No Two Journeys Alike: How the 2025 IMSA Michelin Endurance Champions Were Crowned
The 2025 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup champions have been crowned, and what a season it was. These weren’t your straightforward, wire-to-wire victories. We saw teams claw their way to the top, with some barely hanging on by a thread, and others pulling off miracles in the final hours.
The Michelin Endurance series is a beast, a collection of IMSA’s five longest, most brutal races, and just finishing is a victory in itself. But to win the championship? That takes something special. Over 58 hours of flat-out racing across Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis, and the finale at Road Atlanta, these teams proved they had what it takes. Here’s how they got it done.
The Drama of the Michelin Endurance Cup
Winning the Michelin Endurance Cup is about more than just speed. It’s a test of strategy, grit, and sometimes, just pure luck. The scoring system, with points awarded at different stages of each race, means every single hour counts. A team can have a bad finish but still walk away with a decent haul of points if they were leading at the right moments.
It creates a championship within a championship, and the pressure is relentless. You can’t let up for a second, because someone is always right there, waiting for you to slip. It’s what makes these long races so electrifying from start to finish.
Porsche’s GTP Team Holds On for a Thriller
The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport crew came out of the gate swinging. They dominated the “36 Hours of Florida,” scoring max points in five of the seven segments at Daytona and Sebring and winning both legendary races. With Nick Tandy, Felipe Nasr, and Laurens Vanthoor behind the wheel, the No. 7 Porsche 963 looked unbeatable, building up a solid eight-point lead.
But then, their luck turned. The second half of the season proved to be a struggle, marked by finishes of 10th or worse in the final three endurance races. They only scraped together 15 points from those last seven segments. It turned into a nail-biter, a desperate fight to just hang on. What saved them? Their rivals began to clash with each other.
The No. 31 Cadillac, the No. 60 Acura, and even their sister No. 6 Porsche all took turns winning and stealing points from one another. In the end, just two points separated the top four cars. Nasr and Tandy held on by the skin of their teeth, securing a hard-fought Michelin Endurance title for the No. 7 car, while their teammates in the No. 6 car won the overall season championship. A banner year for Porsche, no matter how you slice it.
TDS Racing’s Unbelievable LMP2 Comeback
If you want to talk about a storybook ending, look no further than TDS Racing. Heading into the final two races at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta, they were five points down in the LMP2 class. It was a long shot. They needed everything to go right. And it did. Just like they did in 2024, they delivered a stunning performance, winning both Indianapolis and Road Atlanta to close out the season.
The victory at Motul Petit Le Mans pulled the No. 11 ORECA of Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen, and Hunter McElrea into a dead tie with the No. 43 Inter Europol car. It all came down to a tiebreaker. With two wins to the No. 43’s one, TDS Racing snatched the crown. It was a truly incredible rally, a perfect send-off for Steven Thomas in what was his last scheduled IMSA race. That’s how you go out on top.
Paul Miller Racing’s GTD PRO Dominance
Paul Miller Racing is a machine when it comes to endurance racing. They just know how to rack up points. This year, they showed up with two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs, and the results were staggering. Between their No. 1 and No. 48 cars, they scored maximum points in 11 of the 15 segments throughout the year.
The No. 48 car, with Dan Harper and Max Hesse, ultimately took home the Michelin Endurance championship, thanks to wins at Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta. But there was a wild twist at the end. Connor De Phillippi, who drove in both cars during the season, was assigned to the No. 1 car for the finale.
That car had issues, but De Phillippi also drove the No. 48 to the race win. In a strange turn of fate, he ended up taking the title away from himself. While he won’t be on the official trophy, everyone knows his effort was absolutely critical to the team’s back-to-back championships.
Af Corse and Ferrari Master the GTD Class
In the stacked GTD field, Ferrari showed its strength in numbers. Three different Ferrari 296 GT3 teams combined to score max points in 10 of the 15 segments. But it was the No. 21 Af Corse team that rose above the rest. Alessandro Pier Guidi, Lilou Wadoux, and Simon Mann put on a clinic at the season finale, sweeping all three segments at Motul Petit Le Mans to win the race and the championship.
Their season was a mix of brilliance, like their early dominance at Sebring, and tough luck with mechanical issues. But when it counted most, they delivered. It was a heartbreaker for the Inception Racing Ferrari, which led the standings coming into the final race only to have their hopes dashed by a first-lap incident. That’s how brutal the Michelin Endurance Cup can be. One bad moment, and it’s all over.
