Following the example of the World Endurance Championship and its fine-happy sanctioning body, the FIA, IMSA has now updated its rules to forbid competitors from complaining about its balance of performance (BoP). Please enjoy article 2.2.3.a of the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech Championship sporting regulations:

“Manufacturers, Competitors, Drivers, Constructors, and any persons or entities associated with their entries must not attempt to influence the establishment of the Balance of Performance (BoP) or make any public comments regarding the BoP process, methodology, data, or outcomes, including but not limited to statements made through traditional media, digital media, or social media platforms.”

As in all motorsports series that employ censorship and fines, WEC teams now speak entirely in innuendos.

Actually, I’ve noticed IMSA competitors tend to tiptoe around BoP conversations already, as the series can make their racing lives miserable in other ways as punishment, such as by giving their car an unfavorable BoP. But now the gag order is in writing and violations costs money.

BoP is the most political part of sports car racing, and I honestly get why the series would want to prevent competitors from using the media as a weapon. While sanctioning bodies’ constant fiddling with BoP clearly causes stupid swings in competitive order throughout a season, teams are also blatantly dishonest about how they talk about BoP publicly, basically just doing whatever advantages them, as race teams are wont to do.

I think, on balance (😏), it’s the right thing to do balance lap times between cars of different makes and let their more particular strengths and weaknesses — and teams’ and drivers’ ability to execute — determine the winners and losers. I just wish the process wasn’t so fiddly, because it introduces errors all throughout the process, and that’s what competitors rightfully complain about. I am in favor of this BoP censorship policy in the meantime, but I want to see sports car racing regulators making tangible progress on finding less controversial ways to balance performance.

In a stage that was incredibly rough for many competitors, scrambling up the order, GRally Team KTM X-Bow #302 driver Puck Klaassen had an exceedingly clean third stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally, becoming the fifth woman ever to win a stage in the legendary race. It’s her third time contesting the Dakar and her second in current machinery; her first was in the Classic class in 2024 with her father, Sebastiaan.

I’m inaugurating the Turning Fortune News section with the announcement that Ayhancan Güven is returning to the Rolex 24 at Daytona for his second appearance, this time with legendary Porsche shop Manthey Racing. Manthey is the team with which Güven won the 2025 DTM championship in one of the most exciting last-lap battles I’ve ever seen:

Manthey is competing in IMSA for the first time in 2026 having dominated basically everywhere else Porsche 911 GT3s race. Güven is in one of two Manthey cars, most bad-assedly numbered #911 and #912; the champ is in the former alongside Thomas Preining, Ricardo Feller, and Klaus Bachler, all of whom are also fearsome drivers. After Daytona, Güven will head off for his new full-time job with Manthey’s World Endurance Championship team.

I would call Chan a “rising star” except clearly his star has already risen. Even aside from winning the toughest GT championship on Earth, his 2025 Daytona run with Wright in the #120 was fairly spectacular — they finished 2nd in GTD — so I can’t even imagine what’s coming this year.

The reason I chose this story to kick off News is that Chan is special to us from Daytona last year. Not only was the #120 the first race car to drive right past me, Güven starred in our first ever YouTube video because he was exceedingly generous with his time in the autograph line, giving Luke detailed answers to his questions. This year, I’m bringing a better microphone.