| Trio Of Team Newcomers Starting to Emerge Alongside Hyundai Veterans June 5, 2025By John OreoviczIMSA Wire Service |
 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bryan Herta Autosport is a powerhouse in the Touring Car (TCR) class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, winning five consecutive driver championships from 2019-2023 in partnership with Hyundai and an evolving driver lineup.Two themes emerged during BHA’s dominant run: Opportunity and youth. Mason Filippi and Harry Gottsacker, now 27 and 25 and anchoring BHA’s four-car 2025 IMPC attack, joined the team in their early 20s. Gottsacker, the all-time series leader in TCR pole positions, teamed with paraplegic racer Robert Wickens to win the 2023 class championship for BHA. Wickens seized on that opportunity to rebuild his career; he now competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for DXDT Racing, while continuing his association with the Hyundai TCR program to compete at the upcoming Nürburgring 24 Hours (June 21-22). Taylor Hagler is another young racer who found opportunity and success with the Herta team. She co-drove with Michael Lewis to consecutive TCR crowns in 2021 and ’22, becoming the first female race winner and series champion in the North American history of the class. The constant veteran presence through BHA’s progression of championships is 42-year-old Canadian Mark Wilkins, who paired with Lewis to win Herta’s and Hyundai’s first TCR championship in 2019. This year, Wilkins is teamed with 20-year-old American Bryson Morris in BHA’s No. 33 Elantra N TCR, and the duo is off to a strong start. Bryson Morris On The Move |
 After scoring two late-season Motul Pole Awards in 2024, Morris captured the first two to start 2025 at the BMW M Endurance Challenge in Daytona and Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 in Sebring. Wilkins followed it up with the No. 33 car’s third straight pole in Monterey ahead of the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120. Although they were moved to the rear at Sebring following post-race technical inspection, they’re still third in the standings behind their two teammates (Denis Dupont and Preston Brown lead, with Filippi and Gottsacker second) after three races.Morris began attending IMSA’s Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with his father when he was a small child. “My dad was always watching racing – Formula 1, and we watched Le Mans as well,” he related. “I’d come down and see him on the couch at 3 a.m. and thought it was a little weird, but I slowly got into it from that. We traveled to races and I was into cars as well – we’re a car family. Finally, my dad got me a go-kart, and it’s been a spiral ever since.” From an initial open-wheel career path, Morris branched out to driving GT3-specification BMWs for Samantha Tan Racing in 2022 and added a podium finish in the Pro class of the 2024 Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals in Jerez. He also pursued the special license required to compete at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, which came in handy earlier in 2024 when Wickens found himself unable to participate after a crash. Morris drove to pole position, and the Hyundai “Team America” car he shared with Wilkins, Gottsacker, and Filippi won in class. “It was super cool,” he said. “The other cars were very competitive, and there was a TCR World Champion that I outqualified by just a couple tenths. It was very tight, but I was very happy with that. I had been driving the Nordschleife before I even drove a go-kart, like on Forza (a popular racing video gaming platform). I already knew the layout and had done quite a bit of racing on iRacing the last few years. When I showed up, I basically knew the place already.” He’s also a longtime competitor and friend of NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Connor Zilisch, who won a pair of IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) in 2024. Some have compared Morris’ polish and poise outside the car to the prodigious Zilisch, as well as his potential on it. “I’ve basically grown up racing with him. It’s great to see him doing so well, but it’s also great to not have to race against him!” Morris laughed. “He’s a very good driver who would be competitive in everything he drives, so he’s one less person I have to beat.” Maddie Aust Arrives as Part of No. 9 Crew |
 Morris isn’t the only new face at Bryan Herta Autosport in 2025. The team’s No. 9 entry features an all-rookie driver pairing of 20-year-old Maddie Aust and Suellio Almeida, a classically trained pianist who at age 31 is relatively new to real world car racing after thoroughly establishing himself in the sim racing community. Aust is unique in that she was part of six national championship winning cheer teams. She believes the precision training and concentration on physical fitness in cheer were important tools when she decided to pursue a career driving race cars. “So much of it translated to racing, especially the ability to stay focused and fit and the importance of good coaching,” Aust said. “Coming from cheer, I already had a strong upper body and core, and I’ve worked very hard on endurance.” She was bitten by the performance driving bug after getting behind the wheel of her father’s Porsche 911 for the first time shortly after she obtained her license. Like Morris, she transitioned from Formula 4 open-wheel cars to a slate of sports car activity, including BMW M2 CS Cup and Toyota GR Cup – all while continuing her studies at Texas Christian University. Her biggest challenge so far in 2025 is adapting to the front-wheel drive characteristics of the Hyundai Elantra N TCR. She and Almeida are clearly fast learners, debuting with a fourth-place class finish at Daytona and following it up with another top five at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. A similarly promising run at Sebring was derailed by a technical issue. Prior to Sebring, all the Hyundai IMSA TCR drivers spent several days in New York at an annual ‘Driver Camp,’ a team-building exercise that combines fitness training with informal activities over several days. Wilkins and Wickens, the ‘senior’ Hyundai pilots and unofficial team captains, quickly took Aust under their wing. “Everyone in the team has been so welcoming and helpful,” she said. “The guys are willing to share anything that helps me understand the car better or extract more performance from myself. It’s an incredible environment for a young racer to learn and grow in.” Suellio Almeida Crafts His New On-Track Tune |
 Almeida’s musical training took him from his native Brazil to Canada to pursue a master’s degree in piano performance. As he describes it, he “connected the dots between the piano and racing” by becoming immersed in the world of sim racing – as a participant and eventually as an instructor, coaching as many as 30 students per week. “I started coaching to earn money to pay for education, for my master’s degree,” Almeida said. “But I was really good at it, and I got a lot of joy and satisfaction out of seeing people improve, and how grateful they were.” Almeida wrote a book and created an online sim racing academy that quickly took off. That enabled him to earn the money necessary to transition to real-world cars in 2024, and as a rookie, he won the Radical Cup championship. That led to this year’s opportunity with Bryan Herta Autosport. “I’m a racing driver with a slightly different background,” Almeida said with a laugh. “I’m super excited about this year, and I’ve been spending a lot of time on the simulator trying to be the most prepared I can possibly be. I’m really looking forward to every aspect. “I didn’t even meet Maddie until the first day we drove together at Daytona,” he added. “But our driving styles seem to match, and we are both learning and getting faster lap after lap. We both have the same level of experience. It’s almost like a training school for us. The car is new to both of us, so it’s a perfect opportunity to gain experience with a top-tier, championship-winning team and work on improvement. Our teammates are the ones winning the races, but we can learn so much.” The Herta squad has won the opening three races of the season, although their young chargers remain in search of their first breakthrough. Contenders from Audi and Honda will look to stop the Hyundais in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio, which streams at noon ET on Peacock and ad-free, globally courtesy of Michelin on IMSA’s Official YouTube channel. |
