Winward Racing – Syndication Server

Iron Lynx Lamborghini, Conquest Ferrari conquer Petit Le Mans

Amidst a GTD PRO championship emotional rollercoaster, a Petit Le Mans victory for the No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Franck Perera, Jordan Pepper and Mirko Bortolotti was almost lost in the fray as they seemed to cruise …

All eyes were on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO title fight, though, as an early problem for AO Racing put what seemed like a sure thing for the team and Laurin Heinrich in jeopardy.

The Iron Lynx Lamborghini quickly positioned itself as a contender for the race victory. Pepper only had to fend off an attack by Risi’s Daniel Serra in the No. 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 after the final restart to claim the victory, the first in IMSA competition for Pepper and the Iron Lynx team.

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“It’s been amazing. It’s been two tough seasons, tough years for us. I think we’ve been showing good potential, but we never managed to pull it off, never managed to get the result we got today,” said Bortolotti. “I think it’s a proud moment to be back on the top side of the podium in IMSA. It’s a great championship for us. We always enjoy being here. I think it was about time to have a result like this.”

While the Lamborghini was clearly strong over the long run, the fight with the Ferrari of Serra, Davide Rigon and Alessandro Pier Guidi was tough at times.

“Just an intense, intense battle out there, all stints,” Pepper said. “I think there was a point where we were mixing it up with the GTD cars, and I got to the lead, which was quite good. We had a moment with Daniel. I think it was quite a critical, crucial moment where he got stuck behind a BMW on cold tires where we could regain the lead again. Then it was just head down, full attack, obviously.

“It seemed like they had the pace over us on one lap, but we seemed very strong over the distance, which I think made the difference today. What was really impressive was the guys behind the wall that made some good strategy calls,” he added.

The Risi squad did a lot of work to be in the championship fight. Minor contact early in Saturday’s qualifying session between the Risi Ferrari and the GTD-class No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 left a bit of debris on track. Both cars lost their two best times for causing a red flag, and the No. 62 started 23rd in the GT field.

Rexy’s teeth came out to play, but not in the way AO Racing wanted… Even so, overcoming an electrical issue didn’t stop them from taking a fan-favorite title. Jake Galstad/Lumen

As intriguing as the intra-Italian battle was, the drama of the GTD PRO championship fight overshadowed it. What seemed like it would be an easy run to the title for Laurin Heinrich and AO Racing was turned on its head when the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R had an electrical connection to the steering wheel go awry, which in turn caused a shifting problem. Several dramatic moments with the car that was co-driven by Michael Christensen and Julien Andlauer eventually led to a lengthy pit stop to replace a cable. The No. 77 was suddenly six laps down and in ninth place.

Coming into the race with a 104-point margin to Ross Gunn and the Heart of Racing Team, the championship could now go either way. The No. 23 HoR Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo was running in the vicinity of second and third. Second place or better meant the championship would go to Gunn and HoR; Third or worse and the title was Heinrich’s. For hours, the championship went back and forth. After the final restart, Gunn was doing everything he could, including turning the race’s fastest lap, half a second better than any other GT car, as well as a whole lot of laps close that fast one.

In the end, though, Gunn fell less than 2s short of second place, a podium for him, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis the consolation prize.

“I know everyone was pushing for me and rooting for me because my name was there on the championship, but this is a car No. 23 effort,” said Gunn. “We came so close — four points is the difference of one or two qualifying positions, which is really nothing. A sad day to not win the championship, but the greatest thing that I take away from all of this is that we’ve improved so much over the last few years, and I’m so proud of that.”

For Heinrich, who has had a revolving door of co-drivers after a strong start to the season with Seb Priaulx, winning the championship in his first season of IMSA competition was a relief. It came down to scoring pole position on Saturday – the margin prior to that was 99 points, which was more than erased with the contenders’ respective finishing positions.

“What a year. In the end, it’s decided by four points,” noted Heinrich, whose only previous experience at Road Atlanta came in Porsche Carrera Cup. “If I think back throughout the season, what are four points? I mean, it’s all these small decisions to take in a qualifying or in a race.

“I can’t thank my team enough, and also my teammates. I’ve had plenty of teammates this year. First of all Seb Priaulx – he did most races with me. Exceptional driver and I got along with him really well. Also Michael Christensen, Julien Andlauer and Klaus Bachler were all from the Porsche family. I really appreciate their support, because in the end, they joined me, and they were not fighting for their own championship; they were just there to help the team and me win our championship, and I think it really speaks for them.”

Paul Miller Racing took the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup title for Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen.

Expect the unexpected at Petit, as always. Conquest Racing came out of nowhere. Jake Galstad/Lumen

Conquest Racing was a surprise winner in GTD. Albert Costa Balboa took advantage of a late caution to get the No. 34 Ferrari 296 into position to attack Loris Spinelli in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan and earn victory for himself, Manny Franco and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli. It was an impressive result for a team in its rookie year in IMSA GTD competition, especially given Franco’s limited experience that included only a little Ferrari Challenge racing before he stepped into GT3.

“I’ve only had three years of racing,” Franco noted. “For me, it’s an important sign. You can work your way up through smaller series here at IMSA. It means a lot for me, and it means a lot for everyone who was involved in the Ferrari Challenge program because they work a lot in improving us as drivers. Ferrari themselves are very supportive of me as I’ve continued on in my career here.

“To win here at Petit, I’ve been told already by many people that it’s a huge thing for me, it’s a huge thing for the Conquest Racing team and the guys here,” he added.

Conquest moved up steadily from its eighth-place starting position, but never really looked like a contender for victory until after final caution that came with less than an hour to go.

“To be honest, when I did the first stint, I was not expecting to win,” Costa said. “I was expecting to be maybe top five, top four. Maybe if there was a yellow, maybe in the top three. These guys always manage to move forward. They were overtaking [cars on track] all the time. We keep believing; the team [made] no mistakes, and at the end, yeah, the car was a rocket, and this, of course, makes your life a little bit easy.

“We had also to manage the tires because of degradation. In GTD it’s quite high. [In] the first stint I pushed a little bit too much. At the end I was struggling. [For the] two last stints, I didn’t push at the limit at the beginning to keep the tires safe. I think it also was one of the keys to get the win for us.”

Conquest took a 0.718s victory over defending winners Forte Racing with Spinelli, Misha Goikberg and Devlin DeFrancesco. The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo, Parker Thompson and Aaron Telitz was third, like Risi battling back from the qualifying penalty.

Winward’s championship performance was all but a foregone conclusion. Jake Galstad/Lumen

Given the large points margin Winward Racing came into the race with, they took the GTD championship for Russell Ward and Philip Ellis. With Indy Dontje, Winward claimed the IMEC title as well.

“This is the end goal, right?” said Ward. “You come here, and you want to win races. You want to be competitive. All of us have eyes on the championship. You know, it’s just an incredible result for the team. A lot of long nights. It’s been difficult but exciting at the same time. It’s really good to be able to bring it home.”

RESULTS

Heart of Racing and Winward net fortune reversal wins at the Glen

The GTD PRO and GTD class victories in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen really came down in large part to luck. Wherever a team might have ben in the race for the first two thirds didn’t matter when the skies opened up with 1h46m to go in the …

When that happened, cars went sliding off track, several getting beached in the gravel traps, and others such as the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 having serious contact with the wall. All that brought out a full-course caution that eventually turned into a red flag due to standing water on the track.

Cars that didn’t get into the pits for wets before the full-course caution and closed pit that preceded the red flag seemed screwed at first, but were saved by the long red flag. With dry tires already on the car when the race restarted, they didn’t need to visit the pits again and gained track position. For most, fuel wasn’t a concern.

Those that stayed on slicks included the top three in GTD PRO as the race headed for a restart with 16m left, led by Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R, followed by Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and Marvin Kirchhofer in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S Evo.

Gunn hounded Milner and attacked several times, but couldn’t get the move done. Milner’s defense of the lead came to nought because the Corvette had had its final pit stop earlier than the others and was low on fuel. Milner pulling into the pits for a splash as the final lap began handed the victory to Gunn and Alex Riberas. It was Heart of Racing’s first victory of the season in the WeatherTech Championship, as well as the first for the Evo version of the Vantage GT3.

“The end was very exciting,” declared Gunn. “We were fortunate that we were in a position to fight for the lead. I was aware that the Corvette was really, really tight with fuel and I just had to push Milner as hard as I could and not allow him to save any fuel. That worked out pretty well. Coming on to the home straight with him peeling off on the last lap was definitely something I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life. It was an amazing team effort from everybody.”

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The victory was momentous for a winning team that has had some struggles this season.

“I would say it’s without a doubt one of my proudest wins because it was such a big team effort,” said Riberas. “We were down for a bit. We made some mistakes, and I would say that really is a test for the team. I would say it’s never the first mistake that is the costly one, it’s always the second and the third mistake and today we didn’t let the first mistake dictate our faith for the rest of the race. We stayed together. We didn’t point fingers or panic. We stayed focused on controlling what we could control and making the most out of it. Ultimately that ended up leading to making a decision that had a big impact in the outcome of the race.”

Kirchhofer and Oliver Jarvis finished second in the Pfaff McLaren, followed by Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims saving a bit of face for Corvette by putting the No. 3 in third.

The victory moved Gunn – Riberas has missed some races this year due to conflicts – into third in the GTD PRO Championship with 1572 points to Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth’s 1583 in second. Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich continue to lead the championship for AO Racing at 1632.

Winward Racing found itself in a similar situation as the GTD PRO leaders, having been on slicks through the red flag and ready to go as the race resumed on a dry track. In fact, despite the weather, the team never went to rain tires. Winward took the GTD victory for Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje in the No. 57 Mercedes AMG. It was the team’s fourth GTD victory in five races this season, and Winward has swept the Michelin Endurance Cup races so far.

“You saw a lot of mixed weather conditions,” explained Ellis. “Very heavy rain coming down at times and then sometimes just a bit of drizzle, which made some some others fall for it and then take rain tires. For most of the race, I’d say we were always on the right tires at the the right time. To be honest, we were bit lucky with red flag coming out — just had to roll the dice that we were fueled enough to make to the end. After that it was just keeping the cars behind. The team, Russell and Indy have done an amazing job with very difficult conditions today.”

Ellis had to first fend off the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 with polesitter Parker Thompson at the wheel. Attacking on the outside going into the Inner Loop, Thompson ended up missing it and fell down the order. The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with Jan Heylen at the wheel was then closing on Ellis, but Heylen, Elliot Skeer and Adam Adelson didn’t end up with second due to a drive time violation. The No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Manny Franco, Albert Costa Balboa and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli was second, followed by John Potter, Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

Ward and Ellis now have almost a full race win lead over the competition, their 1745 points being 315 more than Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley. It’s been a remarkable run for the team in 2024.

“The drivers kind of just did their jobs today,” said Ward. “We didn’t bin the car, didn’t run it off up off track. It’s just a testament to the group of people we put together.”

RESULTS

Rexy roars to AO Racing’s least-likely maiden win at Laguna Seca

AO Racing has been knocking on the door of victory since moving to GTD PRO with its No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, and finally got it in a race where it seemed least likely. Starting fifth behind a front row of two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.Rs that seemed to have the pace to control the race, AO moved up steadily and used an early pit stop strategy to get the car to the front at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Once there, Laurin Heinrich – in his third IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start – and Seb Priaulx claimed victory in the Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N and the GTD PRO points lead.

“Before the race we were talking about passing on this track, which is historically not so easy,” said Heinrich. “I was preparing quite a lot before, looking at many IMSA races from the past, looking over videos. You just have to set it up right. We had a good car, and we were purposely focusing on having a car to follow other guys, now that we knew we were starting from the third row so we had to overtake some cars. I think our engineers and the whole AO Racing crew did a great job to give us exactly the car that we needed. It was not particularly easy in clean air, but that’s not what you need. You know, as soon as you’re first at Laguna, it’s much easier to stay there than to get there.”

Nicky Catsburg put the No. 4 Corvette on the GTD pole with Antonio Garcia alongside in the No. 3 as the Corvettes looked like they might have the first victory for the Z06 GT3.R on their hands. However Pfaff Motorsports put the No. 9 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO – running a red-and-white livery in honor of Ayrton Senna – into the lead after the first round of pit stops, the first time the car has led since Pfaff switched to McLaren. The No. 3 Corvette was caught out when the only full-course caution came 50m into the race, still not having pitted.

Heinrich, having taken over from starter Priaulx, was third at the restart, and quickly took second from Tommy Milner, now in the No. 4 Corvette. He took the lead from Marvin Kirchhofer as he passed the McLaren in Turn 6 a few laps later. The AO crew then brought the Porsche in first, and they cycled back to the lead after the second round of stops — a lead they would never relinquish as Heinrich drove to a 9s margin of victory over Kirchhofer and Oliver Jarvis in the No. 9 McLaren.

“AO Racing did an absolute awesome job today – and not just today, the whole year, and they’ve been improving each time,” said Priaulx. “It’s just absolutely great to see and they’re really hard-working guys. Qualifying pace wasn’t right there yesterday, but today, Laurin did a great job and just absolutely awesome to win our first race. For the team, a massive confidence boost and great for them to feel that. They’ve worked very hard. We’ve been unlucky with some stuff, but I’m just really, really proud of them all.”

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“I think it was clear that the Corvettes had the upper hand in qualifying; there was no way we were going to reach them even with a perfect, perfect lap,” added Heinirch. “Seb did a good job of placing us ahead of all the GTD cars which was crucial for us to stay in our GTD PRO game. He did a good start, kept the nose clean, overtook the Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Halfway into his stint, I could see that he was starting to be faster than the cars ahead of him, so I knew we had something on our hands here. The race was without many full-course yellows, so it was more about long runs. I think that was exactly our strength.”

Catsburg and Milner claimed third in the No. 4 Corvette, with Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth finishing fourth in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Garcia and Alexander Sims rounded out the top five in GTD PRO in the No. 3 Corvette.

With the victory, Heinrich and Priaulx move into the GTD PRO points lead with 981 points, 56 more than Barnicoat and Hawksworth in second. Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow are third for Paul Miller Racing at 888.

In GTD, Winward powered back into their winning ways after a critical mistake by the No. 557 Turner BMW in the closing minutes. Jake Galstad/Lumen

Winward Racing resumed its dominance in GTD that it momentarily lost at Long Beach, claiming its third win in four races this season and maintaining its spot at the top of the points with Russell Ward and Philip Ellis.

Danny Formal had scored the GTD pole in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, but the car didn’t have the fight to stay up front, and after the first round of pit stops it was Robby Foley in the lead in the No. 557 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, followed by Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 and Mikael Greinier in the No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG. For a while, Foley was able to open up a gap to Ellis, and it appeared that it might be a storybook ending for Turner Motorsport, celebrating race start no. 577 with BMW and becoming the most prolific BMW race team in the world when the green flew. But as GTP traffic came through the GT field, Ellis reeled Foley in, and it was contact with a passing GTP car, the No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 driven by Jordan Taylor, that ultimately made the difference. Foley turned into the Acura, had light contact and briefly went off track, and Ellis moved into the lead.

“I think we might have had a bit of a better pace when we were out in clean air, but behind them there was no chance of overtaking them,” explained Ellis. “I was actually stuck behind the Aston Martin, the PRO Aston Martin, for quite a bit. Thankfully he let me by and I finally chased down Robby. I think Robby only lost a bit of lap time with the GTPs initially. On our pace, it would have not been a chance of overtaking. It’s sad for them, of course, how it ended. I would have liked to do it on my own, but we’ll definitely take it.”

Foley and Patrick Gallagher ended up second, while a charging Elliot Skeer finished third in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche he took over from Adam Adelson. Grenier and Mike Skeen were fourth for Korthoff/Preston, and polesitter Formal and Kyle Marcelli were fifth.

Ellis and Ward have a 213-point lead over Gallagher and Foley. Adelson and Skeer are third in the points, while Parker Thompson sits fourth ahead of Grenier and Skeen.

The GTD class has a long break until the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen at the end of June, while GTD PRO is in action again in three weeks on the streets of Detroit.

RESULTS

Era, Winward in elite company after ‘36 Hours of Florida’ victories

The 36 Hours of Florida…the doubleheader…doubling down…. However you want to term it, winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac in the same year is no mean feat. Era Motorsport (LMP2) and Winward Racing (GTD, pictured above) both achieved the double victory in 2024, and it puts them in some pretty impressive company. Looking back at the list of those who have won both races overall back-to-back reveals some pretty noteworthy names.

Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby were the first to do it in a Shelby American Ford GT40 Mk.II in 1966, the first year of the Daytona 24-hour race. Joe Siffert and Hans Hermann did it two years later in a Porsche 907. That little team from up the road in Jacksonville, Brumos, got the double with Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood in a Porsche Carrera RSR. Another Floridian, Preston Henn, fielded a 962 for A.J. Foyt and Bob Wollek, who took the 36 Hours in 1985.

While Wayne Taylor may not be a native of Florida, he now calls the state home, and joined with Jim Pace to win both Florida races in a Doyle Racing Riley & Scott MkIII Oldsmobile. And before the races were run under two different series with different rules, Mauro Baldi, Gianpiero Moretti and Didier Theys drove a Doran-Moretti Ferrari 333SP to the double victory.

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Since reunification in 2014, the 36 Hours of Florida had been won by seven teams before 2024, and in three years there have been winners in two different classes. Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and James Gue were the first in 2014, winning Prototype Challenge in a CORE Autosport ORECA FLM-09. In 2015, Prototype Challenge winners Mike Guasch, Andrew Palmer and Tom Kimber-Smith were joined by GTLM winners for Corvette Racing, Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Ryan Briscoe in a C7.R.

Pipo Derani was part of the team that won both in DPi in the first of his four Sebring victories, joining Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek in the Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2-Honda in 2016. Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler also doubled up that year in GTLM for Corvette Racing. Finally, the last time the 36 Hours of Florida was achieved was in 2017, again a double — Wayne Taylor Racing in DPi with Ricky and Jordan Taylor in a Cadillac; and James French, Pato O’Ward and Kyle Masson for Performance Tech Motorsport in Prototype Challenge.

Now Era Motorsports’ Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch join them, along with Winward’s Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje. Both teams had won Daytona before, but this was the first Sebring victory for each.

Adding a Sebring 12 Hours trophy to its Rolex 24 triumph in LMP2 was a rare feat for Era Motorsport’s Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

For Dalziel, it’s particularly meaningful. He makes his home in Orlando, two hours away between Sebring and Daytona, plus his wife’s family is from the Sebring area.

“A lot of support I get down here,” he says. “My wife and all her extended family are from here. Many of her family are still here. Many of them were here watching the race. I have posters from her late father from the very first one he went to. He had every poster that he kind of left for me after he passed away.

“It’s special — they both are for me for different reasons. But I think at the same time I don’t think of them as home races. I just think of them as the races that you want to win. This one’s been a tough one for us, for me as well. Daytona, we’ve had a lot of success. Here there’s been a lot of, like … what could have been.”

Like Dalziel, Ward is happy to get that first Sebring win to go with a pair of Daytona victories.

“It feels great. We’ve been chasing this one for a couple of years. It’s really awesome to be able to get it done,” Ward said.

Both teams had to overcome challenges to get their respective victories. Era qualified 10th, and had to go from near the back of the field to the front three times. Ellis put No. 57 Mercedes AMG on the GTD pole, but the team lost its qualifying times due to unapproved sensors on the car and had to start from the rear. By the end of the second hour, Winward was near the front and would stay there for the duration.

“In this series, you need some luck to win it,” said Ward. “It’s not all about outright pace. We’ve got some really, really smart guys on the pit stand making the calls. We capitalized on three yellows that got us up to the lead. We were in the lead by hour two.

“For the endurance races, doesn’t really matter where I start, in my opinion. It’s always nice to start at the front, show the performance of the car, the performance of the team. At the end of the day we’re here to win the race.”

And win they did … again. Now they’re in some pretty stellar company among those who have won the 36 Hours of Florida.

Risi Competizione finally victorious once again at Daytona; Winward twice in four years

Risi Competizione outlasted the GTD PRO competition to claim its first win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona since 2002 in the SRP2 class, and the first for Ferrari since 2014. Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado wheeled the No. 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 with little drama as their competitors fell by the wayside, and claimed the second 24-hour race win for the 296 GT3 after Frikadelli Racing took the 2023 24 Hours of the Nürburgring.

“It’s amazing,” said Pier Guidi. “First of all, I think we deserved this victory. We were also trying a lot of times to achieve this victory. We finished twice second, and it’s a long time partnership between Risi and Ferrari, and we’ve been with us and with the other drivers very close many times, but never been able to achieve this victory. Finally we get it. You see in the footage after the checkered flag…the picture is amazing. Everyone was crying, happy, and I went and I give a big hug to Giuseppe [Risi], because all the passion he put in here in this effort. He really deserved this.”

For two of the drivers, it was their second major 24-hour race win in a year. Pier Guidi and Calado were part of the 24 Hours of Le Mans squad, along with Antonio Giovinazzi, that took the overall victory in the Ferrari AF Corse 499P.

The No. 62 had shown impressive pace, especially in the heat of Saturday afternoon with Serra at the wheel. But in the end it was running trouble-free while most of their competitors had difficulties. Paul Miller Racing and the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 with Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Sheldon van der Linde were the last real threat until they ran into brake problems with two hours to go. The brake change was one thing, but the right front wheel didn’t get seated properly and came loose. On top of that, after van der Linde limped the car back to the pits, the wheel gun got stuck trying to fix the problem, dropping the No. 1 down three laps.

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Paul Miller Racing ended up third, behind the GTD PRO polesitting No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Seb Priaulx, Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen, which had been a lap down until the final caution.

One of the leading contenders, the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F, had its race effectively ended in the first hour when an LMP2 car spun right in front of Mike Conway, and he made heavy contact, wrecking the cooling system. The car was repaired and returned to the track, but was eventually retired.

It was an inauspicious debut for new GT3 cars. Both Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3s had difficulties, some of it induced by contact. The No. 65 was retired, and the No. 64 finished seven laps down. The new Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs run by Pratt Miller Motorsports seems on target to fare better, but had mechanical issues late in the race and finished seven (No. 3) and 18 (No. 4) laps down. The privateer efforts for both manufacturers had worse results, with both AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs and the No. 55 Proton Competition Mustang retiring.

Winward Racing, once again GTD victors at the Rolex. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

Winward Racing took its second Rolex 24 at Daytona GTD victory in four years, with Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje on both winning teams in the No. 57 Mercedes AMG, this time adding Daniel Morad, who drove the final stints to the checker. The Winward Mercedes AMG essentially controlled the latter half of the race, and had a 30s lead when the last caution came out.

“Obviously I wanted it to be an easy victory,” said Morad. “We all did an amazing job building the gaps throughout all the stints. It wasn’t just me. It was every single person on the team, engineering staff. The whole prep on the car was phenomenal. A lot easier this year than last year having a car that was designed for the race.”

For Ward, the second victory speaks to the quality of the team his family has built.

“It’s a constant evolution in racing,” he said. “If you’re not pushing the limits and trying to improve every year and someone else is, someone else is going to beat you. That’s kind of the passion that we have. We’ve had a pretty consistent crew over the past five years who have stayed with us and really helped us be successful. We try to keep the same drivers on board. We want to develop as a team and move forward as one.

“This one is pretty special to me. The first one wasn’t luck, of course. Everybody put their work in. But to come here and do it again, we’ve been pretty close the past two years, but just really haven’t had the luck to get it done. To come back and close it off for the second time in 2024 is a great feeling.”

Morad had to fend off a couple of strong Ferraris to claim the victory. The AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Simon Mann, Francois Heriau, Miguel Molina and Kei Cozzolino finished second. Impressive in the team’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut, Conquest Racing finished third with Manny Franco, Albert Costa Balboa, Alessandro Balzan and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli.

Several cars were in podium contention to the end, including the Triarsi Competizione Ferrari of Alessio Rovera, Onofrio Triarsi, Charlie Scardina and Riccardo Agostini that finished fourth; and Korthoff/Preston Motorsports’ No. 32 Mercedes AMG of Mike Skeen, Mikael Grenier, Kenton Koch and Maxi Goetz in fifth; along with the sixth place No. 83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy and Doriane Pin.

RESULTS BY CLASS

Winward Mercedes takes double GT victory at Indianapolis

It was a great day to be in a Mercedes AMG at Indy, and less so to be a polesitter as WeatherTech Racing and Winward Racing took the respective victories in GTD PRO and GTD in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. And while they couldn’t convert their pole position into a victory, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow still sealed up the GTD championship and their second consecutive Sprint Cup championship for Paul Miller Racing.

Klaus Bachler had put the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R on the GTD PRO pole and started outside overall GT polesitter Snow. But when the green waved, but before the field crossed the start/finish line, Bachler made a big move to the inside. Drivers aren’t supposed to depart their respective columns until they go under the green flag, and Bachler was given a drive-through penalty, effectively ending any hope for he and Patrick Pilet to secure victory.

Chaos into T1! #IMSA | #BattleOnTheBricks | @IMS pic.twitter.com/mjy0CMzew2

— #IMSA (@IMSA) September 17, 2023

That left Jules Gounon in the lead, and he and Daniel Juncadella drove the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG to their third victory of the season, the others coming in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

“It always tastes good to win a race, our third one of the season after a tough summer season, I would say,” said Juncadella. “Unfortunately, a lot of things out of our control in the last couple of events just didn’t really go in our favor results-wise. I think performance-wise we were not far off. But we just did not have the smoothest of weekends. We had to take some risk lacking pace to the other cars, but obviously this event we’ve been stronger. I think the Mercedes AMG GT3 is very good around here. Both Joules and I raced in the past in the Indy 8 Hours. I won last year, I was second two years ago, so that shows that it suits our car, suits our driving and today was a smooth, smooth race.”

Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas finished second in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, ahead of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F. The victory moved Gounon and Juncadella into third in the GTD PRO standings, 39 points behind the Corvette Racing duo of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia. Barnicoat and Hawksworth still command the championship, and will likely seal the GTD PRO title with a start in Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta next month.

Snow led the first stint from the GTD and overall pole in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, but was soon facing an attack from Mikael Grenier in the No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG. Grenier got around, but wasn’t there for long before he had contact with the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier LMP3 of Lance Willsey and spun it, leading to a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

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That put Snow back into the lead, but when the second of two full-course cautions came at the perfect time for GTD teams to back-time the pit stops to make it to the end, the Paul Miller squad didn’t bring him in right away and the No. 1 lost the lead again. Sellers would eventually get the car back to the front, but Philip Ellis was coming hard in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG he had taken over from Russell Ward, followed closely by Loris Spinelli in the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracán. Sellers held them off for a while, but didn’t engage in the combat that followed, which saw Spinelli take the lead after some contact with Ellis, and Ellis regaining the lead doing the same.

“I just got out of a battle with Bryan, which was all clean and fair, which would have been nice to watch, I guess,” Ellis recounted. “Then Loris came along and thought he’d play … I don’t know what his mission was, but he tried to pass me on the grass. Basically, drove through our car. Luckily nothing too badly damaged and in the end I just gave back what he dished out.”

Spinelli and Misha Goikhberg ended up second, while Sellers cruised home third ahead of the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Roman De Angelis and Marco Sorensen, exactly what Sellers needed for he and Snow to clinch the championship, The No. 96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 of Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley finished fifth.

The GTD win was the culmination of a perfect weekend for Winward Racing, as the day before, his father Bryce Ward and Daniel Morad took the GS win in the four-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race.

“That was our first double win,” said Ward. “And for the past couple of years here this team has kind of been feast or famine. We won a lot last year; this year we’re struggling due to different things – sometimes performance, sometimes mistakes, and sometimes just bad luck, so it’s it’s really nice to see it all come together here for both cars and that kind of shows the potential the team and what the group of guys we have is capable of.”

Second place in the GTD championship is practically decided as well, as Sorensen and De Angelis have 179 points in hand over Vasser Sullivan Racing’s Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo.

RESULTS

Winward Mercedes, JDC Miller Audi battle to MPC Indy victories

Daniel Morad and Bryce Ward scored an incredible and improbable Grand Sport (GS) class and overall victory Saturday night in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 240, the four-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race on the famous venue’s 2.439-mile road …

Ward qualified the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 seventh in the 27-car GS field, but he was bumped into a spin in the opening laps that dropped the No. 57 to the tail of the field. He methodically worked his way up to 13th place before a rapid driver change and pit stop by the Winward crew elevated Morad up to seventh.

From there, the 33-year-old Canadian stole the show. Morad advanced through the field and first took the lead about a third of the way into the twilight endurance race. He comfortably held the top spot into the final hour, only to see a series of full-course cautions erode his advantage, bringing the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport shared by Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer into contention.

Skeer led into a restart with 41 minutes remaining, but Morad regained the point at Turn 7 at the end of the IMS road course’s back straight. Skeer fought back, and with half an hour to go, the Porsche and the Mercedes completed nearly two full laps battling side-by-side for the lead. Their scrap allowed Scott Andrews and the No. 27 Lone Star Racing Mercedes he shared with Anton Dias Perera into the frame.

On multiple occasions, Morad attempted to outbrake Skeer into Turn 1, but was forced to take an escape road when Skeer refused to cede the position. Morad finally seized the lead for good with just under four minutes on the clock, and his path to victory was made easier when Skeer had to make a pit stop for a splash of fuel on the next-to-last lap, dropping to 16th place in class.

Morad crossed the famous yard of bricks finish line 0.566s ahead of Andrews, with Paul Sparta and Kenton Koch claiming third place in the No. 92 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4, 7.334s in arrears.

“By far, that was the most intense race of my life,” said Morad, who earned his third victory on the IMS road course dating to 2007 but first at the track in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. “I think I have finished on the podium at Indianapolis every time I’ve raced here. I just can’t thank Winward enough, and Mercedes gave us a great package.”

This victory was certainly a challenge, and not just because of Ward’s early contact with the No. 59 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 that dropped the Winward car to the tail of the field.

“Everything was kind of stacked against us, and we just couldn’t catch a break with anything,” Morad related. “The racing was aggressive. (Skeer) was moving in the brake zones every single time and it was making it so difficult. We’d have contact, and I’d have to go through the runoff. There were little things I didn’t appreciate.

“But that gave me more motivation,” he added. “One thing I know is that I drive better when I’m angry, and he gave me motivation.”

Ward, who is the owner of Winward Racing in addition to serving as a co-driver, paid tribute to Morad’s performance.

“This is a team sport, but Daniel just drove it to the front,” Ward said.

Andrews admitted that when he saw Morad and Skeer racing so intensely, he thought the victory may fall into his hands.

“We had a lapped car between ourselves and the two leaders, and that made it difficult,” he said. “I’m normally pretty quiet on the radio, but I was pretty loud then. We just couldn’t quite capitalize, but it’s an absolute testament to the team because we never give up. A one-two for Mercedes-Benz in fantastic.”

In the battle for the GS class championship, incoming points leaders Christian Szymczak and Kenny Murillo had a rough run in the No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes, finishing 13th after starting fifth.

That dropped them to third in the standings, 10 points behind the No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R with drivers Robin Lidell and Frank DePew, who finished fourth Saturday, and 70 points behind new championship leaders Robby Foley and Vin Barletta in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW (who finished fifth in the race). Mercedes pushed its GS manufacturer lead to 40 points over BMW.

Late-race pass from Taylor in No. 17 Audi at Indy creates hotly contested championship battle heading to season finale

A wild pass in the dark during the final minutes left one team happy and another angry as the Touring Car (TCR) class championship intensified in Saturday’s penultimate round of the 2023 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Mikey Taylor passed Robert Wickens heading into Turn 7 with two minutes left, giving Taylor and polesitter Chris Miller their second consecutive victory, and third of the season, in their No. 17 Unitronic/JDC Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR.

“I knew if I had a big enough run, I’d be at least side-by-side,” Taylor said of his approach on the pass. “But he actually braked earlier than I expected, and I got a nice run around the outside. I don’t think he was necessarily expecting me to go there. It’s not a normal place to pass.”

The contact surrounding the pass didn’t go over well with Wickens, who, with co-driver Harry Gottsacker, managed to help maintain the TCR championship lead for the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR.

“I don’t want to be the poor loser, but I’ve never raced the No. 17 yet this year where there hasn’t been contact,” Wickens said. “I can race everyone else without any contact. It’s just the way he is. If that’s how he wants to play, that’s how we’re going to play.”

Wickens and Gottsacker will unofficially take a 20-point lead over Taylor and Miller into the season-ending race next month at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

“We have to perform, every race, to catch back the deficit we had at the beginning of the season,” Taylor said. “We’re taking it to Atlanta now. I think the ball is in our court. If we win, it doesn’t matter what they do.”

On a restart with 11 minutes left, Taylor passed Wickens, who quickly regained the lead when Taylor tangled with the No. 79 NV Autosport Ford Mustang GT4 driven by Drew Neubauer in Turn 14.

Minutes later, Taylor pulled his Audi alongside Wickens’ Hyundai, and the final tussle for the victory commenced. When asked if there was contact in the dark, Taylor replied, “Oh, for sure.”

“It was just good racing,” he continued. “That’s how we’ve all raced all season. I have a lot of respect for them. … If I finished second at Indianapolis, I wouldn’t be happy either.”

The two shook hands during the post-race celebration, but Wickens expressed his frustration with the late move and the previous pass on the restart.

“He hit me to get by, and then he hit a GS (Neubauer),” Wickens said. “I get back in front of him, and then their car is so fast that they just catch back up. I’m blocking for my life, and eventually all he’s going to do is just hit me out of the way. That’s what he does.”

Taylor’s winning margin at the line was 1.138s. The No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR co-driven by Mark Wilkins and Mason Filippi finished third.

The Fox Factory 120, the season finale for the Michelin Pilot Challenge, will be held Oct. 13 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Peacock will provide live streaming coverage in the U.S.

RESULTS

Morad, Ward claim maiden MPC victory on streets of Detroit

The GM Renaissance Center serves as one backdrop of the Detroit Street Course, while the Canadian flag serves as another thanks to nearby Windsor, Ontario. It was the latter backdrop that held true in Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, …

The GM Renaissance Center serves as one backdrop of the Detroit Street Course, while the Canadian flag serves as another thanks to nearby Windsor, Ontario.

It was the latter backdrop that held true in Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, as Canadian Daniel Morad won in the shadow of his home country in the fourth round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season.

Morad and Bryce Ward shared the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4, using a bit of strategy, Morad’s relentless attack on a restart and eventual overtake to secure the victory in the Grand Sport (GS) class-only, 100-minute race. It is both drivers’ first victory in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition.

Ward started 11th and pitted shortly after the 33-minute mark, three minutes after the minimum drive time window of 30 minutes opened. The Winward Racing team swapped in Morad, took rear Michelin tires and resumed on course shortly behind the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 and No. 28 RS1 Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS CS, which had been the dominant cars in the opening stanza of the race.

The No. 28 car, started by Eric Filgueiras, went for a fuel-only stop and swapped the car to Stevan McAleer. Meanwhile, the No. 95 car, started on pole by Cameron Lawrence, matched the strategy and flipped over to Robert Megennis after leading the opening 28 laps.

It was there the complexion – and visuals – of the race changed.

Megennis sought to lap Rory van der Steur in the No. 19 van der Steur Aston Martin Vantage GT4 heading into the primary passing opportunity on the bumpy, 1.645-mile, nine-turn new downtown street course.

It all went awry when Megennis drove into van der Steur, with the momentum carrying his BMW up and over the Aston Martin in a spectacular incident. Megennis’ car hit the top of the tire barriers before he continued onto the pit lane, while van der Steur’s car was significantly impacted on the driver’s side and roof of the car. Both drivers made it back to pit lane.

The resulting full-course caution shuffled the order as a handful of cars, including the points-leading No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 of Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak, had not yet pitted and subsequently lost track position when it did stop.

The race resumed with McAleer cycled to the front ahead of Marc Miller in the debuting No. 78 Thaze Competition by MC Squared Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 and Morad third in the No. 57 Winward Mercedes.

Morad took off behind the leaders, as McAleer had a gap of a couple lapped cars between himself and Miller. After charging past two lapped cars on the first restart lap (40), Morad had the gap down to just a second behind McAleer by lap 43.

Morad made the winning move on lap 46, sizing up McAleer into Turn 1 and going past him on the inside on the run to Turn 2.

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“I knew the best opportunity would be right at the beginning when track was unknown with oil and coolants,” Morad said.

“I had a good idea of where the grip was and went full attack and didn’t hesitate. The moment you hesitate on a street circuit, you run into trouble, so I went for it, full send.”

While Morad began to stretch his gap in front, McAleer put on a defensive driving clinic behind him to keep a bevy of cars in his rearview mirror, in the form of Miller, Jeff Westphal (No. 39 CarBahn by Peregrine Racing Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS Clubsport), Elliott Skeer (No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche Cayman 718 GT4) and the recovering Szymczak.

Despite multiple attempts, Miller was never able to get past McAleer. The two were former teammates with another program and know each other’s racing styles well, so a healthy level of respect was present.

McAleer and Filgueiras finished second with Miller and Michael Di Meo completing a dream debut for Birmingham, Michigan-based Thaze Competition, finishing on the podium in both the team’s and Miller’s home race.

Westphal and Sean McAlister were fourth, ahead of Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss in the No. 56 Murillo Racing Mercedes. Mosing and Foss capped off an eventful weekend where Mosing needed to reverse down the backstraight in a Friday session after a spin. For Foss, the opportunity to race in Detroit was special as he caught the racing bug going to the Formula 1 race with his dad here in the 1980s. Points leaders Murillo and Szymczak finished seventh, behind Skeer and Adam Adelson in sixth.

For Morad and Ward the win was sweet, particularly for Ward whose Winward team has been a Michelin Pilot Challenge stalwart for several years.

“It’s awesome,” Morad said. “Driving with Bryce is such a good opportunity for me this year. He’s been the best team owner and teammate. There’s no pressure except for what I put on myself. And I want to win. Winning is fun!”

Ward added, “It’s an amazing day, and I can’t say enough for the team. The pit stop was perfect. The call from engineering was perfect. It was key to be clean and get it over to Daniel!”

The Michelin Pilot Challenge resumes with both the GS and Touring Car (TCR) classes back in action at Watkins Glen International on Saturday, June 24.

RESULTS