End of the Line for Forte Racing In GTD
Unfortunately the 2025 IMSA season has concluded, and as we now look towards the short off-season we can forecast which teams will be hitting the grid for 2026, and sadly which other teams will not.
The initial entry list of confirmed teams dropped by IMSA before the season finale at Petit Le Mans was missing a handful of teams that were on the grid for 2025, and picking just one of those teams out of the bucket for now is Forte Racing.
The No. 78 had a difficult Petit Le Mans when they were caught up in the opening lap wreck that claimed the lives of four GTD machines right off the rip while making the lives difficult for others with sustained damage. Forte were one of those teams, and although they managed to continue on with the race the damage to the front of the car slowed down their pace and put them multiple laps down from the leaders, and it ultimately resulted in a retirement after 280 laps completed and seven-plus hours of racing.
In the aftermath, although no word has come from Forte themselves, driver Mario Farnbacher let the cat out of the bag on his Instagram page with a heartfelt message about what transpired on the day and a salute to the program as it won't be continuing in the GTD ranks, while also officially putting out his application for hire.
Before rebranding to Forte Racing in 2023, the previously-known US RaceTronics have been in the race game since their creation 20 years ago in 2005. While also running their GTD program in the WeatherTech Series, they've had great success in the NA Super Trofeo circuit the last handful of seasons, and whenever a team bows out of a high-end series like IMSA the kneejerk reaction is pointing to financial issuesbeing the root cause. Although that still may prove to be true for Forte, it's also easy to assume that a portion of this is out of their control as Lamborghini prepare to move on from the Huracán GT3 Evo 2 and to the new Temerario platform, which will impact both GT and Super Trofeo customers in 2026. The Temerario will not be ready for debut at the Rolex 24, and there will reportedly be a grace period for teams that run the Huracán to switchover to the Temerario. If Forte are planning to stick around in Super Trofeo with a new machine, you can understand they don't want to double-dip with running a new GTD platform as well.
The positives for fans? It opens up a spot on the grid for another team to potentially fill the void. Second, it opens up Farnbacher to the free agent driving pool, along with veteran racer Misha Goikhberg and he-who-was-newly-hired-for-the-end-of-the-season Eric Filgueiras. Keep it tuned as we track where those three may land for 2026.
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