HSR releases 2026 schedule including first overseas race at the Le Mans Classic Legend

The 2026 Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) schedule of events marks another milestone with the first overseas race in HSR’s nearly 50-year history and return engagements at America’s most legendary road courses.

Among the big news on the 2026 HSR calendar is an ‘across the Atlantic’ exchange between Peter Auto and HSR that brings 1960s-era classic sports cars to the HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour presented by Mission Foods and take HSR’s NASCAR Classic presented by Goodyear series to the Le Mans Classic Legend.

The new collaboration between Peter Auto, which is the vintage and historic arm of the ACO, and HSR that is owned by leading North American sports car racing sanctioning body IMSA, is the latest cooperative initiative in a strong and ongoing partnership between the ACO and IMSA.

The first part of the high-speed exchange will see HSR’s growing NASCAR Classic presented by Goodyear series travel to France next year as a featured part of the inaugural Le Mans Classic Legend, July 2 – 5, 2026 at Circuit de la Sarthe. Completing its second season this year, HSR NASCAR Classic is a showcase of top-level American stock cars of various generations retired from contemporary competition.

Later in 2026, a special Peter Auto grid of cars from the organization’s F period, including iconic GT sports cars from 1962 to 1965, will step into the American spotlight at the HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour presented by Mission Foods. The first and oldest HSR Classic race, the HSR Daytona Classic 24 will be run for the 12th time at Daytona International Speedway (DIS), November 11 – 15.

The eight-event schedule is anchored for the second-straight year by two races during the season at three different revered North American race circuits: Daytona International Speedway (DIS), Sebring International Raceway and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (MRRA). 

A return to Watkins Glen International (WGI) for the fourth-straight year adds to the iconic circuit lineup when the upstate New York road course hosts the HSR Watkins Glen Classic 6 Hour presented by Mission Foods.

It all begins at Daytona in January with the second annual running of the HSR IMSA Classic, a tribute introduced this year showcasing the legendary sports cars that have raced in the Rolex 24 At Daytona for more than 60 years. The IMSA Classic takes to the spotlight at the 64th running of the Rolex 24, which once again opens the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season this January 21 – 24 on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course.

All authentic and period-correct sports cars between the years of 1990 and 2010 with a verifiable Rolex 24 history will be eligible to apply for entry in the 2026 HSR IMSA Classic, with the eventual field of 20 determined by a selection committee.

The IMSA Classic will be followed by the year’s first full points-paying championship weekend with the reformatted HSR Sebring Pistons & Props, presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network, which features both historic cars and airplanes on new February 12 – 15 dates at Sebring International Raceway.

The Sebring opener will be followed by the 48th running of the HSR The Mitty presented by Hagerty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 23 – 26. The oldest and perhaps most revered HSR race, the traditional featured Run Group of the 48th Mitty will be announced in the near future.

The HSR Watkins Glen Classic 6 Hour presented by Mission Foods is up next, June 11 – 14 and is the first of four-straight races in the second season of the HSR Classic Endurance Championship, presented by Mission Foods. Introduced this year, the Classic Endurance Championship by Mission Foods is North America’s first major endurance racing series for historic prototype sports cars retired from contemporary competition.

Then NASCAR Classic series heads to France, appropriately on 4th of July weekend, a full 50 years after a pair of NASCAR stock cars took the 24 Hours of Le Mans by storm. A Dodge Charger driven by NASCAR legend Herschel McGriff and his son Doug McGriff, and a Junie Donlavey Ford Torino, co-driven by experienced Le Mans drivers Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson, made the guest appearances in what turned out to be a wildly popular attraction with France’s passionate race fans.

HSR’s now traditional summer competition break returns in August when HSR lends its operational and sanctioning expertise to the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and Pre-Reunion weekends at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the sixth consecutive year.

The 2026 HSR championship schedule resumes with the second running of the HSR Road Atlanta Classic 10 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, at MRRA September 17 – 20. 

The HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, begins its second decade of competition on the November 11 – 15 dates in HSR’s second appearance of the 2026 season at the World Center of Racing.

The Peter Auto grid of 1960’s era classics at Daytona will pay tribute to the earliest editions of major sports car endurance races at the ‘World Center of Racing.’ The first was the Daytona Continental, which was run in 1962 and won by Dan Gurney in an Arciero Racing Lotus 19. Shortly thereafter, the race expanded to the full 24-hour contest that runs for the 64th time this January. The Peter Auto lineup slated for the trip to Daytona perfectly represents the 1962 to 1965 golden era that was truly the dawn of America’s premier 24-hour race.

The HSR Sebring Classic 12 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, returns to its original season-ending date in 2026 to close out next year’s HSR’s racing season on December 2 – 6 at Sebring International Raceway.

The HSR Classic event weekends at The Glen, MRRA, Daytona and Sebring share the card, respectively, with the Watkins Glen Historics, the Fall Historics, the Daytona Historics and the Sebring Historics. All four events are key rounds of HSR’s season-long championships and include races for the HSR Prototype Challenge presented by Michelin, Sasco Sports International/American Challenge presented by Hoosier, B.R.M. Endurance Challenge, HSR WeatherTech Sprint and HSR Global GT racing series.

2026 Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Race-Event Schedule*January 21 – 25: HSR IMSA Classic – Daytona International SpeedwayFebruary 12 – 15: HSR Sebring Pistons and Props, presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network – Sebring International RacewayApril 23 – April 26: 48th HSR The Mitty presented by Hagerty – Michelin Raceway Road AtlantaJune 11 – 14: HSR Watkins Glen Classic 6 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, and The HSR Watkins Glen Historics – Watkins GlenJuly 2 – 5: Le Mans Classic Legend HSR NASCAR Classic – Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, FranceSeptember 17 – 20: HSR Road Atlanta Classic 10 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, and the Fall Historics – Road AtlantaNovember 11 – 15: HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, and the HSR Daytona Historics – DaytonaDecember 2 – 6: HSR Sebring Classic 12 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, and the HSR Sebring Historics – Sebring