ALTON, Va. – Westin Workman’s name can’t be spelled without "W-I-N," and in Sunday’s second IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Grand Sport X (GSX) 45-minute race of the weekend at VIRginia International Raceway, his name couldn’t be spelled without “work,” either.

Workman was due to start from pole in his No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, but a small spin on the pace lap dropped him to fifth to start the race. Nonetheless, by the time he got to the Esses (Turn 5) on the opening lap, Workman had already made it past the rest of the field.

It marked his second inadvertent first-to-last-to-first drive of the year. In the second Daytona International Speedway race in the rain, mechanical gremlins on the opening lap dropped him to the rear before he carved his way through back to the win.

With a smooth and consistent drive up front, Workman netted roughly 1.5 seconds per lap on second place to drive to his ninth victory of the season in 10 races. His margin of victory today in a caution-free race was 30.983 seconds.

Workman reflected on the pace lap issue but described his quick recovery en route to his fourth two-race sweep of five GSX weekends this season.

“It was a mistake, yes, but it’s always good experience to come through the field like that,” Workman said. “I haven’t had much experience passing GT4 cars this year, so that was pretty fun.

“We worked on fuel saving that session, and the team lifted my spirits so I could put it behind me and I could keep trucking,” he added. “I always work to give 100 percent. I want to be better, and I want to be in (IMSA Michelin) Pilot Challenge next year. So, I’m working on learning more techniques like fuel saving and tire management in longer races.”

Courtney Crone was second in her No. 35 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 EVO ahead of Bronze Cup winner Jon Brel in third, in his No. 81 Kingpin Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.

Though Workman has not yet wrapped the GSX title, he can do so one race early provided he starts the first of two races at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in October. The GSX field will race alongside the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) field for the two-race season finale weekend on October 1-2.

Pfaff Temerario Goes Back-to-Back, Catapulting Caldarelli, Mitchell Into Title Fight Following VIR

Winward Mercedes Rallies to Dramatic Third Straight IMSA GTD Win

August 23, 2026

By John Oreovicz and Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ALTON, Va. – The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s newest car is suddenly its hottest.

Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell drove the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 to their second consecutive WeatherTech Championship Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class win of the season, Sunday in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway.

They triumphed by 1.517 seconds over Ben Barker and Dennis Olsen in the No. 64 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 in the 2-hour, 40-minute race run exclusively for IMSA’s production-based GTD and GTD PRO classes. Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies completed a solid weekend for Ford Racing by taking third place, a distant 39.039 seconds back.

Lamborghini Squadra Corse selected Pfaff to prepare the new-for-2026 Temerario for its worldwide sports car racing debut in March at IMSA’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. After working through a few development issues, Mitchell and Caldarelli took a somewhat fortuitous podium finish at the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic in late May.

Since then, Pfaff and Lamborghini factory drivers Caldarelli and Mitchell continued to hone the Temerario’s drivability and setup, and they broke through for a deserved win in early August at the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America. Their victory at VIR – where Caldarelli achieved the Motul Pole Award as fastest qualifier on Saturday and the No. 9 Lamborghini essentially led Sunday's race from start to finish – was even more convincing.

“I think everything went really well,” Mitchell said after his second career IMSA race win. “The track seems to suit the strengths of our car, a little bit like Laguna Seca as well. Just from the start of the weekend, we had a good car.

“We’ve been learning a lot in the last couple of races. Obviously, we had a really good race at Road America. And I think we carried that momentum into Free Practice 1 here and were on the pace straight away. That allowed us to focus on all the other things that are important like pit stops and in- and out-laps and focus on how to win a race, not just how to be fast.”

The back-to-back victories for the Pfaff duo have brought them into contention for the GTD PRO class championship. Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi (No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO) finished fifth at VIR and continue to lead the standings by 23 points over Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg (No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R), who placed seventh on Sunday. Mitchell and Caldarelli are now third, 56 points back, while the second place run for Barker and Olsen lifted them into a tie for fourth (with AO Racing’s No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)) with a 77-point deficit.

“I’m not saying that we were looking at a championship at Sebring when the Temerario program started,” said Caldarelli. “But I think we stayed positive because in IMSA, if you can execute a good weekend, you can never say never. Obviously, now we are here in this situation.

“But I always said it’s our job to go out and try to win every race,” he added. “That’s what we really did the last few months. We know it’s a new car, so it feels good to know we are in a fight for the championship.”

The race featured only one full-course caution, for a single-car accident involving Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R on the opening lap. Sims was unhurt.

Ellis, Ward Regain Championship Points Lead in the Process at VIR

The last hour of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) race absolutely came alive at the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway, as Winward Racing reascended to the throne.

The pairing of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis started third in their No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and ran in podium contention for most of the race but weren’t quite in win contention until the final round of pit stops. And then the final 58 minutes of the two-hour, 40-minute race happened.

Initially, it appeared as though Lamborghini had a chance to sweep both categories, as the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Danny Formal and Trent Hindman led a majority of the race – a total of 37 of 84 laps.

Formal, Tom Gamble in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and Ellis all pitted with 58 minutes to go. Formal left the pits just ahead of Gamble, with Ellis marginally behind at Pit Out. While the stops for Formal and Gamble were north of 61 seconds, the Winward crew had given Ellis a shot with a stop just over 58 seconds – three seconds quicker than the two in front of them.

That opened up the battle on track. Into Turn 14 in a battle for second, Formal was judged to have moved in reaction and not left sufficient racing room when attempting to defend against Ellis. That netted him a drive-through and moved him from second to sixth in GTD.

But that single moment set up a battle for both the win and the GTD championship lead inside the final 25 minutes.

Ellis, then chasing Gamble down, sat less than half a second behind on track and just 44 points behind him in the points battle. If Ellis got ahead, he’d leapfrog Gamble’s teammate Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello by 16 points.

The battle suddenly became intertwined with the GTD PRO championship bout at the same time, as Gamble and Ellis approached Connor De Phillippi’s No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and Tommy Milner’s No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R, who were battling for position but not the race victory.

A pivotal move by Gamble past Milner netted him some track position ahead of Ellis, who made one attempt on Gamble for the lead with 18 minutes to go but was unable to complete the pass.

Then the final crescendo occurred, as Ellis made the winning dive pass on Gamble inside of Turn 3 with seven minutes remaining.

Gamble attempted to get the position back by darting to Ellis’ inside into Turn 4, the next left-handed turn. But as Gamble was unable to make the corner successfully, he ran wide and tracked out, contacting Ellis through the corner. Gamble was assessed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

Ellis brought the car home by 6.413 seconds over Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher, who finished second in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe took advantage of the fracas to finish third in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO. Iribe unofficially moves back to the lead in the Bob Akin Award standings with this result as well.

The two penalized GTD entries, Gamble and Barrichello in the No. 27 Aston Martin and Formal and Trent Hindman in the No. 45 Lamborghini, finished fourth and fifth.

Ellis walked through the pair of pivotal moments in the Winward pair’s third straight win.

“To be honest, didn’t really think we could catch (the 27),” Ellis explained. “They looked extremely strong in practice and were good on tires. Once we cleared the Lamborghini – or he cleared himself – we tried to hunt him down. I’m not sure if (the No. 27) didn’t have the Paul Miller BMW in front of him if it would have worked out.

“I bided my time, tried into Turn 3, overcooked it myself, and then I was still on the outside. It’s a bit unfortunate it ended like that. I would have liked a clean ending without penalties.

“I was close enough to know he was weak braking into Turn 3,” Ellis continued, “so I took my chance, went up the inside. I overcooked it enough for the undercut. I was far enough next to him to be outside for 4, then be in position for 5 and 6. I don’t think it was intentional by Tom by any means. He just was struggling on the brakes. No bad intentions.”

Ward was careful to be too confident now moving ahead, after being 300 points behind the lead just three races ago.

“It’s just a swing in luck,” he said. “It’s really tight in the points. There’s still a lot of fight left. I don’t want to comment too much about it.”

Gallagher and Foley are second in points, 36 behind, still absent a win but with a third podium of the year.

“The most blue-collar second place you can get,” Gallagher said.

“We probably weren't the fastest car. We definitely weren’t the second fastest car either, but the guys and girls at Turner Motorsport do such a great job at just getting and maximizing everything we can.”

Barrichello, who watched as Gamble ended fourth, felt unfulfilled despite a run from 11th on the grid to as high as second in stint.

“It was good fun, but we didn’t complete the job, and we haven’t completed the job,” said the Brazilian rookie who now sits third in points, 56 back.

Barrichello does have IMSA experience at the penultimate round of the season, which is the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The two-hour, 40-minute race is Sunday, Sept. 20.

Pfaff Doubles Up with VIR Overall Win for Lamborghini

Winward Mercedes-AMG Nets Third Straight GTD Win with Late-Race Pass

August 23, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ALTON, Va. – Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell enjoyed a Sunday drive in the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, securing their second straight victory in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition at VIRginia International Raceway.

The drivers of the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 led nearly the entirety of the two-hour, 40-minute race that showcased the WeatherTech Championship’s two GT classes, Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD).

Caldarelli delivered a mix of early pace from the Motul Pole Award before handing off to Mitchell. Both times, the No. 9 Lamborghini pitted from the lead and retained it leaving the pit lane.

The controlled effort leading 69 of 84 laps ensured Pfaff won its second consecutive event, after also winning the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America earlier this month.

Lamborghini won back-to-back races in GTD at VIR in 2016 and 2017, but this marks the manufacturer’s first WeatherTech Championship win at the facility since 2017. Of note, that race also saw a Lamborghini on pole and progress to the win, same as Caldarelli and Mitchell did Sunday.

The pair of Ford Racing entries complete the podium in GTD PRO, with the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 of Dennis Olsen and Ben Barker second ahead of the sister No. 65 entry of Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies.

With most of the championship contenders finishing fifth or worse, the No. 9 Lamborghini has also unofficially leapt to third in GTD PRO points, behind the championship-leading No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

The GTD battle, meanwhile, flipped on its head inside the final hour as the championship contenders all ran in the top three positions.

Winward Racing staged a stunning run as Philip Ellis made the winning dive pass on Heart of Racing Team’s Tom Gamble inside of Turn 3 with seven minutes remaining.

Gamble, attempting to get the position back, then went down Ellis’ inside into Turn 4 the next turn. But he was unable to make the corner and made contact with Ellis through the corner, which netted Gamble a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

Ellis and Russell Ward in their No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 have now won their third straight race in GTD and completed a comeback from 300 points behind leaving Watkins Glen International to now ascend to the GTD championship lead by 36 points.

Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher finished second in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO with Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe third in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO. Iribe unofficially moves back to the lead in the Bob Akin Award standings with this result as well.

Gamble and Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello ended fourth in their No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, ahead of Danny Formal and Trent Hindman in their No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.

Unofficial Results, Points & Post-Race Nuggets | WeatherTech Championship

Michelin GT Challenge at VIR

VIRginia International Raceway - Sunday, August 23, 2026

Once available, unofficial race results will be on results.imsa.com.

Unofficial points will be available at pitnotes.org/points.

GTD PRO 

No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports

14th IMSA class win
Second consecutive win following win at Road America
Fourth time that Pfaff has won in back-to-back races, last was at CTMP and Lime Rock Park in 2022
Eighth IMSA class win in GTDPRO
Third IMSA class win at VIR (GTD 2021, GTDPRO 2022)
Second IMSA class win in 2026 (won at Road America)
Third win for Lamborghini at VIR (GTD in 2016 and 2017)
First overall win for Lamborghini in top-level IMSA competition

Andrea Caldarelli

36y 6m 9d from Pescara, Italy
Third IMSA class win in 33rd start
Second consecutive win following win at Road America
First win at VIR in second start
Previous best finish at VIR was ninth in 2025 in GTDPRO
Second win in 2026 season in ninth start

Sandy Mitchell

26y 5m 16d from Forfar, Scotland, United Kingdom
Second IMSA class win in 12th start
Second consecutive win following win at Road America
First win at VIR in first start
Second win in 2026 season in eighth start

GTD

No. 57 Winward Racing

15th IMSA class win
Third consecutive win following wins at CTMP at Road America
Third IMSA class win at VIR (2022, 2025)
Second consecutive win at VIR following win in 2025
Fourth IMSA class win in 2026 (Daytona, CTMP, Road America)
Second time Winward has won four races in a single season (first was 2024)
First team in GTD to win three consecutive GTD races since Vasser Sullivan in 2020
Fifth consecutive podium finish at VIR, longest active track podium streak in any IMSA class
First time that Winward Racing has won three consecutive races
Third different track that Winward Racing has won at in consecutive years (Sebring and Laguna Seca in 2024 and 2025)

Russell Ward

37y 0m 1d from Seabrook, TX
15th IMSA class win in his 53rd start
Third consecutive win following wins at CTMP and Road America
Third win at VIR, second consecutive (2022, 2025) in fifth start
Fourth win in 2026 season in his eighth start

Philip Ellis

33y 10m 14d from Germany; British nationality
15th IMSA class win in his 52nd start
Third consecutive win following win at Road America
Third win at VIR, second consecutive (2022, 2025) in fifth start
Fourth win in 2026 season in his eighth start

Liefooghe Leads Dramatic Ford 1-2 at VIR

Cupra Claims TCR Win

August 22, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

ALTON, Va. – Ford seized a 1-2 Grand Sport (GS) class and overall finish in the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix, Round 8 of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge championship staged Saturday at VIRginia International Raceway.

But the winning entry for the Blue Oval was not necessarily the one expected.

Gregory Liefooghe guided the No. 19 Ford Mustang GT4 to Stephen Cameron Racing’s first Michelin Pilot Challenge race win, seizing the lead from Mike Skeen in the similar No. 60 Mustang GT4 fielded by KOHR Motorsports with just over three minutes remaining.

Sean Quinlan qualified the No. 19 car 13th in the 29-car GS field, and he ran ninth when he handed the car to Liefooghe after a 44-minute stint. Running fifth prior to a full course caution with 20 minutes remaining, Liefooghe was visibly the fastest driver on the track in the closing stages. He passed his way from fifth to second, then ultimately forced leader Skeen to drive too deep into Turn 1 to create the race-winning pass.

The No. 19 made its final pit stop two laps later than the No. 60, and that may have been the difference. Nine different teams have won the last nine GS races at VIR.

“I was surprised how fast Mike was,” Liefooghe said. “He was saving tires, but he was very fast on those last few laps. I just had a little bit more tires and was able to brake at the same spot as him, but I made the corner whereas he washed out.

“You never know how much time you have left in those situations,” he added. “You never know if there is going to be another full course yellow.”

Sure enough, just a few seconds later, there was. Incoming GS points leader Robert Noaker sought another top-five finish after new co-driver Finn Wiebelhaus qualified and started on the front row in the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4. However, contact from another car dropped the No. 13 car to an unofficial 21st place finish and down to third in the standings with two races left. That caused the race to end under yellow.

Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars finished third in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO and have unofficially regained the GS class points lead over Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz, who finished 10th at VIR in the No. 27 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO.

While Liefooghe won in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition for the fourth time, it was the first victory for both Quinlan and the Stephen Cameron team. Liefooghe broke his own 104 race winless drought for his first win since an ST class triumph at Sebring in 2015.

“VIR is my favorite track and now it’s beyond my favorite track,” exclaimed Quinlan. “We’ve had so many opportunities where we didn’t pull it off, including the last race at Road America where we were winning and broke down. Finally, for nothing to go wrong to actually pull it out is such a relief.”

Liefooghe appeared to be just as happy for both team owner Stephen Cameron as he was for himself.

“It feels like we’ve been building this program for so long,” he said. “It’s a family now. This is really special. I’ve learned so much from him and to be able to do this here is amazing.

“This car has been amazing,” he concluded. “The guys have been working so hard. Sean did amazing on his first stint and we’ve got Racing for Alzheimer’s on the car and that makes it even more special.”

TCR: Cupra Grabs Second Win of Season

From the outside, Steven Clemons and Tyler Gonzalez were basically unchallenged on their way to taking the Touring Car (TCR) class victory in the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix Saturday at VIRginia International Raceway.

Clemons took an early lead after starting fourth, pulled away from the pack, and at one point Gonzalez held a 20-second advantage over the field. Then the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Cupra Leon VZ TCR suffered a malfunction with its anti-lock braking with just 16 minutes remaining. Almost simultaneously, a full course caution flew, hampering Gonzalez’s attempts to work through the problem.

“That got really hairy really fast and I was trying to manage that,” Gonzalez said. “The yellow definitely threw a wrench into that plan, but we were able to hold on.”

Gonzalez held on at the front for another two laps of green flag racing before the race ended under another full course caution. He crossed the line to claim his fourth race win in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge competition. It was the first win for co-driver Clemons in just his eighth Michelin Pilot Challenge start.

“From the start, the car was super good,” Gonzalez said. “Steven drove a great first stint. Honestly, hats off to him – he did an amazing job. I’m super proud of him. I don’t know how I got such a huge lead on the pit stop, but we were just managing and saving fuel and saving tires.”

TCR championship leaders Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris stretched their advantage by finishing second in the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR, while Tim Lewis and Rocco Pasquarella drove from the back of the field to claim third in the No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Honda Civic FL5 TCR.

Unofficially, Filippi and Morris are now more than 200 points up on their BHA teammates Preston Brown and Denis Dupont. The No. 76 duo was delayed by a stop-and 60 second hold penalty assessed against Brown for ignoring the red light at the end of pit lane.

Victor Gonzalez Racing has now tasted victory six times in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition. The team’s last win came earlier this year at Sebring International Raceway with Tyler Gonzalez and Franco Girolami.

“The stars just aligned,” said a delighted Clemons. “I clicked with the car and it worked out really well. Driving with Tyler has been really good. We click well with our styles, and the mentalities work.

“I knew after those first three laps if I could put down some passes and get up front, I could really save some fuel and conserve the tire so when I passed it on to Tyler it was really solid.”

The next round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge is at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on September 19.

Caldarelli Takes First Global Pole for Lamborghini Temerario GT3 at VIR

Stevenson Authors New Pole Tale for DragonSpeed in GTD at VIR

August 22, 2026

By John Oreovicz and Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ALTON, Va. – Andrea Caldarelli takes special pride in seeing the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 achieve success in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and sports car racing globally.

Caldarelli, who along with Marco Mapelli served as the chief development drivers as Lamborghini Squadra Corse developed its first clean-sheet GT3 racing car, scored the Temerario’s first IMSA and global victory in the most recent round of the WeatherTech Championship at Road America with co-driver Sandy Mitchell for Pfaff Motorsports.

Saturday at VIRginia International Raceway, he earned the Temerario GT3’s first pole position. He notched the Motul Pole Award both in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and overall for the Michelin GT Challenge with a lap around VIR’s 3.27-mile, 17-turn Full Course in 1 minute, 44.773 seconds for an average speed of 112.356 mph.

That just eclipsed Nicky Catsburg, who clocked 1:44.924 (112.195 mph) in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R he shares with Tommy Milner.

Neil Verhagen posted the second fastest time but will roll off third instead, as he lost his fastest lap for causing a red flag in practice. Verhagen and teammate Connor De Phillippi lead the GTD PRO championship in their No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Caldarelli has his third pole in IMSA competition, and his first at VIR. It’s the first for Lamborghini at this track though in nearly a decade, since 2017 when Jeroen Mul grabbed the pole. Caldarelli and Mitchell will hope to emulate Mul and Corey Lewis, who went on to win in GTD that next race day.

“Definitely good momentum,” he said. “We didn’t come testing here and we had a small issue in first practice with a wheel sensor and I only got one lap, so we were flying a bit blind for qualifying.

“I think this really shows how strong this group is working in the engineering room and with Pfaff and Lamborghini to understand the car better in the last few events and give us some good direction. It feels really good to be on pole at a track we like.”

The Temerario made its worldwide debut in March at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and has been on a steady path of progress ever since. Caldarelli and Mitchell broke through for the car’s first podium at the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic prior to the Road America triumph.

“People forget that when you put a brand-new car on track, it’s not as easy as it looks,” Caldarelli noted. “There should be a bit of respect for the work that people are doing back at home and at the track. It’s not for granted that you’re going to put the car on the track and be competitive from day one. So, I am very proud of the effort.”

After the leading Lamborghini, Corvette and BMW, the first McLaren, Aston Martin and Ford make it six manufacturers in the top six grid positions for Sunday’s race.

GTD: Stevenson Authors New Pole Tale for DragonSpeed in GTD at VIR

DragonSpeed is in a new class, with a new car, and a new driver lineup as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship returns to VIRginia International Raceway for the annual Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.

But the newness produced the same result in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) qualifying as it did 12 months ago in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO).

Casper Stevenson took the No. 81 Corvette Z06 GT3.R to his second (first since Indianapolis last year), and the team’s seventh, WeatherTech Championship pole (first since this race last year with Giacomo Altoè in a Ferrari 296 GT3 in the GTD PRO class). DragonSpeed is also the third Corvette entrant across both GT classes to win a WeatherTech Championship pole in 2026, joining Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and DXDT Racing.

With a best lap of 1 minute, 45.188 seconds (111.913 mph) around VIR’s 3.27-mile, 17-turn circuit on his fourth tour, Stevenson had enough in the bag to hold off some of the other rivals in the 15-minute session.

“It’s hard to say why, since they did change cars,” Stevenson laughed. “But DragonSpeed puts out good race cars. At a track like this, which is very tight, twisty and about handling, that has something to do with it.”

Stevenson will share the No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette with Altoè on Sunday. Altoè and Albert Costa finished second in GTD PRO last year behind eventual champions Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims.

Lorenzo Patrese nearly delivered Ferrari a pole but came up 0.058 of a second short in his No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO. He’ll race with Costa, who returned to Conquest this season.

Russell Ward qualified the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in third. It’s a fitting number as he and Philip Ellis seek their third straight win this season (after back-to-back wins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road America), third win in the last five years at VIR (2022, 2025), and third straight class championship; they enter the weekend second in points, 24 behind championship leader Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello.

The No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 and No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO complete the top five on the grid.

The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR runs from 12:10-2:50 ET on Sunday, airing live, flag-to-flag on NBC at noon ET. Streaming coverage available on Peacock in the U.S. and via IMSA.TV or the official IMSA YouTube Channel for international viewers.

Qualifying Results | WeatherTech Championship

Michelin GT Challenge at VIR

VIRginia International Raceway - Saturday, August 22, 2026

Practice 2 Results

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

Workman Regains the Top Spot in VP Racing Challenge GSX VIR Race 1

Eighth Win of Season Registered for Driver No. 8

August 22, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ALTON, Va. – Westin Workman regained his spot atop the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Grand Sport X (GSX) field in the first of two 45-minute sprint races at VIRginia International Raceway.

From pole, the driver of the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 led all 22 laps around the 3.27-mile, 17-turn course. As the race ended under full-course caution, the margin of victory was not reflective of the 14-plus second lead he built prior to the yellow.

It’s his eighth win of the season in nine rounds, and a welcome recovery after an early race mechanical issue sidelined him in the second race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Workman sought consistency over the course of the race and regularly gapped his opponents by several tenths per lap.

“Consistency and managing the gap is key,” Workman said. “I was pretty proud of myself in terms of being able to manage the tire fall off and keep up the same lap time. I’m super excited to get another one for this great RAFA Racing and Toyota team. I always try to come out and give my best.”

A Lap 7 pass exiting the final turn, Turn 17, netted Caio Chaves second place in the No. 98 PANAM Motorsport Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 ahead of Courtney Crone in third in her No. 35 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 EVO.

The Bronze Cup championship battle took a pair of twists and turns as the top two drivers both failed to finish. Third-place points man Jon Brel capitalized and secured his second straight Bronze Cup win. The driver of the No. 81 Kingpin Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 finished fourth overall, which has vaulted Brel from 40 points back to unofficially 30 points ahead of Dan Ammann and 80 ahead of Rafael Martinez leaving the first race of the weekend.

“It’s been a fantastic couple of races for the Kingpin team; they’ve put together such a great car and we’ve made great progress,” Brel said. “The coaching from Tyler Hoffman has been outstanding. We’re here to learn and we’re also here to win.”

Ray Mason (No. 58 KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4) and Tiger Tari (No. 26 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO) completed the Bronze Cup podium.

The second VP Racing Challenge GSX race of the weekend is Sunday at 8:40 a.m. ET and local time. It streams live on Peacock and the IMSA Official YouTube Channel.

Bell, Morris Power to Michelin Pilot Challenge Poles at VIR

Toyota, Hyundai End Respective Aston Martin, Honda Pole Streaks

August 22, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ALTON, Va. – Both qualifying streaks in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge competition this season came to an end at VIRginia International Raceway. Heart of Racing Team had won the last three Grand Sport (GS) poles with either Hannah Grisham or Hannah Greenemeier in ther Aston Martin, while in Touring Car (TCR), Honda had won the previous four with either Rocco Pasquarella of KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering or LP Montour of MMG.

But a Toyota will lead the full 42-car field, including 29 GS cars, to green while a Hyundai will pace the 13-car TCR field.

Jaxon Bell scored his first Michelin Pilot Challenge pole at the same venue where he made his championship debut last year. The driver of the No. 23 Koch-Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 set a best time of 1 minute, 52.771 seconds (104.388 mph) around VIR’s 3.27-mile, 17-turn circuit. He’ll share his Toyota with Ford Koch.

"The car is fast; it's my first IMSA qualifying session, so I had to go out and throw down," Bell said. "One-for-one. Just want to keep it out front and see what my teammate can do from there.

"It's probably the most challenging track we go to on the IMSA schedule. I really enjoy the challenge of driving to the limit, without crossing it. The consequences are so big around here. Just looking forward to a fun race and getting up front."

Series debutant Finn Wiebelhaus qualified the championship-leading No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 second, 0.467 of a second in arrears. Wiebelhaus’ teammate Robert Noaker holds a 100-point lead in GS entering the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix.

A second Toyota made it in the top three, with Caio Chaves qualifying the No. 54 PanAm Motorsport Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. Greenemeier ended fourth, three spots shy of what would have been a fourth straight pole for the Hannahs.

The rest of the top six in the GS championship all start sixth or worse. The No. 66 Car Blanche Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO, now adorned in a white livery, rolls off sixth while Turner Motorsport’s No. 95 BMW M4 GT4 EVO was best of the BMWs in ninth.

TCR: New Lap Record, Pole for Morris

Bryson Morris set a new lap record in Touring Car (TCR) qualifying and ended Honda’s four-race pole streak in the process. Morris, driving the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR, set a best time of 1 minute, 54.920 seconds (102.436 mph) on his fifth lap and beat his own previous time set last year. Morris’ 2025 mark was 1:54.943. It’s his first pole of the season and eighth overall, his first since VIR last year. Morris and co-driver Mason Filippi lead the TCR championship by 150 points entering today’s race.

Morris’ pole ended a run of four straight poles by Hondas, including three straight by LP Montour in the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR. Montour qualified second at 1:55.111. With the No. 52 Baker Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR third and No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Cupra Leon VZ TCR fourth, all four TCR manufacturers line up in the top four spots on the grid.

An incident occurred during the session as the No. 5 car contacted the No. 18 car exiting Turn 12, which pitched the No. 18 car into the concrete barrier to cause front-end damage. The No. 5 car will look to rise from the rear of the grid for Saturday’s race later today.

Saturday’s Virginia Is For Lovers Grand Prix race goes green at 2:15 p.m. ET and local time. Live race coverage streams flag-to-flag on Peacock and ad-free, courtesy of Michelin, on the IMSA Official YouTube channel.

Fast Fred Friday for Michelin GT Challenge at VIR Practice

Vervisch’s Ford, Schandorff’s Ferrari Lead Classes; Drama for GTD PRO Points Leader

August 21, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Practice Results

ALTON, Va. – The opening 90-minute practice session for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway was uneventful for most of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GTD competitors – with one key exception.

After just 12 minutes had elapsed, GTD PRO championship leader Neil Verhagen went off course at Turn 14 – the entry to VIR’s famous Roller Coaster corner. The left-front of the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO glanced off a guardrail before the car buried itself in a tire barrier. Verhagen, who shares the car with Connor De Phillippi, was unhurt, and he had already set a time that held up for third fastest in the session.

The PMR crew was able to repair the car to get Verhagen back on track with 13 minutes remaining in the Friday practice, but they will lose their fastest qualifying lap on Saturday.

Frederic Vervisch set Friday’s fastest time just four laps into the free practice session, touring VIR’s 3.27 miles and 17 corners in 1 minute, 46.065 seconds for an average speed of 110.988 miles per hour in the No. 65 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 running in the GTD PRO class. He’ll share that car with Christopher Mies.

That was just three thousandths of a second than the fastest GTD class contender. Frederik Schandorff set the fastest GTD time in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO he shares with Brendan Iribe. Schandorff’s best time was 1:46.068 (110.985 mph).

Ford Racing’s Mustangs ran 1-2 in GTD PRO, as Dennis Olsen clocked 1:46.250 in the No. 64 co-driven by Ben Barker. Verhagen was third at 1:46.315 (110.727 mph).

“The car is in a good window,” said Vervisch, whose co-driver is Christopher Mies. They rank fourth in the tight GTD PRO standings, 99 points behind De Phillippi and Verhagen.

“I feel fortunate we were able to test here, which is a big advantage,” he added. “It was much hotter when we tested, and the cooler temperatures are better for our car. The car feels good.”

A brief weather delay impacted Friday morning’s activity at VIR, but the sun broke through the clouds and afternoon temperatures peaked in the low 80s. Sunny skies and mid-80s are forecasted for Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute race.

Tom Gamble guided the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo to the second quickest GTD class lap of the day – 1:46.181 (110.867 mph). The No. 27’s full-season driver, Dudu Barrichello, tops the GTD standings by just 24 points over two-time defending class champions Russell Ward and Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3; the top four title contenders are separated by just 45 points.

Ward was fourth fastest on Friday in the Winward Mercedes, but Ellis downplayed the need to qualify at the front. He and Ward have won twice at VIR (2022 and ’25)

“Qualifying can get you good points for the championship, but it’s not as important here as it is at other places like Canada (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park),” Ellis remarked. “Last year we qualified second at VIR and I think by the end of the first lap, we were back to ninth or tenth place. But we were able to claw our way back and take the victory.”

The Saturday slate at VIR includes another 90-minute WeatherTech Championship practice plus qualifying, along with a full card of support races and activities.

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Michelin GT Challenge at VIR

VIRginia International Raceway - Friday, August 21, 2026

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

oney Doubles Up with Road America Race Win, Airbnb Endurance Challenge Title

No. 95 Car Wins Two-Hour Race While No. 30 Leaps to Title

August 16, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Sunday’s two-hour IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge season finale featured nearly as many twists and turns as the 14 corners making up the 4.048-mile Road America road course.

In the end, Toney Driver Development captured both the race win and the championship in the four-race calendar covering races across Sebring International Raceway, Circuit of The Americas, VIRginia International Raceway and Road America.

This year marked Nathan Toney’s team’s first full-season effort in IMSA competition, with flawless execution across both its two cars to carry a championship. The team recently committed to another multi-car effort in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge for 2027, which will run seven endurance races. The 2026 Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) season has been split with both sprint rounds and the new Airbnb Endurance Challenge component.

“It feels really good,” Toney said. “We knew we had what it took, but we had a couple unfortunate races. We didn’t know if we’d be in the championship. I’m so proud of all the guys. It’s our first full year in any level IMSA series, so it’s pretty surreal. I owe everything to the guys. They bought into the system.

“The endurance stuff is the only one we had a full-season entry, as in sprints, we’ve had drivers in and out,” he added. “Endurance is where we shine. Right drivers. Right strategy.”

Wyatt Brichacek shared the winning No. 95 Toney Ligier JS P325 with Lincoln Day. It’s Brichacek’s second Airbnb Endurance Challenge win of the year, in addition to three VP Racing SportsCar Challenge sprint race wins. It’s Day’s first win of the season, as Brichacek’s win in the two-hour COTA race came with Titus Sherlock.

“It feels fantastic; this has been the dream since I got into racing,” Day said. “I started sim racing when I was younger. Now, I just wanted to get the race win. And to do it in endurance as well means a lot.”

Teammates Ari Balogh and Garett Grist in the No. 30 Toney Ligier JS P325, meanwhile, finished second. That propelled them from third in the championship standings entering the race – 40 points off the lead – to first leaving it after trouble struck both first and second in points ahead of them.

“I thought we had a really good chance to be honest,” Grist said. “I didn’t do a solid job at Sebring, then we had a caliper failure at COTA which put us on the back foot. First at VIR, second here. We had the pace all year and we thought we could do it. We just needed others to finish where they finish.”

Balogh added, “It’s amazing. What a testament to the teamwork and Garett’s coaching. We had some issues early in the first race. Racing is a place where you let it all hang out. I’m just proud of everyone.”

Quite how the No. 95 car got to the win and the No. 30 car got to the title came as a result of the pitfalls that befell both the top two cars ahead of them.

From pole, Oscar Tunjo in his No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. Duqueine D09 built a lead of north of 24 seconds in the first 15 laps and half hour of the race, prior to the minimum drive time of 40 minutes elapsing.

But the first twist came as one of Tunjo and Valentino Catalano’s two closest rivals, Brian Thienes, brought out the first full-course caution to condense the field. Thienes ran deep into the gravel trap in his No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P325. He resumed and pitted to repair the nose assembly but lost a couple laps for Patrick Kujala to take over the car. This car entered the race second in points, 30 behind Tunjo and Catalano, with Thienes also ahead of Travis Hill in the Bronze Cup standings.

When the race restarted, the floodgates opened as cars took turns making stops over the next several laps. Tunjo stayed on board the No. 1 car while Toney took the opportunity to swap out Day and Balogh for Brichacek and Grist, respectively. Brichacek was over eight seconds back but quietly started carving the gap to Tunjo to near three seconds.

The race and season championship battle reached its crescendo with 56 minutes remaining. Tunjo ran off course into the gravel exiting the Carousel, Turn 10, with an apparent mechanical failure. That took the No. 1 car out of the race before Catalano had a chance to drive.

Brichacek explained his vantage point: “From the start we maintained what we had from P2. The safety car bunched everything up, and it brought us back into the race. We had to pass a few cars. We had the pace to pass, but then the No. 1 car went off in the Carousel. That brought out the second caution, and we brought it home.”

The teams still needed to make its second mandatory stop once the race restarted, and with 44 minutes remaining when the green flag flew the pit lane got busy again.

Brichacek, Grist, Patrick Liddy in the No. 86 Forte Racing Ligier JS P325 and Andy Lee in the No. 29 Riley Ligier JS P320 pitted from the top four positions. That promoted Jules Caranta, in his second start in the No. 18 Forbush Performance Duqueine D09, to the lead with Caranta opting to run an extra lap and attempt to bank a gap to overcut and keep the lead once it made its second stop.

It didn’t quite work. Brichacek got by to the lead with Caranta emerging second, with Liddy and Grist then passing the Frenchman in quick order. Grist got Liddy for second, with Caranta able to recover to get to third.

With the stops complete, the race settled into a final rhythm, with Brichacek leading Grist in a Toney 1-2 by 13.366 seconds. Caranta was third, with the Liddy/Jon Hirshberg car in fourth and completing the Bronze Cup podium ahead of Lee and Slade Stewart. The Hill/Daniel Oliver car finished ahead of the Thienes/Kujala car, which unofficially puts the Bronze Cup season-long standings in a tie.

“Inside the car was very fun with the strategy,” Caranta said. “I had a lot of fun. It’s my second race with Matt and we’re already on the podium. We have a great future to be together.”

The VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season concludes with two more sprint race weekends. The Grand Sport X (GSX) class runs next week at VIRginia International Raceway with LMP3 competitors rejoining the GSX field at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in October.

Tunjo Takes Road America Pole for Airbnb Endurance Challenge

Fourth Two-Hour Race of the Season To Decide LMP3 Endurance Crown

August 15, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Points Possibility Chart

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – There’s been three different race winners in the first three IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge rounds of competition in 2026. But only one car has scored the pole position.

That trend continued Saturday at Road America for the fourth and final two-hour endurance race of the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) season, as Oscar Tunjo secured his third and the team’s fourth pole in as many Airbnb Endurance Challenge rounds. Sunday’s race goes green at 10:05 a.m. CT and local time (11:05 a.m. ET) and streams live via the IMSA Official YouTube channel.

Tunjo qualified his No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. entry fastest at Sebring International Raceway and Circuit of The Americas, while teammate Valentino Catalano grabbed the pole at VIRginia International Raceway as the team updated its previous generation Duqueine D08 chassis to a new D09 prior to VIR.

Today at Road America, once Tunjo set the pace on his second flying lap and improved it for three straight laps, he established an unbeatable gap.

The Colombian lapped the picturesque 4.048-mile permanent road course in Elkhart Lake at a best time of 1 minute, 58.819 seconds (122.646 mph) to lead the field by 1.630 seconds. Despite the gap, Tunjo was somewhat surprised with the pace as the Gebhardt team had not tested prior to the race weekend.

“Super happy to get another pole here at a new track,” Tunjo said. “It’s pretty tough competition this weekend. We have a very fast car, for sure, but we’re struggling a bit compared to others with more track experience.”

Lincoln Day qualified the No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325 second, in the car he’ll share with Wyatt Brichacek. Brichacek led Friday’s first practice while the second Toney car led Saturday’s morning practice with Garett Grist. Tunjo topped the pre-qualifying practice session.

Grist’s teammate, Ari Balogh, qualified the No. 30 Toney Ligier third ahead of Brian Thienes in the No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier he shares with Patrick Kujala.

Points-Scoring Forecast

Sunday’s race will deploy both on-track competition and strategic calculations from “America’s National Park of Speed” as teams have to fulfill two mandatory pit stops and make a driver change mid-race.

Tunjo and Catalano enter the weekend atop the Airbnb Endurance Challenge points by 30 over Thienes and Kujala in their No. 77 Forte Ligier, and 40 over Balogh and Grist in the No. 30 Toney Ligier.

While Tunjo and Catalano are in a good position from the lead and would stay atop the charts so long as they finish ahead of their closest rivals, the two cars immediately behind them are lurking.

Thienes and Kujala have a chance to surpass Tunjo and Catalano if they finish two or three spots ahead of them on Sunday. A tiebreaker could come into effect depending on where the No. 77 car finishes.

Tunjo and Catalano have one Airbnb Endurance Challenge race win this year while Thienes and Kujala have none. The No. 1 car would hold that advantage on best finish if the No. 77 car does not win.

However, if the No. 77 car wins Sunday and the No. 1 car finishes second, the second-best result would come into play. On that front, the No. 77 car has two second place finishes to what would be the No. 1 car’s one, as both cars would have one win.

The Balogh/Grist No. 30 car, at 40 points back, has a win in its pocket and a decent chance too depending on the No. 1 and 77 car finishes. The Nos. 95 (Brichacek and Day) and 11 (Danny Soufi, Jacob Williamson in the PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing Duqueine D09) cars remain mathematically alive as well but would need significant help to overcome the deficit.

“The two Toney cars are fast, and the Forte car will be there,” Tunjo explained about his mindset for Sunday. “Let’s hope we have a good race and maximize our speed. We also want luck in strategy. You never know in an endurance race. Now is the race and time to deliver a great show for the people!”

Thienes has another championship he’s chasing, too. In the season-long Bronze Cup standings, he has a 10-point lead over Travis Hill in his No. 2 Shopify Racing Ligier JS P325. Whichever of those two cars finishes ahead will lead those standings heading to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the last sprint race weekend of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season.

Cadillac WTR Back on Top After Spirited Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America

Inter Europol Claims Second Straight LMP2 Win

August 2, 2026

By Holly Cain

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – In a high-spirited, six-hour battle at one of the world’s most renowned road courses, Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque and American Ricky Taylor guided the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) to overall victory in Sunday’s Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s visit to Road America expanded from two hours, 40 minutes to six hours and the No. 10 car prevailed on an afternoon featuring major championship implications and aggressive high-stakes racing from the drop of the green flag to wave of the yellow and checkered.

The winning Cadillac claimed a hard-earned victory under those yellow flag conditions leading the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 co-driven by Laurin Heinrich, Tijmen van der Heim and Kaylen Frederick across the finish line.

The No 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac gave the iconic IMSA team its second podium position with a third-place effort turned in by drivers Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz. It’s the most successful weekend for the legendary, Wayne Taylor-owned GTP organization in two seasons.

This six-hour event was action-packed all afternoon on the 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course in the scenic Wisconsin countryside. The final two positions on the podium were only decided in the final 10 minutes in one of the more emotionally fueled outcomes on the years.

An impactful ninth – and final – full-course caution flag of the day flew for contact between then second-place No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 driven by Kevin Estre and the third-place No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac driven by championship leader Jack Aitken.

The cars collided while racing for second place overall, with the No. 31 car going into the Turn 1 wall and the momentum from that push propelling the No. 6 into the Turn 3 gravel trap. Both drivers were evaluated and released from the infield care center. However, race results will remain unofficial pending a comprehensive review of the incident.

This put the race under a full-course caution to the finish, and WTR enjoyed its first GTP win since 2024 in Detroit.

Albuquerque put the No. 10 into the lead with about an hour and a half remaining and acknowledged he had to be on top of his game with Estre and Aitken chasing him down in the closing minutes of the race.

“Today was just a special day,” said Albuquerque, who now has 14 career IMSA wins and two at Road America.

“This feels way more special than others because of how much we overcame and being together as a team,” he added. “We’ve been working hard and when you come from the bottom to the top and need to prove to everybody you can still do it, it’s a great feeling.”

“So many things happened,” Albuquerque said of the day’s contest. “After restarts, yellow brings more yellow. … I saw in the mirror the 6-car [Estre] completely sideways and thought he was going to collect me, but I was lucky there. I was just so focused on my race even if at times, I had to breathe. I never had it in the pocket, it was always focus on the next corner, no mistakes.”

This is the 54th class win for Wayne Taylor Racing, the sixth most all-time on the IMSA team wins list. It is Ricky Taylor’s 33rd career IMSA win, second most among active drivers – one behind his teammate and younger brother, Jordan Taylor.

“For all of us it is a big relief,” the two-time IMSA champion Taylor said. “Since changing manufacturers (from Acura to Cadillac) we haven’t performed at the level I think the expectations were. Confidence was dropping and everybody starts doubting themselves, but I think the important thing is the team never blamed each other, we just started working harder and harder.

“And [today] the way the race went, this wasn’t a lucky one, the team did everything right.''

Aitken entered the weekend with a 200-plus point championship lead but unofficially is only 108 up on Heinrich with two races remaining in the season. Heinrich’s championship hopes remain alive in those two races, which he’ll split between JDC-Miller at Indianapolis and Porsche Penske Motorsport at Motul Petit Le Mans.

“I said to some people on the podium it was like a second birthday,” the 24-year-old German said with a smile. “But it may sound like it was gifted and it was not. In the end, everyone around you loses your head and you manage to keep it, that’s endurance racing. You have to drive it over the line. Great team effort.

“It was a good day obviously,” he added. “The [championship] lead of Jack [Aitken] was quite big with three races to go but it’s never over until it’s over and now this is significant. Results like this change things quite a bit, but I would be lying if I said I was hoping it was less than 108 points. That’s still substantial with two races to go.

“I won’t give up. I will push hard and do the last two races with two different teams.”

Inter Europol Competition Wins LMP2

On a day with so much action and suspense, the race-winning Inter Europol Competition team was calm, cool and collected after the checkered flag – the team’s drivers insisting they were confident in their winning chances despite an afternoon of obstacles to overcome and a talented field to best.

The No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 co-driven by Americans Jeremy Clarke and Bijoy Garg and Frenchman Tom Dillmann claimed the team’s second win of the season leading more than half the race and ultimately besting the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA driven by Americans George Kurtz and Toby Sowery and Brit Alex Quinn.

TDS Racing scored its first podium of the year with the trio of Canadian Tobi Lutke, Dane David Heinemeier Hansson and Swiss driver Mathias Beche aboard the No. 11 ORECA.

The winning No. 43 car led 83 of the race’s 149 laps, taking the lead for good with less than 30 minutes remaining, prevailing on a restart that featured a three-wide challenge for the lead.

“My two teammates did a great job,” Dillmann said. “We were a bit unlucky at times. On one yellow, we were leading by 20 seconds at the time. But at the end we had the race under control. It was not a gamble for us. We saw a chance of a yellow coming was higher than not. But we controlled the race, a lot of restarts obviously but a lot of pace in the car to control it today.

“We were tight [on fuel]. I don’t necessarily want to say if we would make it with the yellow or not. There was a lot going on but we really had good pace in the car. We were strong. Of the four wins we had, for me, this was the one we were most dominant. Today was about executing.’’

The result was indicative of a fierce championship with Inter Europol’s Clarke and Dillmann now trailing Kurtz and Quinn by only 36 points in the standings with two races remaining to settle with two races remaining.

Pfaff Delivers First IMSA Lamborghini Temerario GT3 Win at Road America

Winward Mercedes-AMG Continues Winning Ways in GTD

August 2, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Pfaff Motorsports scored an emotional Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class victory Sunday at the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America, claiming both the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and North American race win for the new-for-2026 Lamborghini Temerario GT3.

Pfaff played a key part in the development of Lamborghini’s latest production-based racer, and their effort was rewarded when Lamborghini Squadra Corse factory driver Andrea Caldarelli guided the No. 9 Pfaff entry he shared with Sandy Mitchell over the finish line out front after six hours of competition at the renowned Wisconsin road course.

Nick Tandy and Harry King finished second in the Motul Pole Award-winning No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), while Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg took third in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R in a race that ended under caution after a late incident.

Based out of suburban Toronto, Pfaff is one of the WeatherTech Championship’s most popular teams, with its cars often sporting plaid-themed liveries to honor the organization’s Canadian heritage. At Road America, the Pfaff Lamborghini matched the race title sponsor with a bright and updated red and white livery.

Pfaff won back-to-back IMSA championships in 2021 (GTD) and ’22 (GTD PRO) in association with Porsche, but the team had endured a 36-race winless streak dating to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March 2023.

An improved brake package for the Temerario introduced for this race gave the drivers more confidence and helped produce the first IMSA victory for the model.

“I’m proud of everybody at Pfaff Motorsports and Lamborghini,” said Pfaff Motorsports general manager Steve Bortolotti. “It was a great weekend for our partners at Motul, and I’m thankful to all the partners who stuck with us through the dark days. It’s been a long time and I’m proud of everyone at Pfaff Motorsports for digging deep.

“Also really proud of everyone at Lamborghini,” he added. “This is a brand-new car they developed completely in-house. I said from the start at my first time with the car in June of last year at the first rollout it was incredible how it ran so much issue-free, and it continues to. The reliability of this car is incredible, and the pace with come with time. I’m just so proud of everyone.”

Caldarelli, who earned his second IMSA race win Sunday at Road America – and surprisingly, his first since the 2020 Rolex 24 At Daytona – paid tribute to the work put in by Lamborghini Squadra Corse.

“I’m coming into my 10th year with Lamborghini, so I feel like I am part of the walls back in the office,” he smiled. “It feels really special because I saw where we were literally 12 months ago, and to come here and win, it’s insane to think about what in 12 months the guys in Italy have done. We don’t have to underestimate how hard it is for a small group of people, because at the end of the day, we are not as big as other manufacturers.

“This result really shows how dynamic we are and how we really care about this project.”

It was the first IMSA race win for Mitchell, who’s raced intermittently in the WeatherTech Championship but was only making his 11th start in his first full season.

“The Porsches and the Corvettes were super quick, and we were just trying to hang on to the back of them,” he said. “But we had a couple absolutely amazing strategy calls from the guys at Pfaff. A couple times we managed to dive in before yellows, we got absolutely everything right, and a little luck fell our way as well. Consistency is a real strength of the Temerario at the moment.”

A tough day for GTD PRO points leaders Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi that resulted in an 11th place finish tightened up the standings considerably with three races to go. The Paul Miller Racing BMW duo lead Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg by 15 points, with Tandy and King another 16 markers back.

GTD: Winward’s Third 2026 Win Helps Pursuit of Third Straight Title

Russell Ward and Philip Ellis have won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) championship the last two years. But they haven’t shown the same kind of relentless consistency in 2026.

Still, the duo’s second consecutive race win and third of the ’26 campaign at the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America put the ledger back on the positive side for the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

In what’s now an intense championship battle, they’re unofficially just 24 points behind championship leader Eduardo ‘Dudu’ Barrichello. Barrichello finished just 15th at Road America in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO with Tom Gamble and Zacharie Robichon.

Winward’s other wins came at the Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona International Speedway and the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“If we can avoid other competitors’ poor driving and crashing early in these endurance races and taking us out so we can have some semi-clean racing, this is what this team is capable of,” said Ward, who also co-owns Winward Racing with his father, Bryce.

“We ran this race like an endurance race, really focused on the on the final pit stop and making sure that we push the fuel all the way to the end as far as we could,” he added. “Then at the end, Philip kind of jumped a couple of people, so I think it’s just a combination of how good the Mercedes-AMG is around this place and good strategy on our part.”

Ward and Ellis have now combined for 14 WeatherTech Championship race wins in addition to their two championships. At Road America, as usual for IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races, they were joined by Indy Dontje.

“I think we struggled a bit with our car balance and pace, and people tried different things to get in front of us on pit stops,” Ellis said. “That made it a lot more difficult today, but the crew had perfect pit stops “The crew had perfect pit stop and Russell and Indy did a perfect job as well keeping the car in one piece while also making up positions on track and taking opportunities when they arrived.”

A strategy play helped Triarsi Competizione ascend to second in the No. 023 Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, with Robert Megennis joining 2025 Road America GTD winners Kenton Koch and Onofrio Triarsi for their best result of the season. They pitted with 77 minutes to go, but three late full-course cautions ensured they had enough fuel and energy to make the flag.

Car Blanche secured its second podium in as many GTD starts, with the trio of Valentin Hasse Clot, Marius Fossard and Trenton Estep sharing the No. 068 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. Initially listed fourth on the unofficial results, the No. 068 car will be placed third when provisional results are posted, ahead of the No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette Z06 GT3.R, as a post-race review by race control revealed that the No. 81 did not complete its pass prior to the race's final caution.

IMSA’s GT classes will have the spotlight to themselves for the only time in 2026 at the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, set for August 21-23 at VIRginia International Raceway. The next round for all classes of the WeatherTech Championship is the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, September 18-20 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix

LMP2, GTD PRO, GTD Winners Press Conference Transcript

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 2, 2026) - Transcript from the post-race press conference for Sunday's Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America.

LMP2 - Winners

No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 - Tom Dillmann, Jeremy Clarke and Bijoy Garg

GTD PRO - Winners

No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 - Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell

GTD - Winners

No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3

THE MODERATOR: We have our GTD PRO and LMP2 winners here. We'll start with GTD Pro, we have Sandy Mitchell and Andrea Caldarelli. Sandy, congratulations. First win here in IMSA for the Temerario. What does it mean for you and the team to get that win here for that new car?

SANDY MITCHELL: Yeah, it's absolutely massive. I think there's so much work behind the scenes throughout this year as well as developing the car last year. Yeah, continuing that development into this year, whether that's at the race events but also testing in the background.

Yeah, just super proud of everyone at Lamborghini and Pfaff as well for continuing to just keep pushing forward with the car. Of course, it's been challenging at times. It's never easy to come into such a competitive championship like IMSA and be competitive straightaway. To have a P2 and P1 at this point in the championship is more than we would have expected.

So yeah, just super happy for everyone that's involved in the program because it's been a real big effort.

THE MODERATOR: Andrea, your thoughts on the racing that took place throughout six hours here at Road America.

ANDREA CALDARELLI: Well, we cannot spice it up more than that. I don't know what we can do more than that (smiling). Six is enough.

I mean, it's been I think a great race. We knew last year this place deserve an endurance race. It was bit of a chaos last year with a lot of penalties and so on. Since then I feel that everything started to chill out a little bit more with the driving.

I mean, I really love this series for this. You have really to go out there and be smart with your strategy, but at the same time also having good skill in traffic and fighting. It really, really means a lot for us, this win, because it's such an iconic race. For a new car, the first year, it's really, really special.

THE MODERATOR: Our LMP2 winners, Jeremy Clarke, Bijoy Garg and Tom Dillmann.

Jeremy, back-to-back wins, a lot of momentum here. What did it take to pull it off today?

JEREMY CLARKE: Yeah, I think the team's worked really hard keep the car in the window we needed to be fast, bring home victories at the end of the day.

I have think continued to build on that momentum we had a couple weeks ago. Had a really good test here. Just continued to build on that momentum.

Came in, qualifying wasn't exactly what we wanted, but we were still in the fight. I think all three of us put together a great race today. Had a little bit of bad luck at the beginning, but it worked out for us in the end.

THE MODERATOR: Bijoy, your thoughts on what was a pretty eventful six hours.

BIJOY GARG: Yeah, it was quite crazy. Obviously you can pass decently here just because of the straight. In the end, track position turned out to be a lot more important than we thought. It was always a pretty hard fight for position.

Yeah, I mean, we got a couple calls that didn't go our way. A couple yellows didn't go our way either.

Ultimately that's part of the game in IMSA. It's never over till it's over. You always have to stay motivated and just remind yourself that a yellow can come your way at any time really.

Yeah, in the end it's never over till it's over.

THE MODERATOR: Tom, there were some yellows that didn't go your way. The last couple yellows, how big were those as a help?

TOM DILLMANN: Yeah, the work we did in the test paid dividend today. My two teammates did a great job. I think we had the best bronze and the best silver in the field today. We were a bit unlucky at times. Especially with the yellow, we were leading by 20 seconds, got a bad yellow.

Yeah, in the end we had the race under control. It was not a gamble for us. We saw the chance of a yellow coming was higher than not. So yeah, I could control the race, a lot of restarts obviously with all the yellows. Yeah, I think we had a lot of pace in the car to control it today.

THE MODERATOR: We'll go to questions.

Q. Andrea, the first half of the race seemed to be dominated by the two Porsches. How did you get into a position where you were able to control it to the end?

ANDREA CALDARELLI: Yeah, I think the Porsches, they looked very fast, even yesterday in qualifying. At the beginning we were just holding position, then we got couple of good calls on the pit. There was one yellow, the last one, that we changed from Sandy to myself, which we pit and the yellow came just couple of laps after. That gave us couple of, like, another position.

Then there was one yellow more that actually I'm really proud with the team and the communication we had because I was out there, because we were off sync with the strategy. They told me in the beginning to save energy during the yellow, then the end they said push, push, push, because there were people in the pit lane.

I found the Prototype in front of me which was going really slow. I push him hard to speed up, flashing, almost hitting him behind - not hitting him, but almost (smiling). That actually gave us the P1 that we kept until the end. We crossed the line and all the cars came out of the pit behind me.

I think was a bit of luck, but the same time was a massive strategy job from the guys.

Q. The podium at Detroit was a big surprise. How big of a surprise is this, especially being an endurance win, given some of the early season struggles?

ANDREA CALDARELLI: I think this is more surprising than Detroit, to be honest. Detroit was obviously street track. First time actually we went in a street circuit with the Temerario. We didn't know what was coming. It was a bit of an eventful race. Yeah, it could happen. We were not super quick in terms of pace, but it was a good race.

This one I think feels more special because we did everything right. Even though we didn't come here for testing like most of the other teams couple weeks before, we were bit behind in qualifying, but we work really hard overnight, and we found let's say we try the setup that work in the race, but we didn't know if it was going to work.

I think we had everything. We had strategy. We had pace. We had car that actually doesn't break down. It's a massive thing that we don't have to forget on the first year of a car, we don't have any reliability issue. This one feels especially for an endurance race, which is the first victory for a Temerario in an endurance race, it's very special.

Q. Sandy, could you assess the new brake package you had this weekend.

SANDY MITCHELL: Yeah, it's part of the sort of small upgrade package that we're planning to roll out in worldwide for the car in the races to come during the rest of the season. Yeah, it seemed to work well this weekend. We were happy with how that went.

Yeah, I think it's going in the right direction, but I think it's one small part of a lot of things this weekend that we improved as we are race by race learning a lot as a team and drivers and everything.

Yeah, it was a really good step forward, as Andrea says. We didn't quite have the pace in qualifying, but at the end of the race there, once the tire were a bit more used, we had really good pace at the end. We were able to hold off the cars behind.

Yeah, this result feels a lot more special than Detroit because I feel like, yeah, the calls from the team were incredible all the race. We got every yellow, every call right. We were always putting ourselves back into the top three, top five. That really made the difference today.

Q. Andrea, you have so much history with Lamborghini. What does getting the first win for the Temerario project mean to you personally? How do you think the folks back in Italy will react to this?

ANDREA CALDARELLI: Yeah, I'm coming into my 10th year in Lamborghini. I feel like I am a part of the wall back in Italy of the office (smiling).

It feels really special because I saw where we were last year, literally one year ago, 12 months ago. To come here and win, it's insane to think about in 12 months what the guys in Italy have done because, yeah, we don't have to underestimate how hard is for a small group of people.

At the end of the day, we are not as big as other manufacturers. To start the project from zero, knowing that anything can go wrong and good. You never know with a new car. To react all the time, when there is a problem, and this result really show how dynamic we are and how we really care about this project.

Q. Tom, I wanted to ask you, you were in the car at the very end, I thought there was some concern on fuel, had not for the yellow flags at the end. Can you talk about that.

TOM DILLMANN: Yeah, we were tight, but I don't necessarily want to say if we would make it without the yellow or not (smiling).

Q. Fair enough. The 22 had just spoken about how confident they were about kind of coming back through. Then for the race to end the way that it did, I mean, how chippy would you say the day was in your class racing? There was a lot going on.

TOM DILLMANN: There was a lot going on. We really had good pace in the car. We worked really well last week. We were very strong on fuel, as well.

So to me out of the four wins we have is the one I felt we are the most dominant. Let's say I felt like we had our hand on the field today. Yeah, it was about executing. You never know. You need so many parameters to work well to win these kind of races.

But yeah, when you have the pace, it helps.

Q. You were the main character in developing this car. You just told the other colleague that was really hard work. Did you imagine your first success would be in a six-hour race after all that you did?

ANDREA CALDARELLI: You know what, I believe more that it was an endurance race than a sprint. The reason why was because we did not have any reliability issue, almost zero, since the beginning. Power train-wise, I don't reckon we had any failure after test three probably, which when we start developing the LMDh, obviously I was part of it. It was more complicated. I know what it means to put down a power train from zero. This power train, it was never put on a race car before.

I would say, yes, I was expecting more that a good result was coming on an endurance race more than a sprint.

Q. Tom, you guys were hit with a couple of penalties, obviously caught out by the yellow flag. Is it somewhat sweeter that you got this victory after overcoming things like that during the race?

TOM DILLMANN: We had an emergency service unfortunately. That was part of the bad luck with the yellow. We had to (indiscernible). I had a little issue in the pit stop. That made us lose a bit of track position. But yeah, like I said, I feel like we had so much pace today that made our life easy, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. We are joined by our GTD winners, Indy Dontje, Russell Ward and Philip Ellis.

Indy, seems like a lot of the times, seven wins, 19 starts, what is it like to get with these two guys and go endurance racing.

INDY DONTJE: It's a lot of fun, of course, if you can have these stats. I think I made it only to the podium only when I win. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing (smiling).

Really happy for the job we've done today. I think we were struggling a bit with the car. The car felt a bit better on friend, let's say. Maybe the rain didn't help us.

In the end good calls from the team, great pit stops. Also we have no scratch on the car. I think that's also really important in the race. Gave us the win today. Really happy.

THE MODERATOR: Russell, obviously opened the year with the win at the Rolex. Kind of a bit of a lull that is uncharacteristic for your team. The pendulum is swinging back the other way from your guys.

RUSSELL WARD: The bad luck we've had throughout the year has been a result of other competitors' poor driving, crashing early in these endurance races, taking us out. When we can have some semi-clean racing, this is what this team is capable of.

Q. Philip, talk about today.

PHILIP ELLIS: I mean, like Indy said, it wasn't a perfect race. I think we struggled a bit with the car balance, a bit with just our pace today. A lot of people trying different things to get in front of us in pit stops. We usually beat everybody. A lot of people started gambling on full course yellows. Made it a lot more difficult today.

The crew had perfect pit stops. Russell and Indy did a good job as well keeping the car in one piece but also making up the positions on track again and taking opportunities when it arrived.

THE MODERATOR: Back to questions.

Q. Philip or Russell, if you had to boil it down to one thing, what was the key to winning today?

RUSSELL WARD: I think it's just a combination of things. We kind of raced this like an endurance race, really focused on the final pit stop, making sure that we pushed the fuel all the way to the end as far as we could. Then at the end kind of jumped a couple of people.

I think it's just a combination of how good the Mercedes AMG is around this place, and good strategy on our part.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix

GTP First and Second Place Press Conference Transcript

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 1, 2026) - Transcript from the post-race press conference for Sunday's Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America.

GTP - Winners

No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R - Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque

GTP - Second Place

No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 - Tijmen van der Helm, Kaylen Frederick and Laurin Heinrich

THE MODERATOR: We're pleased to be joined by our first and second finishers overall in the GTP class. Let's start with our second-place finishers. We have Kaylen Frederick, Laurin Heinrich and Tijmen van der Helm. Back-to-back podiums. For Laurin, this is his fifth podium of the season, 13th of his career. Tijmen, his fifth career podium, for Kaylen, his second career podium.

Kaylen, to start us off, back-to-back podiums for you. Just take us through what was a pretty eventful race for you and what it took to get it all the way back to the podium.

KAYLEN FREDERICK: Yeah, pretty eventful weekend on the whole with limited running for me in FP1, didn't go out in FP2. Made it tricky for me to qualify and get on the ball for the race.

I think we did a really good job. We kept it clean. We had our penalties that we got through at the beginning of the race. Yeah, for the lost portion we kept it clean, kept it on track. Everyone was getting pretty aggressive out there. It was really just about bringing it home at that point.

Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't. Kind of got a little bit lucky.

THE MODERATOR: Tijmen, your thoughts. You've been part of this team since it began. How exciting is it to be a part of what's happening here?

TIJMEN VAN DER HELM: Yeah, last four race weekends been unbelievable since I've been with this team for four years and we've been working as hard as possible to get a bit more to the podium side, sometimes even the chance of winning.

It has been a positive ride. Of course, it took some time. We got there. I think we keep it positive for the next couple race, what's left.

THE MODERATOR: We have Laurin with the microphone. Fifth podium of the year. Closed up substantially here in the points, only minus 128. Every point counts. Your thoughts on what took place there as the checkered flag came out to get to second place?

LAURIN HEINRICH: Yeah, it was quite a turnaround in the race I would say. It looked like it would be a difficult day. But sometimes, what I learned in IMSA racing, the race has to come towards you. It's not always only down to you. You have to realize that if you have the chance to do something by yourself, you have to take it. If you don't have the chance to do it by yourself, also you shouldn't force it.

Today was one of these days. I would say it's a little less exciting in the cockpit in terms of making up positions. We kept our nose clean, which was great. I think the team did a great job to bounce back from the penalties we had and also the mechanical black, which was quite a substantial damage. Nose damage, a hole in the nose. A lot of air in the cockpit. 10, 15 minutes later there was so much pressure in the cockpit, the passenger door popped open. Felt like a submarine exploded (laughter). We fixed the car in the pit window. Had some good restarts. As I said, kept our head cool, and obviously taking the podium is good for the championship.

THE MODERATOR: We'll move up to the front row here to our winners, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor.

Filipe, why don't you start us off. Quite a battle out there for six hours. What was it like to battle here for the first time for a six-hour race, and how does it feel to win?

FILIPE ALBUQUERQUE: I don't know any more this feeling, it's been a while. But winning is so special.

Yeah, I love Road America. Have great memories. Yeah, today was just a special day. The beginning of the race was just kind of following along. But then when Ricky went on, strategy came a little bit to us. Great pit stops from the boys. Ricky putting up there on the top three, following the sister car in P2. You start to get a little bit nervous. You just want a red flag.

Then for the end I got in, was funny because it's just like it's been such a struggle for us with the pace, that sometimes we doubt ourselves, what is it, what is it there, is it here.

Just went down there and said just go in there and just be you, do your thing. I think everything came perfect. We passed the 31, went to the lead. We maintained there. 10 laps to go, okay, cruising, because it was a nice lead. Yellow flag, obviously like IMSA. Those restarts were tricky because I knew that the Porsche is very, very strong. I needed to be very focused for that. I managed to get ahead of him, caught him off guard on both restarts.

It's more than a win. We've been winning more races, but this feels way more special than others, almost a like championship, because of how much we overcame and being together as a team and been working hard. When you come from the bottom to the top, prove yourself to everybody that you can still do is a great, great feeling, especially just before holidays.

THE MODERATOR: Ricky, congratulations. Obviously long time coming for the team. What does it mean?

RICKY TAYLOR: I think Filipe said most of it. Yeah, I think for all of us, it's a big relief. But nobody on the team, obviously like since changing manufacturers, we haven't performed at the level I think the expectations were. The results weren't coming. The confidence was dropping. Everybody starts doubting themselves.

But I think the important thing is that the team never blamed each other. We just kept working harder and harder and harder, and the results weren't coming. So now to have a result, I feel like the way the race went, it wasn't a lucky one, the team did everything right. We were sort of in the race for the second half of the race, fighting for the win.

I just think it's awesome that Filipe was in the car at the end. The relationship we've had since 2021, we work so well together on and off the track. Yeah, I think to share it with him, obviously the team is tight-knit, it's more than a family team. Everybody on the team feels like family at this point. I think for everybody, it's a huge relief and nice testament to the work that everybody's doing.

THE MODERATOR: We'll get questions going.

Q. Filipe, I think your car was the only car in GTP that didn't get a penalty. Do you think that played into things as well because especially towards the end of the race there was a lot of carnage?

FILIPE ALBUQUERQUE: That's a good question because -- you tell me, because from what I was sitting, I think we deserved the win even if we didn't have any penalty. We were flawless in the penalties. I think when we look at the standings, so many DNF's, I think it's easy to see so many DNF's and obviously a win.

I think we were controlling the race and the pace. It was elbows out, like when we see the Porsche, fighting hard with nothing to lose, that was hectic.

For sure, IMSA is on the path of policing us. I think sometimes it was a bit too harsh for some other guys. In my opinion I think it was too harsh. For others I understand.

A good example of that was my pass on Jack Aitken on the outside. In a normal situation, that was a good example to shove me off. He give me space to stay on the outside. That's good racing.

It's just up to us to adapt to these new IMSA style. I think where we are going towards, it's positive. I think we still need to get the consistent there.

Q. (No microphone.)

FILIPE ALBUQUERQUE: Yeah, it's been coming already. I think they were mad about Watkins Glen and the amount of yellow flags. Some of them was a bit too extreme. They want to bring the drivers down a bit to be more calm so we can go back to the normal racing. It requires some races, in my opinion.

Q. Did it feel as action-packed a day as it was? This was a six-hour race we could never put our pen down, something happening all the time. Talk about all of that. There was a shot of you watching the 31 and the 6 kind of coming together. Was that surprising that that happened at the very end?

FILIPE ALBUQUERQUE: Yeah, at one point we had Rory Harvey, the CEO of Cadillac. Ricky was P2, Jordan was P1. Even if we want to win, I said to him, A red flag would be great (smiling).

So many things happened. Okay, when I was in the lead, I was kind of having a gap, felt kind of stable because we were not even catching traffic. Then it came a yellow. C'mon. After those restarts, a yellow brings more yellow, more fighting. For a moment I fear for my race when I saw when I was going in deep, even if I had a gap for P1, I saw in the mirror the 6 car completely sideways and I thought he was going to collect me. Yeah, I was lucky there.

From the outside, I don't know. I was so focused on my race. Even if I had sometimes a breathe, but I was never having it in the pocket. I was always, like, focused on the next corner, no mistakes.

RICKY TAYLOR: When I was watching the 31 incident, that was kind of in the past for me. We heard about the penalty. I said I'd rather the Aston be behind us than Laurin. I was telling them I didn't want them to get a penalty and not complain too much because I didn't want him there (laughter).

I think I was smiling when the camera was on me, but it was because I was saying I didn't want them to get a penalty, not because of anything to do with the 31, because that had already happened and that had changed that.

Q. Laurin, can you talk about coming into this race, Jack's lead was huge, and at one point may have looked insurmountable, now you have cut it so much. Talk about the championship implications for you.

LAURIN HEINRICH: Yeah, I mean, I said to some people on the podium, it's my second birthday. It sounds like it was gifted. In the end it was not. If everyone around you loses their head, you manage to keep it, that's endurance racing. You have to bring it over the line.

For sure it was a great team effort. I think the team today did most of the part for us to be on the podium, which is great, which I'm really thankful for. Proves once again what we're capable of.

In terms of the championship, yeah, it was a good day obviously. The lead of Jack was quite big, despite there was three races to go in IMSA. It's never over until it's over. But it was quite significant.

Now a result like this changes quite a bit. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping it was less than 128 points until you were reading it out. I didn't know up until that point.

So it's quite substantial, two races to go. I think Indy now being a sprint race, we've seen there's a lot which can happen. In Petit., we all know Petit is Petit.

I won't give up. I will push hard and do the last races with two different team it is, which is an interesting dynamic. It's two good teams. I'm always happy to race a Porsche.

Q. We got the six-hour race that I think people have wanted here for a long, long time. Six hours again next year. What else can we do? How else can we spice it up?

LAURIN HEINRICH: I think the first step would be to try to get a bit more green flag out of the six hour because it was quite a lot of yellows.

But it was cool. I said before, this place, it deserves an endurance race. It's so historic. I think we all love driving around here.

People ask me if I like this track, and I have, before coming here, only competed here in GT and the 911, despite it winning today, it is not the strongest car around this place. Competing in a Porsche in GT was not easy for me. Now coming in, the Prototype is one of the best experiences you can have as a racing driver. It being an endurance, with so many cars on track, it asks a lot from us drivers and the teams to be on the podium.

FILIPE ALBUQUERQUE: I think if you want more action than this, this is crazy (smiling). Up to the last laps...

I love it here. I mean, I think it makes sense to have a six-hour race here. The crowd is incredible coming around. Again, IMSA never fails to put a show on. I think it's spot on. Let's just enjoy the moment.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

Unofficial Results, Points & Post-Race Nuggets | WeatherTech Championship

Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix

Road America - Sunday, August 2, 2026

Unofficial race results available at results.imsa.com.

Unofficial points available at pitnotes.org/points.

GTP

No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing

54th IMSA class win
54 wins breaks tie with Brumos Racing and Champion Racing for sixth most all-time
Last win was in May 2026 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in GTD with car No. 45
Third IMSA class win in GTP
Last win in GTP was in June 2024 at Detroit Street with car No. 10
Second IMSA class win at Road America
Last win at Road America was in 2022 in DPi with car No. 10
Second IMSA class win in 2026 (No. 45 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca)

Filipe Albuquerque

41y 1m 20d from Coimbra, Portugal
14th IMSA class win in 91st start
Last win was at 2024 Detroit Street in GTP, 20 starts between, breaking his longest career winless streak
Second win at Road America in eighth start
Last win at Road America was in 2022 in DPi, 3 track starts between
First win in 2026 season in seventh start
Previous best finish in 2026 was third (1 time) last at Detroit Street in GTP

Ricky Taylor

36y 11m 30d from United Kingdom; American nationality
33rd IMSA class win in 194th start
Last win was at 2024 Detroit Street in GTP, 20 starts between, breaking his longest career winless streak
Third win at Road America in 16th start
Last win at Road America was in 2022 in DPi, 3 track starts between
First win in 2026 season in eighth start
Previous best finish in 2026 was third (1 times) last at Detroit Street in GTP

LMP2

No. 43 Inter Europol Competition

Third IMSA class win (fourth total, also including 2024 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park LMP2 win with car entered as Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports)
Second consecutive win following win at CTMP
First IMSA class win at Road America
Previous best finish at Road America was second (1 time) last in 2025 in LMP2 with car No. 43
Second IMSA class win in 2026
Came back from a stop + 60 with 3h 20m to go

Tom Dillmann

37y 3m 27d from Mulhouse, France
Fourth IMSA class win in 18th start
Second consecutive win following win at CTMP
First win at Road America in second start
Previous best finish at Road America was seventh in 2024 in LMP2
Second win in 2026 season in fifth start

Jeremy Clarke

40y 0m 28d from Manhattan Beach, CA
Third IMSA class win in 11th start
Second consecutive win following win at CTMP
First win at Road America in second start
Previous best finish at Road America was second in 2025 in LMP2
Second win in 2026 season in fifth start

Bijoy Garg

24y 0m 18d from Stanford, CA
Third IMSA class win in 17th start
Last win was at 2025 Sebring in LMP2, 6 starts between
First win at Road America in second start
Previous best finish at Road America was eighth in 2023 in LMP3
First win in 2026 season in fourth start
Previous best finish in 2026 was second (1 times) last at Daytona in LMP2

GTD PRO

No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports

13th IMSA class win
Last win was in March 2023 at Sebring in GTD PRO, 36 races between
Seventh IMSA class win in GTD PRO
Third IMSA class win at Road America (2019, 2021 GTD)
First IMSA class win in 2026
First IMSA win for the Lamborghini Temerario GT3

Andrea Caldarelli

36y 5m 19d from Pescara, Italy
Second IMSA class win in 32nd start
Last win was at 2020 Daytona in GTD, 27 starts between
First win at Road America in second start
Previous best finish at Road America was sixth in 2025 in GTD PRO
First win in 2026 season in eighth start
Previous best finish in 2026 was second (1 times) last at Detroit Street in GTD PRO

Sandy Mitchell

26y 4m 26d from Forfar, Scotland, United Kingdom
First IMSA class win in 11th start
Previous best finish was second (1 times) last at 2026 Detroit Street in GTD PRO
First win at Road America in second start
Previous best finish at Road America was 15th in 2024 in GTD
First win in 2026 season in seventh start

GTD

No. 57 Winward Racing

14th IMSA class win
Second consecutive win following win at CTMP
Second IMSA class win at Road America
Last win at Road America was in 2022 in GTD with car No. 57
Third IMSA class win in 2026 (Daytona, CTMP)
Fourth back-to-back win
Third consecutive season with three or more wins

Russell Ward

36y 11m 11d from Seabrook, TX
14th IMSA class win in 52nd start
Second consecutive win following win at CTMP
Second win at Road America in fifth start
Last win at Road America was in 2022 in GTD, 3 track starts between
Third win in 2026 season in seventh start

Philip Ellis

33y 9m 24d from Germany; British nationality
14th IMSA class win in 51st start
Second consecutive win following win at CTMP
Second win at Road America in fifth start
Last win at Road America was in 2022 in GTD, 3 track starts between
Third win in 2026 season in seventh start

Indy Dontje

33y 8m 12d from Alkmaar, Netherlands
Seventh IMSA class win in 19th start
Last win was at 2026 Daytona in GTD, 2 starts between
First win at Road America in first start
Second win in 2026 season in fourth start

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Emerges on Top at Road America

Inter Europol, Pfaff and Winward Claim Additional Class Wins

August 2, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – An eventful second half of the six-hour Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix produced a new winner to cap off the fourth IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup round of the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing returned to the top of the charts for the first time in more than two years, with the No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor winning at Road America. The pair’s most recent win was on the Streets of Detroit, then fielding an Acura ARX-06, in June 2024 and that was also WTR’s most recent Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and overall victory. Its Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) entry has won twice since.

Within a pair of back-to-back full-course cautions, Albuquerque leapt first from third to second, then from second to the lead once he passed Jack Aitken in the sister No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R on a restart with an hour and 26 minutes remaining. There was still one round of pit stops to go though.

Albuquerque dodged a potential disaster when he pitted for the final time with 45 minutes remaining, mere moments before the seventh of nine full-course cautions flew for an incident for a GTD car. As he got in just before the pits would have closed, he maintained track position he otherwise would have lost.

He remained out front through multiple restarts although the race ended behind the safety car.

The GTP podium changed hands inside the final 10 minutes. First, contact occurred between the Nos. 6 and 31 cars heading into Turn 1 when battling for second. Second, the No. 23 car was assessed a post-race time penalty equivalent to a drive-through for incident responsibility with the No. 93 car.

That promoted the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 up to second with Laurin Heinrich, Kaylen Frederick and Tijmen van der Helm on the podium with the second Cadillac WTR entry, the No. 40 of Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz, in third. Both recovered from issues earlier in the race.

Both Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) top finishers needed the run of late-race cautions to make it home on fuel. The Inter Europol Competition team won its second straight race with the trio of Jeremy Clarke, Bijoy Garg and Tom Dillmann atop the charts in the No. 43 ORECA LMP2 07.

The new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 won its first IMSA race in the hands of Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell, who shared the Pfaff Motorsports-entered No. 9 car in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO).

In Grand Touring Daytona (GTD), Winward Racing also won its second straight race. Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje shared the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Ericsson, Persing Lead Quartet of New Lamborghini Super Trofeo Winners at Road America

Chambers, Porter, Holguin and Touchette Add Class Wins

August 1, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – A quartet of new winners emerged in the second 50-minute Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race at Road America to cap off the fourth event weekend of the 2026 season.

Wayne Taylor Racing secured its first overall and Pro class win since WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May with Hampus Ericsson and Nick Persing sharing the No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2.

However in ProAm, the seven-race win streak by Danny Formal and Graham Doyle in the sister No. 10 WTR car came to an end. RAFA Racing got on the board for the first time in this championship in 2026, with a late-race pass for the win by Chloe Chambers netting her and Ian Porter the top spot in the No. 81 RAFA Racing, Lamborghini Austin, Huracán.

Gabriel Holguin won his first Am race to continue that class’ parity in the No. 45 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán. Philippe Touchette returned to the top of the LB Cup class ranks in his No. 11 TB Autosports, Lamborghini Montreal, Huracán.

From pole, Persing started the No. 1 WTR car and only lost the lead through the pit stop exchange. The mandatory pit stop window was delayed opening due to a full-course caution. Once the window ended and the cycle completed, Ericsson took control at the front and held off Dennis Lind by 0.799 of a second.

“What a weekend; best weekend so far for us, me and Nick,” Ericsson said. “We really deserved the win in this year. We’re not done yet. We have four races left in the championship and we’ll try to bring this momentum to Indy.”

Persing added, “To have a P2 and P1 this weekend, plus my first pole, meant we felt really good. Hampus drove amazing in the second race to defend for the win. We’ll look to gain more going to Indy.”

Lind shared the No. 29 TR3 Racing Huracán with Elias De La Torre, who remains atop the Pro class championship standings leaving Road America. RAFA Racing’s Kiko Porto and Tyler Gonzalez completed the class podium.

RAFA was a big winner in ProAm. Chambers made the move to the outside of Seth Henry’s No. 44 Kaizen Autosport Huracán entering Canada Corner, Turn 12. Chambers got the power down successfully while Henry spun on exit, thus denying he and Wyatt Foster a potential first win.

“This is super important to get this done; we’ve had third, second and first, so we’re making good progress,” Chambers said.

Porter added, “She was flying. She drove through the field; she made the pass; she drove absolutely amazing.”

Kaizen’s second car, driven by Joel Miller and Andrew Heffring, finished second and just ahead of TB Autosports’ pairing of Kyle Marcelli and Mathieu Boucher.

The Doyle/Formal win streak ended upon receipt of the team’s No. 10 car assessed a drive-through for incident responsibility. Nonetheless, the seven-race win streak prior to Saturday’s Race 2 still sees them in good championship position heading to Indianapolis.

It was an emotional race in Am as the Precision Performance Motorsports team went 1-2 in class. Holguin got around Dean Neuls in the TR3 Racing Huracán on Lap 12 of the ultimate 21-lap race. Despite a short pit stop time penalty assessed, Holguin was able to clear the gap needed and win ahead of championship leader David Staab.

It comes as Brandon Gdovic was in attendance with the team all weekend, coaching and supporting the effort despite injuries sustained in a heavy incident at Road America.

“It was great; I was worried with the one-second penalty, but it didn’t matter,” Holguin said. “It’s so big for the team. One heck of a comeback from that Watkins clash. I had a bad result. Brandon, we know what happened. We were 2-3 in the first race (with Staab and the third PPM driver, Cooper Broll) and now 1-2 in the second.”

Staab was second with Nick Groat third for XONINE Racing in his first podium visit since Monterey.

In LB Cup, Touchette started at the back for a second straight day following a technical infraction discovered in post-qualifying technical inspection. But he rallied for a second consecutive day; he went from seventh to first.

He extended his points lead following the win, moving to the front after polesitter and Race 1 winner Christopher Tasca (Forty7 Motorsports) had an issue exiting Turn 14.

“It was unexpected to finish first today starting last,” Touchette said. “I just kept the pace and was patient. I waited to see if there were mistakes from other cars. Then I got a bit lucky on the restart and had good pace to the end. I feel I was very fast at this track; we were unfortunate to start from last, but we took the opportunity to move forward.”

Ray Shahi (Taurino Racing) and Rocky T. Bolduc (Topp Racing) completed the LB Cup podium.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America resumes at Indianapolis the weekend of September 18-20 for Rounds 9 and 10. They’re the last two continental races in North America this season, before Rounds 11 and 12 as part of the Lamborghini World Final in Monza, Italy in October.

Porsche Penske Runs 1-2 Halfway Through IMSA’s Endurance Return at Road America

Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix Also Sees CrowdStrike, AO and Heart of Racing Leading Respective Classes

August 2, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Results (Hour 3)

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Julien Andlauer led through the first three hours of the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix, the fourth and newest IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup round of the season from Road America and the eighth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race of the year. The final three hours continue live on Peacock and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.

Andlauer shares the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 with Felipe Nasr in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and overall, leading the sister No. 6 car of Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor. Both Porsche Penske entries are carrying historic liveries this weekend.

The third of four full-course cautions, which flew with three hours and 42 minutes remaining for an incident for the No. 34 car, shifted the order as a number of cars either got caught out by the caution timing, committed an infraction, or got jumped by cars on alternate pit strategies.

Sheldon van der Linde built a significant gap following the second restart of the six-hour race to more than 20 seconds aboard his No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 he shares with Dries Vanthoor. But the third full-course caution of the race erased that.

Andlauer’s No. 7 car jumped the No. 24 BMW on the stop on a short fill (5.9 seconds quicker on most recent stop) as van der Linde handed his car to Vanthoor. The second Porsche Penske entry, the No. 6 car of Kevin Estre and Vanthoor’s older brother Laurens Vanthoor, leapt to third, with Estre then getting past Dries Vanthoor for second just shy of the three-hour mark.

Porsche Penske won at Road America in 2023 and 2024 while BMW M Team WRT is in pursuit of its first Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) win this season.

BMW won here overall last year with Dries Vanthoor and Philipp Eng sharing a BMW M Team RLL-entered car in a 1-2 finish. The sister No. 25 car ran second for most of the first three hours on an off-sequence strategy, having eschewed a stop at the first caution, but was assessed a drive-through for a pit speed violation on its second stop.

From the front row, both Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 entries fell down the order slightly and the championship-leading No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R will play catch-up after a pit lane speed violation on its most recent pit stop. Jack Aitken started the No. 31 car and has rotated it through to Frederik Vesti and Earl Bamber.

In Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Jeremy Clarke and PJ Hyett ran close early before their teammates, Bijoy Garg and Jonny Edgar, took over the Nos. 43 Inter Europol Competition and No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07s, respectively. Edgar, in his Road America debut, closed on Garg in the third hour and appeared close to a move. But they too got caught out by the third full-course caution as they entered a closed pit.

That promoted the championship-leading No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA to the lead in the hands of Toby Sowery, having taken over from George Kurtz. Alex Quinn will finish. AO Racing recovered to second with its No. 99 car with Edgar, PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron aboard. Hyett and Cameron won here last year. The No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen ORECA (Misha Goikhberg, Parker Thompson, Harry Tincknell) ran third.

From pole, AO Racing also leads in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO). Harry King started and Nick Tandy now drives the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), with the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R (Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg) second and the No. 033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO third (Riccardo Agostini, James Calado) third.

Milner noted the Porsche’s pace after his first stint: “I think we’re in an OK position. The Porsche is definitely fast if they want to be. I don’t think we quite have their pace but it was good to see the 3 car not saving energy and what the pace of the car is there.”

Championship leader Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello leads Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) in his No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, the car he shares with Zacharie Robichon and Tom Gamble. DragonSpeed’s No. 81 Corvette Z06 GT3.R runs second (Giacomo Altoe, Casper Stevenson, Alec Udell) with the Lone Star Racing No. 80 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in third (Scott Andrews, Lin Hodenius, James Roe).

A pair of full-course cautions interrupted the first hour of the race, but drivers for both the No. 16 and No. 37 cars were evaluated and released following wall contact in separate incidents.

With the first Michelin Endurance Cup points awarded, the No. 7 car of Andlauer and Nasr moves back ahead of Laurin Heinrich in GTP with the maximum five points achieved at the three-hour mark. Unofficially, Andlauer and Nasr now have 44 points to Heinrich’s 42 for the season with the six-hour mark left to complete for points.

CrowdStrike’s maximum five points puts them within one of AO’s No. 99 car for the LMP2 lead (36-35) following the three-hour mark.

Despite an incident right at the three-hour mark, the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO still leads the GTD PRO Michelin Endurance Cup points for the moment.

But in GTD, the No. 27’s lead at the three-hour mark now sees them within one point for the year (31-30) of the leading No. 21 Af Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO.

Yelloly Leads Front-Row Sweep for Acura Meyer Shank Racing for Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America

Goldburg Puts No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA in Catbird Seat in LMP2

August 1, 2026

By Holly Cain

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – For the second consecutive year, the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 will lead the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Chamiponship field to green at the historic Road America road course.

Brit Nick Yelloly turned in a lap of 1 minute, 49.233 seconds (133.409 mph) to take pole position for Sunday’s six-hour Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix (11:40 a.m. ET on Peacock).

He led a front-row Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) sweep for Acura that also includes Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 car with veteran Tom Blomqvist moving up the speed chart in the final five minutes of the 15-minute session around the 14-corner, 4.048-mile circuit. Blomqvist's best lap was 1:49.390 (133.218 mph).

The No. 24 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 will roll off third thanks to a qualifying effort from Sheldon van der Linde at 1:49.597 (132.966 mph) sharing the second row on the grid with Louis Deletraz in the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, which was fastest in Saturday’s rainy morning practice session. Deletraz's best qualifying lap was 1:49.613 (132.947 mph).

In a final dramatic lap in the closing seconds of the qualifying session, Laurens Vanthoor put the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 fifth on the grid at 1:50.295 (132.125 mph) ahead of the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R driven by GTP class championship leader Jack Aitken (1:50.361, 132.046 mph).

It's the second consecutive Road America pole position for the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura, which led opening practice for the weekend and finished third last season in what had previously been a two-hour, 40-minute race.

It marks Yelloly’s fourth career series pole and first since Long Beach in April. He’s co-driving with last year’s pole-winning driver, Renger van der Zande. The pair were quite confident about the qualifying session following a successful test here at Road America in July.

“Clearly, (we) knew we would be competitive,’’ Yelloly said, adding, “I wouldn't say you're ever super confident in getting the pole exactly. We knew we would be competitive. I thought if we could do a good lap, we would definitely be inside the top three or four.

“We did a new tire run yesterday as well and had a good feeling with the car. We were also pretty fast and competitive in the wet. I just felt if I did my job and put the lap together well that we would be at the front. Congrats to HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) and MSR for giving me the car to do so.”

As for the extended race length, Yelloly said the pole position would be particularly helpful in getting a solid, no-drama start.

“It always means you hopefully stay out of the first lap or two chaos," he said. “I'm happy to be at the front. It means you don't get caught up in any of the silliness on cold tires on the first few laps.

“I think it's always important to be at the front, to be honest, whether it's a two-hour race or a six-hour race.”

Aitken, the 30-year-old Brit who entered the weekend with a 203-point lead over Laurin Heinrich atop the championship standings. Heinrich is in an unusual situation alternating between the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 and the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 he is steering this weekend. Heinrich and co-drivers Kaylen Frederick and Tijmen van der Helm will start last in the 11-car GTP class.

Although the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac was one of three GTP entries that opted not to run Saturday’s rainy practice session, Aitken said team was happy with the car’s speed and expects to stay in contention.

“A bit of a struggle to get the lap time out of it," Aitken said. “It’s just been a very up and down day with the weather, and we weren't really sure what conditions we were going to get.

“[Qualifying] ended up being dry and not too bad I would say, in terms of grip. But just missing that last little bit. So, we're just going to have a dig around tonight, see what we can find, and get ready for six hours tomorrow, because that's obviously what counts.”

Goldburg Earns LMP2 Pole for United Autosports

American Daniel Goldburg claimed pole position for the 12-car Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, turning in a fast lap of 1:54.212 (127.593 mph) in the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07 – bettering Canadian Misha Goikhberg in the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1 Mathiasen ORECA LMP2 07 by 0.262 of a second.

It marks the first pole position of the season for the No. 22 United Autosports USA team and is significant for Goldburg who comes into the Road America six-hour race ranked fourth in the LMP2 class championship standings. Goldburg, who won his first IMSA pole in the former LMP3 class at Road America in 2021, looks to score his first win since hoisting a trophy in the 2025 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen. The team finished last among the 14 LMP2 entries a year ago here.

After a spirited battle in qualifying, the top four cars were ultimately separated by only 0.522 seconds. The No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 will start on the second row alongside the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA, which won this race from pole position in last year’s two-hour, 40-minute version of the event.

“It’s a lot of emotion for me,” Goldburg acknowledged. “I’ve been super close many times since Daytona last year so really been gunning for another pole. Also, this season we could use some good finishes here at the end here to bring us back up in the standings that we were leading only a couple races ago. So, this means a lot to me and the team.

“What made the difference? I was pushing a little harder,’’ he added with a smile.

The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA, which starts fifth in class, has some work ahead on Sunday with co-drivers Alex Quinn and George Kurtz guarding a 70-point lead atop the championship standings over the No. 43 Inter Euopol Competition co-drivers Jeremy Clarke and Tom Dillmann. The No. 99 AO Racing co-drivers PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron are only 81 points off the championship lead.

The Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix runs from 11:40 a.m.-5:40 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 3. Flag-to-flag live coverage will be streamed on Peacock in the U.S., and via IMSA.TV and the official IMSA YouTube channel internationally.

King, Wadoux Take First Career Motul Pole Awards at Road America

"Rexy" Porsche on Point for Home Race

Wadoux Becomes First Woman to Win WeatherTech Championship Pole Since 2018

August 1, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – It was a day of firsts at Road America in the production car-based GT classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in qualifying for the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix.

Harry King earned his first Motul Pole Award in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) PRO class in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R that he shares with Nick Tandy.

Meanwhile, Lilou Wadoux achieved a similar first-time honor in the GTD class in the No. 21 Af Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO. Wadoux is the first female to start from pole in the WeatherTech Championship since Katherine Legge qualified for the top spot in the same class at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in 2018. Wadoux’s co-drivers are Simon Mann and Antonio Fuoco.

Klaus Bachler set the early GTD PRO pace in the No. 911 Porsche prepared by Manthey, but learned he would lose his benchmark 2 minute, 4.283-second lap to a track limits infringement violation. Then with under three minutes remaining in the 15-minute session, King clocked a 2:04.265 to take over the top spot. He improved next time around with the pole winning lap of 2:04.042, corresponding to an average speed of 117.482 miles per hour.

Just before King crossed the line, Neil Verhagen briefly jumped to the top with a 2:04.182 effort (117.350 mph) in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO that was ultimately good enough for the outside of the front row. Alexander Sims was another who found speed at the end, moving up to third in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R at 2:04.264 (117.272 mph). The top six were clustered within half a second.

It was the 10th pole in IMSA competition for AO Racing, but only its third in the GTD PRO class. AO’s well-known ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 won the GTD PRO championship with Laurin Heinrich (who now competes in the WeatherTech Championship’s Grand Touring Prototype class) in 2024.

Based in greater Chicago, AO Racing considers Road America its home track.

“It’s a great emotion and a great feeling, because we came so close last time out in Canada and finished second,” said King, who has notched a pair of runner-ups with Tandy in 2026 but is still seeking his first win. “We started from the front row at Watkins Glen, but to get that pole position here in the home race for AO is really special. The lap was well put together and the team worked incredibly hard leading to this weekend. They always do, but this weekend they really put in that extra bit of effort. I could really sense that.

“To complete the lap and be told we were on pole position was a fantastic emotion, so credit to all the individuals at AO Racing for putting it together.”

King believes that he and Tandy are poised on the brink of a breakthrough victory in Sunday’s six-hour race. They rank third in the GTD PRO standings, 144 points behind leaders Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi.

“The team has been doing a very good job all season,” he said. “That last little bit has clicked for us this weekend. We’ve been collecting the points, and we’re certainly not missing anything. There’s a lot of points on the table and we’re going to try to collect as many as possible and try to enter the last half of the season with the most possible momentum.”

Breakthrough Pole for Wadoux

Wadoux, 25, from Amiens, France, was signed as a Ferrari factory driver in 2023 and was the first woman to win a race in the FIA World Endurance Championship. She continues to impress every time she’s in a car on either side of the Atlantic.

On her first trip to Road America – considered one of the most exhilarating and challenging circuits in the world – she produced a pole-winning effort with about three-and-a-half minutes remaining in the 15-minute GTD qualifying session.

Wadoux has already claimed three wins in WeatherTech Championship competition including the 2025 Motul Petit Le Mans and this year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

“Last week was my first time here in a test, and to be honest, it is an exquisite track,” she remarked. “We know when you come here in the U.S. you will find nice tracks, a little bit old school. I enjoy every moment at this track because it’s so special compared to Europe.

“I have to give credit to the other girls who showed we are able to do the same,” Wadoux added.

She is the second woman to win a pole at Road America this weekend, joining Hannah Grisham, who started the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race from the top spot earlier Saturday afternoon. In fact, Grisham and her co-driver, Hannah Greenemeier, are riding a three-race pole-winning streak that series, with Grisham also taking pole for June's race at Watkins Glen and Greenemeier taking pole last month at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“It’s good, but I am quite happy as a driver to earn pole position," Wadoux said. "I hope we will see more and more in the next years, that it will continue this way.”

She paid tribute to the Af Corse team, which is competing only in the five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races in 2026.

“We have a new car here and the team did an amazing job to prepare everything and give us a good car,” Wadoux said. “For sure it was not easy after Practice 2 was in the rain. I wasn’t sure we were ready for the quali, but at the end, we did a pretty good job, I think.

“Now we will see what we can do tomorrow.”

The Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix starts at 11:40 a.m. ET (10:40 a.m. local time), with flag-to-flag coverage livestreamed on Peacock in the U.S., and IMSA.TV and the official IMSA YouTube channel internationally.

Car Blanche Makes a Name for Itself with Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America Win

Herta Hyundai Returns to the Top of TCR

August 1, 2026

By John Oreovicz and Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Car Blanche is a new name and entrant to IMSA competition this summer, who has delivered an intriguing start to its tenure since YRB Racing acquired the former van der Steur Racing. But make no mistake, Car Blanche has quickly made an impression.

Its most forceful statement to date came Saturday at the Road America 120 as the new team scored its first overall and Grand Sport (GS) class victory in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge in only its third start.

Allen Patten and Trenton Estep started ninth on the 4.048-mile, 14-corner Road America circuit in the No. 66 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO and utilized perfect strategy in changing conditions to prevail in a race that ended under caution.

Estep secured the first triumph for Car Blanche with an authoritative pass on Matt Plumb in the No. 46 Team TGM Ford Mustang GT4 with 18 minutes remaining. The two cars banged doors on the run to Turn 3, with the contact knocking the left-side mirror off Estep’s machine. Plumb then hip checked the right-rear corner of the Aston Martin as it turned into the apex, but Estep maintained control and had pulled out to a 4.66-second lead before an incident with 10 minutes to go caused the race to end under a full-course caution.

Plumb and Paul Holton took second place for their best result of the year, while the final podium spot went to Caio Chaves and Guilherme Salas in the No. 54 PanAm Motorsport Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.

Most of the race was run in light rain or drizzle, but conditions were dry enough for all competitors to change from rain to slick tires with pit stops a little over 40 minutes into the race that were perfectly timed for driver changes. By then, Patten had gained three spots to sixth place on the opening lap, and he had moved up to fourth when he handed the car to Estep.

The next key moment came when the third of four full-course cautions flew with 50 minutes left in the race. The top three runners missed the window to enter the pits before they closed, and after making a second stop, Estep and the No. 66 found themselves running fifth, the leading runner who would definitely not need to make another stop for fuel. Plumb and Team TGM, meanwhile, were gambling on additional cautions that would allow them to make the finish on a single stop.

“We had really good pace in traffic and the team made a perfect call to get us in before the yellow,” Estep said. “We only took left sides, which helped us jump one spot in the pits. I maximized it and moved on.”

Plumb fought valiantly but was ultimately unable to resist Estep’s charge. Car Blanche has now improved its result in each of its three races to date, from fifth place at Watkins Glen International to fourth at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, to winning at Road America.

“We finally gave Trenton a car he could work with at the end,” said Car Blanche team principal Chris Deely. “P5 and P4 was good…but we even said on the stand in the last hour of the race, if we didn’t come away with a win, we wouldn’t have been happy.

“I have the utmost trust in both drivers, especially at the end,” he added. “I wouldn’t have picked any other driver to be in our car.”

It was the second Michelin Pilot Challenge race in a row to feature a first-time winning team and driver lineup, following Kiko Porto and Varun Choksey’s victory at CTMP.

“Man, it means everything,” said Patten. “I’ve been driving for three years and only racing for two. It’s been a pretty crazy journey, I’ve met amazing people in the team here at Car Blanche and I’m super thankful to them.

“I’m learning a tremendous amount from Trenton – he’s absolutely first class – and we’re going to try hard to stay on top.”

In an unusual day where each of the top five in the GS championship finished seventh or worse, Robert Noaker and Nate Cicero in the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 still extended their championship lead.

Unofficially, their 11th place result builds their lead to 100 points over both Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer (No. 27 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO) and Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars (No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO). The No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky was assessed a postrace time penalty applied at the checkered flag for incident responsibility.

Cicero was running second, one of the three leaders who missed making it into the open pits before the decisive caution.

“I was struggling with the radio back there in Canada Corner – that’s just how the track is – and we just missed the call,” said Noaker. “Just ended up being unfortunate. I think we might have ultimately been able to make it like the other Mustangs, but our other competitors in the points had some misfortune after ours and I think that saved us a little bit.

“It’s going to make it interesting.”

TCR: Dupont Uses Traffic to Advantage to Pass Neto for Win

Being called “a machine on restarts” is high praise, and Preston Brown’s description of co-driver Denis Dupont in his No. 76 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR couldn’t have been more fitting in Round 7 of the Touring Car (TCR) season.

Dupont ran second behind Celso Neto, in a one-off drive aboard the No. 55 Gou Racing w/Stallion Audi RS3 LMS TCR, in what was shaping up to be the final green flag run to the finish. Neto inherited the lead on an off-sequence pit strategy, eschewing a second stop to gain track position, and then run ahead of a six-pack of TCR contenders.

After a restart with 23 minutes to go, Neto appeared poised to deliver Audi its first win of the season and complete the set of 18 participating OEMs in IMSA winning at least one IMSA-sanctioned race in 2026.

Dupont had other ideas. The Montreal-based Belgian used GS traffic to his advantage to get past with just under 15 minutes to go, going inside exiting The Kink as Neto failed to gain enough time to get past the GS car. With a stronger acceleration out of Canada Corner, Turn 12, Dupont was able to pull away under the remaining green flag running before a final full-course caution flew with nine minutes remaining.

“I saw him having some GS traffic and I managed to pass the GS right away (thereafter),” Dupont explained. “(Neto) was super-fast, so was then good to keep him behind.”

Brown hailed his co-driver: “It’s a little heart in mouth! But he’s a machine on restarts. We’ve had some great place jumps on restarts.”

It’s Dupont and Brown’s second win of the year, and first since the season-opening four-hour BMW M Endurance Challenge At Daytona. The win is also the 33rd for the Herta team, which puts them one away from Turner Motorsport’s all-time record of 34 series wins.

The No. 76 car, which started fifth, got up to third early and stayed there once Brown handed to Dupont. Brown was pleased with his own wet weather running, noting previous experience earlier in his career aided him in the tricky wet-to-drying conditions that made up his first 40-plus minutes in the car.

Neto, who shared the No. 55 Gou Audi with Eddie Gou, scored his first podium since Indianapolis last year, when he also finished second, also in an Audi. His best finish in 2026 in the No. 77 Stallion Motorsports w/GOU Cupra Leon VZ TCR was fifth at the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Gou and father Eduardo Gou finished third at Watkins Glen International in the LP Building Solutions 120 two races ago.

Brown and Dupont gained 50 points on championship leading teammates Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris, who scored their sixth podium in seven races aboard the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Unofficially, the No. 33 car leads the No. 76 car by 150 points with three races remaining.

Honda’s fourth straight pole failed to produce a result of note, as the manufacturer failed to record a podium finish for the first time in Sebring in March. The No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR rallied through reported brake issues to finish fourth, with the third of four Herta Hyundais (the No. 18 car) completing the top five.

Michelin Pilot Challenge competitors head next to VIRginia International Raceway on Saturday, Aug. 22, for Round 8 of the season. The Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix will cap off a run of five races across three months from June through August.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix

Pole Winners Qualifying Press Conference Transcript

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 1, 2026) - Transcript from the post-qualifying press conference for Sunday's Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America.

Drivers include Lilou Wadoux (No. 21 Af Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO), Harry King (No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R), Daniel Goldburg (No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07) and Nick Yelloly (No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06).

THE MODERATOR: We're pleased to be joined by our pole winners here. We will start with our pole winner, Lilou Wadoux. First career pole, her first appearance here at Road America. This will be her 13th WeatherTech Championship start.

Lilou, congratulations. Pole position, something you haven't done here yet. What does it mean to you? How does it set you guys up for tomorrow's race?

LILOU WADOUX: Yeah, I'm quite happy with this pole position. We had (indiscernible) in Watkins Glen, so I was not there. But we had issues on the car. We had new car for here. The team did amazing job to have a good car. For sure it was not easy with the FP2 on the rain. Not really ready for the quallie. But at the end we did a pretty good job I think.

Yeah, we'll see what we can do tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: We'll move to Harry King. First career pole here in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, his eighth appearance. Harry, congratulations. Obviously an important race for the team, given proximity to headquarters. Tell us about getting the pole and how it sets you up for tomorrow.

HARRY KING: Yeah, great emotion, great feeling. Came close in Canada not long ago to get into pole position. Start on the front row, but not quite the pole position. Here at Road America, home race of AO, also my home race because I don't have one back home.

The lap was really well put together. The team worked incredibly hard leading up to this weekend. They always do, but this weekend they really put in that extra bit of effort. I could really sense that and not only see it myself. To complete the lap and be told we were on pole position was a fantastic emotion. Credit to all the people at AO Racing for this.

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Daniel Goldburg. Third career pole in IMSA competition. His first career pole came here at Road America in 2021. Looking for his first win since Watkins Glen 2025.

Dan, congratulations. Very close at the front as always. What made the difference today?

DANIEL GOLDBURG: It's a lot of emotion for me. I've been super close many times since Daytona last year. So really been gunning for another pole. Also this season we could use some good finishes at the end here to bring us back up the standings where we were leading a couple races ago.

This means a lot to me and to the team.

What made the difference? Just pushing a little harder. Turn one is a big thing here. The carousel. Team gave me an amazing car and let me do my thing out here.

THE MODERATOR: We'll get questions going.

Q. Harry, talking and looking at how this season has gone as a whole, it kind of seems like you have flown under the radar. Speak to maybe helping gather momentum for the final end of the season?

HARRY KING: Yeah, no, the team has been doing a very good job all season. I think that one last little bit has clicked for us this weekend. The amount of podiums we've had this year, but not a victory, probably consolidates your opinion where we've flown under the radar.

We've been collecting the points, third in the standings currently. Certainly not missing anything. Starting on the front row tomorrow. It's a big six-hour race, which means there's a lot of points on the table. We have to collect as many as possible and get the final half of the season under a good momentum.

Q. The significance of this, that can't be lost on you. Many women have come through here and want to be recognized as a race driver. To come in and make a mark for something that hasn't happened in a long time.

LILOU WADOUX: Yeah, that can give idea to some other girls to show that we are able to do the same, it's good. But I'm quite happy as a driver to do the pole position. Then we will see. We are more and more, so we will see in the next years if it continue in this way.

Q. Lilou, Road America, many people think of it as one of the great circuits in the U.S. if not the world. Anything extra special at getting first pole here?

LILOU WADOUX: Yeah, it was my first time last week in test. To be honest, it was really nice. When you come here, we know it's always a nice track. A little bit old school. To be honest, I really like this track and enjoy every moment because it's quite special.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Congratulations and best of luck tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Nick Yelloly. His fourth career pole in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, first since Long Beach in April of this year. Looking for his fourth win. He'll be making his 37th start tomorrow.

Nick, congratulations. Obviously your team has been strong here the entire weekend so far. Pole position. What has it been about this place that seems to work so well for you guys? How do you convert it into a win tomorrow?

NICK YELLOLY: Yeah, I think going back since the inauguration of this car, it's always tended to be pretty fast here. I remember in '23 and '24 -- not '24 with this team, but in '24 with WTR, they were very fast here as well.

Clearly knew we would be competitive. We also tested here a few weeks ago. The car felt very good. Yeah, the track suits our car, I would say. I knew I had to put a good lap together. Obviously good in qualifying as well. Got us on the pole position. Managed to do that. Look forward to racing tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: We'll go to questions.

Q. I wanted to ask you how confident were you in getting the pole with the change in the weather conditions between yesterday and today?

NICK YELLOLY: I wouldn't say you're ever super confident in getting the pole exactly. We knew we would be competitive. I thought if we could do a good lap, we would definitely be inside the top three or four.

We did a new tire run yesterday as well and had a good feeling with the car. We were also pretty fast and competitive in the wet. I just felt if I did my job and put the lap together well that we would be at the front.

Yeah, congrats to HRC and MSR for giving me the car to do so.

Q. You want to start a race out front. Talk about the difference in the race being three times as long as it normally is? How much of an advantage do you see that being starting at the front?

NICK YELLOLY: Yeah, I mean, it always means you hopefully stay out of the first-lap-or-two chaos. I'm happy to be at the front. It means you don't get caught up in any of the silliness on cold tires on the first few laps.

Yeah, I think it's always important to be at the front, to be honest, whether it's a two-hour race or a six-hour race.

Q. We know there's a countdown to the end of this program. With this program going 1-2 today, it's only qualifying, but what kind of a statement does this make, if any?

NICK YELLOLY: I think this year in general we've been really executing very well. Obviously we came back as a program at the start of last year. We knew on the 93 side everything and everyone was very, very new in terms of personnel, in terms of the car, to the drivers. We knew our second year we'd definitely be more competitive. It's just really nice to be able to show that.

It's unfortunate, yes, the program is coming to an end. I think if we stick to our guns, we can fight for the title in the final year of the program.

THE MODERATOR: Nick, congratulations. Best of luck tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

Qualifying Results | WeatherTech Championship

Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix

Road America - Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Practice 2 Results

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix

Road America - Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Practice 2 Results

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

XONINE Pair Thwart Rivals, Weather to Win Road America Lamborghini Super Trofeo Opener

WTR ProAm Win Streak Continues; 89X and Forty7 Break Through in Am and

LB Cup

July 31, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Will Bamber and Hampus Ericsson engaged in a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle to start Friday’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America first race at Road America. But their teammates Darius Trinka and Nick Persing finished the job, as a combination of potentially treacherous weather and traffic ahead of them made for a fun yet frantic finish.

Ultimately, Trinka held off Persing to ensure the No. 33 XONINE Racing, Lamborghini Chicago, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 won its second race of the season in Pro and overall to help move Bamber closer to the Pro championship lead.

Bamber led from pole early, although Ericsson completed a pass for the lead on the sixth lap. However, slightly quicker pit work helped position the No. 33 car back ahead of Ericsson and Persing’s No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing Huracán once the pit cycle completed.

Though Persing closed several tenths, he came up short by just 0.774 of a second as a light rain began to fall in the waning moments of the 50-minute race.

The championship-leading Elias De La Torre finished third in his No. 29 TR3 Racing Huracán he shared with Dennis Lind. Unofficially, Bamber is just three points behind De La Torre with Friday’s result.

“Will did the hard work, and I just had to get in the car and bring it home,” Trinka laughed, downplaying his finish.

Bamber hailed Trinka’s defense: “He was the one who had to bring it home under pressure! He never put a foot wrong. It was a tough race but an amazing race for all the men and women of this team.”

In ProAm, the Danny Formal and Graham Doyle juggernaut rolled on. The pair captured their seventh straight victory to open the campaign in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán. Formal qualified on pole with Doyle bringing the car home to win by 11.293 seconds.

“A tough day out there with the degradation and the late rain at the end,” Doyle said. “But as always, Wayne Taylor Racing gave us an awesome car and Danny got us out front early and kept us there.”

The No. 81 RAFA Racing entry of Ian Porter and Chloe Chambers scored their second podium of the year in second with the No. 63 TR3 entry of Mateo Siderman and Martin Fuentes completing the podium in third.

Armed with a fast car on the start, Johan Schwartz moved his No. 89 89x Motorsports, Lamborghini Sarasota, Huracán from second on the Am grid past polesitter Paul Whiting in his No. 74 SP Motorsports entry to the lead on the opening lap.

Once he turned over to Mike Fitzpatrick, the pair never looked back en route to a popular and – for Fitzpatrick – emotional first win of the year. Fitzpatrick noted he’d won a Formula USA race nearly 30 years ago at the track with his infant daughter present, and now was able to repeat the feat for his first Super Trofeo win.

“We’ve been close; we had a great start and the pace was good right off the bat,” Schwartz said. “So happy there weren’t full-course cautions to build a lead. Mike brought it home.”

Precision Performance Motorsports teammates David Staab and Cooper Broll completed the podium, with Am championship leader Staab banking his seventh podium in as many races.

In LB Cup, Christopher Tasca scored his first win on the road in his No. 95 Forty7 Motorsports, Lamborghini Greenwich, Huracán. Tasca inherited the Race Two win at Watkins Glen following a post-race time penalty assessed to Rocky T. Bolduc, but this was an authoritative win from the pole in a freshly liveried car.

“We’ve got a ‘Grave Digger’ livery now for my son,” Tasca said. “We had ‘Lightning McQueen’ the first few rounds, but now we’re monster trucks. The new livery gave us some new energy. It’s my second full-time season and first (proper) win. Rocky and I have a great friendship; he’s a great competitor and great friend. He wanted to give me that trophy on a technicality, but I told him I wanted one on the road.”

Philippe Touchette recovered well from a post-qualifying technical infraction that sent him to the back of the field to score his sixth podium in seven races aboard his No. 11 TB Autosports Huracán. Clay Wilson completed the podium for the first time since Round 1 at Sebring in his No. 37 TR3 entry.

Saturday’s second race of the weekend is at 5 p.m. CT and local time (6 p.m. ET). The race streams via Peacock, IMSA’s YouTube channel and Lamborghini’s YouTube channel.

Acura 1-2 Makes Early Statement at Road America

United Autosports USA, Manthey and Car Blanche Top Respective Class Charts

July 31, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Practice Results

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – It’s only Friday, but Nick Yelloly looked like he enjoyed a ‘Sunday drive’ around Road America as practice opened for the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix. It’s the eighth race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season and the fourth of five races in the 2026 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.

Yelloly ran a series of quick laps around the 4.048-mile circuit in the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06, culminating in a 1 minute, 51.008-second effort (131.276 mph) that paced the 90-minute session.

The time was a full 0.697 seconds quicker than Tom Blomqvist managed in the sister No. 60 Meyer Shank entry he shares with Colin Braun at 1:51.705 (130.457 mph) as Acura put itself in prime early position to contend for the win in Sunday’s 6-hour WeatherTech Championship race.

Yelloly, who earned the Motul Pole Award for Acura last year at Road America, set an early benchmark of 1:52.197 after just 18 minutes, then returned to the car to complete the session with a pair of laps faster than Blomqvist’s best.

Yelloly and co-driver Renger van der Zande are looking for their second Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) win of the season (the other came at the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic) as they attempt to close a 245-point deficit in the GTP standings to leader Jack Aitken, who was seventh fastest in Friday’s practice on 1:52.416 (129.632 mph) in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R. Aitken’s co-drivers are Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.

Cadillac’s other GTP entries prepared by Wayne Taylor Racing were encouraged after finishing third and fifth in the session. The No. 40 Cadillac V-Series.R was the quicker of the pair at 1:52.131 (129.961 mph) despite missing more than 30 minutes of practice time with what was suspected to be a power steering issue.

“Thank goodness we have two cars at Wayne Taylor Racing, because the No. 10 car was able to do the work while our car was being looked at,” said Jordan Taylor, who shares the No. 40 with Louis Deletraz. “It’s unfortunate to lose the track time, but we tested here a couple weeks ago along with a lot of other guys. The car doesn’t feel quite as good as it did, but you look at the times, and at least we’re in the hunt.

“It’s probably the same for everyone,” he added. “It’s a lot cooler than a lot of people anticipated coming here (it was 77 degrees and cloudy for Friday’s practice), and that maybe threw a wrench in everyone’s plans, but I think we’re adapting well.”

Paul Di Resta turned an early lap of 1:54.166 (127.645 mph) in the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07 (co-drivers Daniel Goldburg and Rasmus Lindh) to lead the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class as the top three cars were separated by just 0.336 seconds. Dane Cameron was second fastest in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA, followed by Mikkel Jensen in United Autosport’s No. 2 entry.

International racing force Manthey Racing continued its impressive run in the Michelin Endurance Cup, which was most recently highlighted by the team’s No. 912 Porsche 911 GT3.R winning the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

At Road America, Thomas Preining was fastest Friday in the GTD PRO class in the No. 911 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). Preining, whose co-driver is Klaus Bachler, clocked 2:05.384 (116.225 mph) to edge Ricardo Agostini (No. 033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo) by just 0.034 seconds.

GTD was similarly close as the No. 068 Car Blanche Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, that has made such an impressive IMSA debut starting with Watkins Glen this year, was quickest in the hands of Valentin Hasse Clot (co-drivers Marius Fossard and Trenton Estep). His 2:05.491 (116.125 mph) effort was 0.074 seconds quicker than Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 that he shares with two-time defending GTD class champion Russell Ward and endurance driver Indy Dontje.

While the race day forecast is currently dry, there’s a possibility of rain on Saturday, when WeatherTech Championship qualifying is set to take place starting at 4:25 p.m. ET, 3:25 p.m. CT and local time. The prospect of a wet track at some point in the day is positive for some competitors.

“I love driving in the rain,” said Wisconsin native Aaron Telitz, who shares the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 with Benjamin Pedersen and Frankie Montecalvo in the GTD class. “It’s a different challenge in the car; it’s more enjoyable in sports cars because you’re not getting soaked the whole time like you would be an open wheel car. And Road America is such a fun track in the wet. There’s a lot of different lines you can take in different parts of the racetrack, so it makes some really fun racing.”

Grisham Delivers Heart of Racing Team’s Third Straight IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Pole of Season at Road America

Montour Records Fourth Straight Pole in TCR for Honda

July 31, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Hannah Grisham has won Heart of Racing Team’s third straight pole for either herself or Hannah Greenemeier in the all-Hannah lineup aboard the team’s No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO.

Similar to Greenemeier’s at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, a red flag interrupted the 15-minute session at Road America but Grisham was still able to set the pace. With a best lap of 2:14.505 (108.343 mph) around the 4.048-mile circuit, Grisham has her second Motul Pole Award of the season.

Now the job is improving upon a best finish of sixth in Grand Sport (GS) in Saturday’s Road America 120, Round 7 of the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season.

“It’s really exciting with Hannah’s at Canada, and now me doubling at Road America,” Grisham said. “It’s one of my favorite tracks. We were saved a bit by the bell from the red flag, but the car was really amazing today.

“It was overcast skies, and cooler temps help our car. All the crew at Heart of Racing have done such a great job. It’s amazing to be here in IMSA and looking forward to tomorrow and hoping to close the deal!”

The No. 60 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4, qualified by Evan Slater, will start second after he qualified just 0.042 of a second off the pole. He’ll share the car with Mike Skeen. The No. 23 Koch-Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 will start third, qualified by Ford Koch with Jaxon Bell due to finish.

GS championship leaders Robert Noaker and Nate Cicero will roll off fourth in the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4. Cicero won the pole and he and Jenson Altzman won last year’s race here. Altzman is set to participate in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix, the six-hour race aboard the No. 16 Myers Riley Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3.

LP Montour, meanwhile, secured his third straight and Honda’s fourth consecutive pole in Touring Car (TCR). The driver of the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR set a flyer of 2:16.128 (107.451 mph) early and held on from there ahead of a similar Honda fielded by KMW Motorsport by TMR Engineering, qualified by Rocco Pasquarella. Montour will share the No. 93 Honda with Karl Wittmer; Pasquarella his No. 5 Honda with Tim Lewis Jr.

TCR championship leaders Bryson Morris and Mason Filippi start third in their No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR, ahead of the first Audi on the grid from Baker Racing (Sam Baker and James Vance, No. 52 Audi RS3 LMS TCR). Morris scored his first Michelin Pilot Challenge win at Road America last year, sharing the No. 33 Hyundai with veteran Mark Wilkins.

Saturday’s Road America 120 race goes green at 12:50 p.m. CT and local time (1:50 p.m. ET). Live race coverage streams flag-to-flag on Peacock and ad-free, courtesy of Michelin, on the IMSA Official YouTube channel.

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix

Road America - Friday, July 31, 2026