Winward's place as the reference against which that question is being asked. Petit also brought rival setbacks and late-race circumstances that shaped the outcome. Contact affected the GTD Pro title contest; Ellis acknowledged the fuel-saving benefit of a late caution; and **Turner Motorsport** retired with a loss of water pressure. Those circumstances, together with **Balance of Performance**, the system used to balance the competing cars, limit what the finale can tell us about relative technical capability. The season-long titles and the identity of the teams earning them give this issue its firmer ground. Turner's retirement also closes the campaign examined in our [earlier analysis](https://www.rennsportreport.com/turners-bmw-revival-rests-on-familiar-methods/), with a disappointing result whose root cause remains open. The **Indianapolis 8 Hour** comes next. The [current entry list](https://www.gt-world-challenge-america.com/entry-list/2026/indianpolis-8-hour?ref=rennsportreport.com) includes Turner's BMW, Porsche customer teams and Mercedes-AMGs from **JMF Motorsports** and **Lone Star Racing**. It will offer another opportunity to examine the questions carried forward from Issue 018, with the post-season features following the longer threads of support, continuity and competing commitments. For now, the teams have earned this moment. Porsche's customer picture has grown broader, BMW has a championship achievement beyond WRT to recognise, and Winward has extended a run of success across another full season. There is plenty to investigate next, and plenty to celebrate today. *Petit Le Mans results and titles follow IMSA's current provisional records.*