The end goal behind Bryan Herta’s massive new venture

Bryan Herta Autosport stepping up to LMP2 next year is already significant news, but it’s actually a small part of a much bigger masterplan for the ex-IndyCar star and his consortium.

BHA has joined with current team PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports for next year, fielding the No.52 ORECA 07-Gibson.

For Herta, that’s merely a stepping stone to a much bigger goal. Genesis – Hyundai’s luxury brand – is still looking for a team to run its IMSA program in 2027, and Herta is bullish.

With Ford announcing the unusual step of running its own GTP program without team help, and McLaren having already announced United Autosports as its operational partner, Genesis is the next big fish to fry.

“I’m not shy about saying, we’ve got great interest in the Genesis GTP program, and it’s certainly something we’ve discussed with them, and they’re aware of our interest,” Herta tells RACER.

“So we hope that this [LMP2 entry] could be a precursor to that, but there’s no guarantees of that. And regardless, this is a direction for our team that we want to go.

“I think this is a chance for us to just grow, grow our program, gain some WeatherTech experience, put all the sort of building blocks in place to really be able to tackle, any class, any series within the IMSA paddock at this point, I think we could do.”

BHA has run Hyundai TCR cars since 2018 and in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge since 2019. So you have to think it has a great chance, although there are some enormous teams that have run GTP programs before which are currently without partners for 2026, like Chip Ganassi Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan.

But that shouldn’t count BHA out. After all, Herta is enormously well respected in any racing paddock and what he’s built is more that just a team, it’s one with outstanding culture.

You only have to look at the work it has done with Michael Johnson and Robert Wickens to develop hand controls, which formed the basis of what Wickens has developed with Bosch to run in his Corvette IMSA GTD car.

The team has won in TCR, Indy Lights, Global RallyCross, SRO, built hand controls, built an all-electric car to take on Pikes Peak, and continues to push the envelope.

“If you walk through our shop on any given day with our TCR program, you’ll see crew members who have been part of Indy 500-winning efforts, who’ve come from NASCAR, who’ve been in drag racing,” Herta says.

“We value people above almost all else, and so having really strong people with really good, diverse backgrounds, it’s already part of what we do.

“We’re already not a small group of people when we go to the track. I think we’re over 50 people when we come to the track, just with the TCR program. So adding the LMP2 program, it’s another step, but it’s not overwhelming.”

Not overwhelming, but it will certainly be a big challenge.

Herta knows a thing or two about career challenges, but after such a high-profile IndyCar career, his second life as a team owner is giving him the chance to gain so much more diverse experience.

BHA will partner with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports to run the No.52 ORECA in LMP2 next year. Jake Galstad/IMSA

“The growth phases are always tough, because you get stretched a little thinner and there’s a lot to do again,” Herta says.

“But it’s also one of the most exciting things for me, when you get to challenge yourself, and your team gets to challenge itself at something new and really, again, not shy away from or be afraid of doing something different, but really embracing new challenges.

“That’s something I think we’ve always done since we started in racing.”

Engineering is the key here for BHA and this new project. PR1/Mathiasen knows the LMP2 car inside out and provides the experience and immediate familiarity with running a car at the front. For BHA, it’s about adding more engineering staff and training the ones they have already more in the prototype realm.

Herta says he’s already had lots of interest from engineers, and has a few he wants to “go after” himself.

“Where we really want to grow is in the background where, we’re looking to really significantly increase our engineering base, our engineering presence, and get some more of our people involved in the operation of a prototype race car,” adds Herta.

“So really, it’s the perfect scenario where we’re able to partner with a team that has a great pedigree in the class, but at the same time, I think we’re going to be able to grow a lot on our own side, and add a lot of engineering strength to it.

“It’s going to position us well for the future.”

It’s not just engineers Herta is going after either. He says there’s been “tremendous interest” from drivers of all gradings. No one is signed yet, but he hopes to have a line-up confirmed by Petit Le Mans. No doubt many fans will be keen to see Logan Sargeant back in the car after he made his racing return at Indianapolis for PR1/Mathiasen recently and was the fastest driver in the car; third-fastest in the race over a single lap.

Speaking of big decisions, BHA could have gone down the GT route to try and score a future manufacturer deal, something that teams like DragonSpeed are trying. But Herta reckons to do GTD/Pro in IMSA properly you need to aligned with a manufacturer, and that defeats the object of trying to attract another manufacturer to partner with.

For PR1/Mathiasen, this new venture adds an incredible wealth of knowledge, with Bobby Oergel and his team operating from BHA’s shop in Brownsburg, which is as big as some IndyCar teams. All the tools are there for all parties involved to take it to the next level.

Robert Hanley, a successful racer in his own right, has also joined the group. He’s got a very simple goal for the project.

“I want to win,” he replies. You’ve got to love that.

“When you look at what Bobby brings, what Herta Autosport brings, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, we haven’t even been on the race track together yet, but there are so many elements to this thing that say this could be really something special, and I would love for that to be the case.”

On paper, it all seems too perfect. The group still has to convince Genesis of its credentials as the absolute best candidate to choose, but BHA’s culture, success record, sheer number of relatively unusual challenges it has successfully taken on, its facilities already and its long-standing relationship with Hyundai, it really does fit perfectly.

And what it might lack in direct GTP experience it more than makes up for in the diversity of its knowledge base, which includes electrification after that Pikes Peak program.

It’s hard not to root for this team, and its ‘no challenge is too big’ attitude that put wins on the board and Wickens back in a race car.

Now it just has to convince Genesis.

“I feel like we have a lot of really diverse success and really, really diverse background,” adds Herta.