WATKINS GLEN, New York – Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing team Winward Racing successfully renewed its 2026 championship campaign in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series at Watkins Glen International with a victory in Saturday’s two-hour race on the 3.4-mile circuit with co-drivers Bryce Ward and Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4. A fast-closing Ellis inherited the top spot with less than 20 minutes to go when the team that led the majority of the race slowed with a cut tire.
The victory was the first for a Mercedes-AMG GT4 in IMSA competition in more than a year, dating back to the No. 57 Winward team’s triumph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the fall of 2023. The timely win also made up for Winward’s worst finish of the season in the race leading into The Glen when a mechanical issue knocked the No. 57 out of winning contention and well down in the finishing order at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
After leading the Grand Sport (GS) championship earlier in the season after two podium finishes and a fourth place in the year’s first three races, the No. 57 team and drivers dropped to fifth in the point standings after Mid-Ohio. They arrived at The Glen determined to race back into the championship. Ward moved the bid off to a solid start with a season-best fifth-place qualifying effort and raced in the lead pack and on pace throughout his race-opening stint. Ellis took over with just over an hour to go and was steadily closing in when the leader encountered the tire issue, bringing out the first caution late in the two-hour race.
Ellis – filling in for Ward’s full-season co-driver Daan Arrow, who was competing in the 24 Hours of Spa – moved into the lead and sealed his first victory in IMSA GS competition when another yellow flag ended the race under caution. Ward secured his third career Pilot Challenge victory while Winward Racing now has four career GS victories in the series.
Ward and the No. 57 team have jumped back up to third in the GS standings with 1,320 points in a close title battle. They trail the second-place team and drivers by just 10 points while the class leaders are only 70 points ahead after the fifth of the year’s 10 races.
The Watkins Glen races marked the mid-year point for both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IMSA Pilot Challenge seasons as the fifth race in each series’ 10-race season.
The Glen also hosted the mid-season round of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (IMEC) season, a championship within the overall WeatherTech season honoring the top performers in the year’s five endurance races. The Sahlen’s Six Hours is the third IMEC race of the season, with the Rolex 24 and 12 Hours of Sebring in the books and the inaugural 6 Hours of Road America and season-ending 10-Hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta still to come.
In Sunday’s featured Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, Lone Star Racing stepped up for its second straight race to secure the best Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing result. Competing in GT Daytona (GTD) in IMEC in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with co-drivers Scott Andrews, Lin Hodenius and James Roe Jr., the team advanced to battle in the lead pack in the race’s opening hour after starting driver Roe picked up several positions.
Hodenius, handling the middle driving stint in his Watkins Glen debut, moved up to second near the end of his shift, but a string of race-slowing cautions, a mix of strategies and some late-race mechanical gremlins ultimately made just staying on the lead lap and in the GTD top 10 a challenge.
Closing driver Andrews stayed in touch with the other pacesetters throughout his stint and ultimately took the checkered flag 10th in GTD, the final car on the lead lap and less than 50 seconds behind the class winners. Off to a career-best start to an Endurance Cup season, Lone Star is joined by the overall IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTD championship leaders as the only teams in GTD to have completed every lap run to date in the opening 42 hours of IMEC competition in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Salen’s Six Hours.
Winward was also hoping to restore its championship pursuit of a third-straight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTD title at The Glen, but instead the team’s No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, and co-drivers Ellis, Russell Ward and Indy Dontje were knocked from winning contention on Sunday for the second year in a row and second time in 2026 IMEC competition. After getting caught up again in an accident that was no fault of their own, the no-quit champions returned to finish the race in 15th place.
The fourth Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing team competing at The Glen, Murillo Racing with P1 Motor Club endured a challenging weekend of its own in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. The No. 24 Murillo Racing with P1 Motor Club Mercedes-AMG GT4, and co-drivers Aurora Straus and Kenny Murillo, persevered through a string of in-race issues to take the checkered flag 19th in the GS class. The team has quickly shifted focus to the next series round in two weeks at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) where Murillo Racing has been victorious in the past.
The CTMP weekend, July 10 – 12, is the only international race of the season and features the sixth round of both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTD championship and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS championship.
“Honestly, I think it comes down to teamwork, teamwork, teamwork! My co-driver Philip Ellis helped me so much during the practice that we did here, and that put us in a position to be really competitive right from the start. And, you know, I lost a couple of positions, it’s always a little tough to get the tires up to temperature, but I hung in there with them and it was awesome. I was really happy to turn the car over to Philip in a really good position. The lead car really jumped us a bit at the pit stop. Not sure what we did wrong there or what they did right. Our pit stop looked great, but they came out probably 10 seconds ahead of us, but it was really sad to see them come up with the tire issue. It was also sad to see the Turner car hit something and really damage their car. So unfortunate, but the Racing Gods were in our favor today and thank God they were! This puts us back in the championship hunt again. So, thrilled to be here, thrilled to have Philip co-drive with me and already looking forward to the next race when we will have Daan back.”
Bryce Ward, Driver – No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4
“It was really good in Michelin Pilot Challenge, getting Bryce back into the game and in the mix for the championship with the win. It was a very positive and needed result and a lot of fun as well, helping him out. On one side, we had some good luck and good fortune in Pilot Challenge, but in the WeatherTech Championship we had a lot of misfortune this weekend. We had a good car, and we moved up after starting from dead last, but it was unfortunate again we were in the wrong place at the wrong time and taken out again like that. There was nothing we could do, and the crew did a great job getting the car back in the race in the shape that it was. We are looking forward to the other races.”
Philip Ellis, Driver – No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4
“I handed it to Lin in the top 10 and he got it to the front. We had one lucky yellow there that helped us out, but at the end there, strategy is everything. We had one yellow that probably fell on the wrong side, and we had a little issue related to fuel we were managing, so we had to go on the conservative side with fuel numbers. That didn’t help, but overall, it was very positive for us. This team just gets stronger and stronger. Speed isn’t an issue. Now it is more so just about tying all of the little things together to win. This class is so competitive. We have two good races coming up with Road America and Road Atlanta, so I am sure good things will happen.”
James Roe Jr., Driver – No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
“Progress is never linear in motorsports. It’s always five steps forward and four-and-a-half steps back. We are learning a lot as a team. It has been a few years since Murillo has been here, but the team really hasn’t missed a beat. The guys have been super on it every pit stop, and I am really grateful for them in particular. In races like this, it is hard enough for me and Kenny to stay motivated, and I think it takes a lot of extra hutzpah for the crew to stay motivated too.”
Aurora Straus, Driver – No. 24 Murillo Racing with P1 Motor Club Mercedes-AMG GT4
“I think we can walk away from Watkins Glen with our heads held high because the crew did a really great job on all of the stops and I think the strategy was good. Really looking forward to getting a little more seat time to show up to the track a little bit more prepared – both driver and car – and P1 Motor Club’s Treasure Coast circuit is going to be opening up soon. We are going to try and get the car on track there and do some testing, and that is really going to help our program a lot. We are very grateful for P1 Motor Club, Mercedes-AMG and Murillo Racing for just getting the opportunity to do this.”
Kenny Murillo, Driver – No. 24 Murillo Racing with P1 Motor Club Mercedes-AMG GT4